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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cStarlight in a Dark Sky: Breadcrumbs to the Stars,\u201d by Jerry Behimino, is a young adult fiction novel that focuses on the life of Elina Fomes as she copes with the absence of her father while he\u2019s on a deployment with the Navy. (Jerry Behimino)
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The confusion and uncertainty of life as a teenager can easily clash with the complexities of military life, something a recently retired U.S. sailor\u2019s debut novel seeks to capture in \u201cStarlight in a Dark Sky: Breadcrumbs to the Stars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Behimino\u2019s recently self-published young adult novel places readers in the shoes of Elina Fomes as she navigates daily life while her father is on an extended deployment just days after the 9\/11 attacks. <\/p>\n
Behimino layers his story, set in Virginia, with an abundance of early-2000s pop culture references. <\/p>\n
Fomes pushes through her father\u2019s absence by creating her own community of friends and, eventually, an underground zine dubbed \u201cStarlight in a Dark Sky.\u201d <\/p>\n
The eponymous zine becomes a journal and lifeline for the main character, while simultaneously attracting a variety of submissions from others and ultimately creating a community of its own. <\/p>\n
Behimino, 49, recently retired from Naval Forces Japan, began working with the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station – Far East at Yokosuka. He said the book was his way of honoring \u201ckids who learned to find their voices in the in-between moments.\u201d <\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tJerry Behimino, seen here in his official Navy profile photo, released his debut young adult novel, \u201cStarlight In a Dark Sky: Breadcrumbs to the Stars,\u201d in August 2025. (U.S. Navy)
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\u201cI grew up around military life, and I know the silences, the waiting, and the little ways families keep themselves together,\u201d he said by email Oct. 2. <\/p>\n
The novel draws on themes from his own experience as a naval officer whose deployments often interfered with his family life. His choice of 2001 as the setting for his book was also drawn from his own life. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe most vivid memories I carry are of those ordinary moments at Lynnhaven Mall and the Navy Exchange in the days just before and after the [9\/11] attacks,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The heartwarming story is peppered with almost too many nostalgic references from that era, from Tamagotchi pets and Eggo waffles to \u201cThe Matrix\u201d and Tony Hawk\u2019s Pro Skater. A Blink-182 concert even serves as the setting for the story\u2019s climax. <\/p>\n
Behimino, however, said the references went beyond nostalgia, instead being the \u201ceveryday breadcrumbs\u201d everyone followed at the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor teenagers, especially in military families, mixtapes, AIM chats, concert tickets, and mall or base hangouts weren\u2019t just trends; they were how we navigated belonging, connection, and identity in the early 2000s,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He plans to write additional novels, including \u201can adventure novel I\u2019ve carried with me for nearly three decades and am now finally bringing to the page.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, he emphasized that \u201cStarlight\u201d was his tribute to military families. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf this story sparks recognition, conversation, or comfort for even a few readers, especially within our Navy and military community, then it has done its job,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cStarlight in a Dark Sky: Breadcrumbs to the Stars,\u201d by Jerry Behimino, is a young adult fiction novel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[24349,223,88,3006,4379,135935],"class_list":{"0":"post-248914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-book-review","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-family","12":"tag-military","13":"tag-starlight-in-a-dark-sky"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}