My Queer War is the WWII memoir of James Lord, who I knew nothing about prior to picking up this book. The title is an intentional double entendre–James Lord is gay and his war was weird. He never saw combat and the vast majority of his service involved copious amounts of free time during which he was free to explore his sexuality in a way that he had never before considered possible. Bouncing from POW camps to Picasso’s social scene to underground bars where […]
Fake Out
Madeleine’s War is nominally about a woman who is accepted into SC2, the book’s version of the real SOE, and sent behind enemy lines in advance of D-Day to prepare saboteur networks for the coming invasion. The book follows her through training and through to the end of her service. She falls in love with her superior, Matthew Hammond, and learns a great deal about herself and her past as the novel progresses. Unfortunately, the book has two very serious flaws. Read the […]
Catching Literal Flak
The Wrong Stuff is the memoirs of Truman Smith, B-17 pilot and co-pilot during WWII. He very, very honestly recounts his various misadventures during the war in an odd, rambling, sort of conversational tone full of profanity, all-caps typing, and a good sense of humor about the whole experience. Read the rest at Pop Culture Penalty Box.