Competition: That Was Then, This Is Now

CORNERING POP CULTURE

Military Secret TURNS ONE CORNER IN POPULAR CULTURE THAT MAY NEVER COME AGAIN. Writer’s Market 1996 showed 51 nonfiction publishers for Gay/Lesbian, 69 Military/War, 188 Government/Politics, and 299 Biography. Yet Navy Times editor Karen Jowers said she had “never heard of a report in present tense on gays in the military.” Along with hazing, tobacco, and drug abuse, military sexuality is one of the most sensitive and personal themes in our culture, and in his book. Graham has a grip on four of the hottest topics of our time:

• Sex
• Drugs
• Hazing
• Tobacco

Recent Efforts

America’s gays-in-the-military drama has resulted in two valiant efforts recently including one best seller. The bold HarperCollins trade paperback “My Country, My Right To Serve” dealt with this but focused only on post-discovery injustices, the same slant as taken by a national best seller “Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military” (Fawcett/Columbine) edited by Randy Shilts (“And The Band Played On”). Neither of these fine books brings the reader into the boat. Military Secret smuggles you onboard and makes you fear, loath, and sweat.

The Real Thing

Others whine about witch hunts and discharges. Military Secret focuses on THE SUSPENSE, ENTERTAINMENT, AND MYTHOLOGY of SEX AT SEA. NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER DARED TO WRITE THIS IN PRESENT TENSE, FOR THREE SIMPLE REASONS:

• Ashore they can and will mug you with impunity. Like five Navy sailors mugged Graham, breaking his front tooth.
• At sea they can throw you overboard. Graham saw a squadronmate get flown off the carrier for his own safety after coming out to his Command Master Chief.
• Wherever they find you they must and will kick you out within five working days.

Graham took all these risks on behalf of his fellow Americans, and a sense of democracy. THE COURAGE OF HIS WORK GUARANTEES BOB IS AN EXPERT AUTHORITY ON THIS MOST CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECT.

Propaganda

Pop Culture dismisses propaganda machines for what they are: sand castles for puritanical tyrants on top. Military Secret will generate more sales in hard-cover by Howard Stern’s Miss America or paperback with Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, by Gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson.

More Mirror, Less Smoke

Graham has written the ONLY MILITARY BIOGRAPHY EVER TO CONFRONT A CHAIN OF COMMAND. The US Navy implemented its Smoke-Free agenda in January 1990, following the wave of ANTI-SMOKING SENTIMENT SWEEPING ACROSS AMERICA. As a non-smoker, this man joined the Navy and the real Top Gun at the right time with a heart in the right place to capture the passion of a GLOBAL fight for fresh air. No enlisted subordinate ever displayed such uncommon audacity, as to write his complaint WHILE STILL IN UNIFORM AND STILL SUBJECT TO SUBVERSION & RETALIATION. YOUR REWARD: OTHERS ONLY LOOK BACK. Graham can always look forward to SMUGGLING HIS READERS ONBOARD in the present tense.

Who else hitchhiked twenty thousand miles, got acquitted of first-degree murder, and left a billionairess for: a Gulf War, a Southern California hippy beach drug story, a gay unrequited love story, a South Pacific-Saudi Arabia-Philippine Island adventure story, and a stint in the real Top Gun -- as a non-smoker challenging his chain-smoking chain of command ... and calls all that just the tip of the iceberg in his life?

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