As the military gay ban known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) nears its end, a new novel about life as a lesbian in the military is available on Amazon.com as both a print book and an electronic book on Kindle. See amzn.to/e5EQHN. It will be available in Chicago at Women & Children First Books by Jan. 15.
The Half Life of Sgt. Jen Hunter, by lesbian journalist Tracy Baim, takes paces during the first Gulf War, in the early 1990s, prior to the compromise DADT law. The military banned all gays and lesbians from service, but tens of thousands bravely served their country.
During the Gulf War, many of those soldiers were kept in service under a "stop loss" order, only to be discharged upon their return home. Now that DADT has been struck down, this novel is perfectly timed to give a closer look at the lives of people impacted by any policies or laws that ask them to compromise who they are.
Author Baim, who is publisher and executive editor of the newspaper Windy City Times, offers a romance and mystery novel about this era in our nation's history, when gays and lesbians served proudly, but quietly, risking their lives for a country that disrespected and attacked who they were.
What would happen if an out lesbian journalist met and became attracted to a closeted military spokeswoman? Would sparks fly? Would the sergeant risk her career for love? Would the journalist compromise her ideals for a chance at happiness? What about the servicemembers on the ground in Iraq? They faced bullets and dangerous chemicals, and some came back wounded and faced the loss of their career. See what happens in this fast-paced tale of war, pride, sacrifice, and love.
This fictional story was adapted for the Chicago stage as Half Life, in 2004.
Baim has covered military gay and lesbian issues since 1984. She is the author of the non-fiction book Obama and the Gays: A Political Marriage and Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Movement.
The book, published by Prairie Avenue Productions, is available as a print book at Amazon.com and as an ebook on Kindle: $12.99 for print, $9.99 for Kindle. (Soon available on iPad.) ISBN-13: 978-1456461928. See http://amzn.to/e5EQHN.
