Big Adventure in “A Different Kind of Brave”

Lee Wind has a lot of fun in A Different Kind of Brave – a playful homage to James Bond movies, while also shining a light on the horrific treatment that gay folks experience at LGBTQIA conversion centers. The storytelling is full of high-stakes adventure, remarkable high-tech devices for good and ill, and genuine concern for the very real kids who are incarcerated and abused by those who profess to love them.

If you enjoy fast paced spy thrillers, you may enjoy A Different Kind of Brave. Like the James Bond movies (less so with the books which stay closer to reality), A Different Kind of Brave fearlessly goes big. The villain and his horrible prison for gay kids is oversize and he has extraordinary abilities to enact his nefarious activities. The heroes are surrounded by friends who have incredible skill sets, and financial capacities to assist our heroes to overcome impossible odds. You have to be willing to just go with it. It is a fantasy. And it is a lot of fun if you just revel in its imaginative twists and turns, while it makes a point about the actual abusive behavior of conversion centers. The real kids may not wear metal collars 24 hours a day that zap them for the slightest infringement, but these real conversion centers can impact children, teenagers, and adults with lifelong trauma. A Different Kind of Brave is a rollercoaster of thrills and high adventure that is bigger than life, but it has a mission that is quite real.