What do you think?
Rate this book
No Apologies
Donnie Novak and Jack Sterling have known each other forever. Growing up together in a small Midwestern town, they were best friends. After high school, they both enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the same time, and somehow were assigned to the same company before being stationed on the U.S.S. Oklahoma together.
One night on leave, Donnie crosses an almost imperceptible line between friendship and something more. A stolen kiss threatens to ruin what Donnie and Jack have built up together all these years, and the next morning, he can't apologize enough.
But a squadron of Japanese bombers has their sights trained on Pearl Harbor's Battleship Row, and in the early hours of December 7, 1941, Donnie might not get a chance to set things right.
One night on leave, Donnie crosses an almost imperceptible line between friendship and something more. A stolen kiss threatens to ruin what Donnie and Jack have built up together all these years, and the next morning, he can't apologize enough.
But a squadron of Japanese bombers has their sights trained on Pearl Harbor's Battleship Row, and in the early hours of December 7, 1941, Donnie might not get a chance to set things right.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
J.M. Snyder
302 books567 followersAn author of gay erotic/romantic fiction, J.M. Snyder began in self-publishing and worked with Amber Allure, Aspen Mountain, eXcessica, and Torquere Presses.
Snyder's highly erotic short gay fiction has been published online at Amazon Shorts, Eros Monthly, Ruthie's Club, and Tit-Elation, as well as in anthologies by Alyson Books, Aspen Mountain, Cleis Press, eXcessica Publishing, Lethe Press, and Ravenous Romance.
In 2010, Snyder founded JMS Books LLC, a royalty-paying queer small press that publishes in both electronic and print format. For more information on newest releases and submission guidelines, please visit JMS Books LLC online.
Snyder's highly erotic short gay fiction has been published online at Amazon Shorts, Eros Monthly, Ruthie's Club, and Tit-Elation, as well as in anthologies by Alyson Books, Aspen Mountain, Cleis Press, eXcessica Publishing, Lethe Press, and Ravenous Romance.
In 2010, Snyder founded JMS Books LLC, a royalty-paying queer small press that publishes in both electronic and print format. For more information on newest releases and submission guidelines, please visit JMS Books LLC online.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 10, 2011
Gerry B's Book Reviews - http://gerrycan.wordpress.com
“No Apologies” by J.M. Snyder, [JMS Books LLC, 2011], is a gem of a short story that captures the heart and attention right from the start. I would even go so far as to suggest that almost every gay male will be able to identify with this story from personal experience; i.e. that one buddy you fell in love with early, but didn’t know if he ‘swung that way.’ To make matters worse, he didn’t know either, and so each touch was like a prayer leading to disappointment. And then came that inevitable occasion when you crossed the line, in Donnie and Jack’s case with a furtive, liquor induced kiss, and so began the panic of losing a cherished friend on account of it.
We’ve all been there, and it is made even worse if the next morning your friend and soul mate—your hoped-for ‘lover’, even—isn’t talking or seems distant. Then the heart rending really begins, along with the guilt and the desperate attempts to make it right.
J.M. Snyder has not only captured this bittersweet situation, but he has also maintained it throughout the story until the very last paragraph. Along the way this reader was on tenterhooks wondering if young love would prevail, or if they would even survive the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour—which was going on at the same time.
“No Apologies” requires no apologies. It is a tender love story set against the obscenity of war in a paradise. Five stars
“No Apologies” by J.M. Snyder, [JMS Books LLC, 2011], is a gem of a short story that captures the heart and attention right from the start. I would even go so far as to suggest that almost every gay male will be able to identify with this story from personal experience; i.e. that one buddy you fell in love with early, but didn’t know if he ‘swung that way.’ To make matters worse, he didn’t know either, and so each touch was like a prayer leading to disappointment. And then came that inevitable occasion when you crossed the line, in Donnie and Jack’s case with a furtive, liquor induced kiss, and so began the panic of losing a cherished friend on account of it.
We’ve all been there, and it is made even worse if the next morning your friend and soul mate—your hoped-for ‘lover’, even—isn’t talking or seems distant. Then the heart rending really begins, along with the guilt and the desperate attempts to make it right.
J.M. Snyder has not only captured this bittersweet situation, but he has also maintained it throughout the story until the very last paragraph. Along the way this reader was on tenterhooks wondering if young love would prevail, or if they would even survive the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour—which was going on at the same time.
“No Apologies” requires no apologies. It is a tender love story set against the obscenity of war in a paradise. Five stars
June 11, 2010
This is a short story, really – at just over 11,000 words, but thoroughly enjoyable too. It starts punchily and in a cinematic style, the two friends out with the rest of the shore leave sailors. Most of them getting drunk and getting off with the local women. Donnie isn’t, he’s too busy trying not to touch Jack and stare at Jack. In fact the writing is quite cinematic all the way through – I really got a sense of the drunken band of friends, sticky cocktails and a warm Honalulu night. Later we are “treated” to the terror of what happens during the raid and a very real feeling predicament for the two friends.
It could have been over-sentimental, but it wasn’t, which was right for the story being told – and sadly for our boys they didn’t get an opportunity to get each other’s kit off either, but that was right too, seeing as to what was happening! I’m quite sure that they managed some “sack time” with each other at some point, even if I did feel a little sad to thinkwhat they were just about to get into, and hoped that they would survive to gettogether somewhere and somehow.
Well written and nicely described, from sailors in thin white cotton to the mess-deck breakfast I was thoroughly convinced and well worth$2.49 of anyone’s money.
It could have been over-sentimental, but it wasn’t, which was right for the story being told – and sadly for our boys they didn’t get an opportunity to get each other’s kit off either, but that was right too, seeing as to what was happening! I’m quite sure that they managed some “sack time” with each other at some point, even if I did feel a little sad to thinkwhat they were just about to get into, and hoped that they would survive to gettogether somewhere and somehow.
Well written and nicely described, from sailors in thin white cotton to the mess-deck breakfast I was thoroughly convinced and well worth$2.49 of anyone’s money.
August 5, 2014
This is a brief but moving and gripping story of two sailors finding love while the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. I often find present tense irritating -- and it's Snyder's favorite tense -- but, fortunately, here it does a great job (along with the breathless first person narration) of emphasizing the immediacy and urgency of the action and the uncertainty of our MCs' predicament during the attack.
There's a Big Misunderstanding driving the love-story half of the plot, but given that this is a short story -- not a lot of room for development -- I thought it was well done. I especially loved how desperately sorry and guilty our narrator felt during the Misunderstanding, and how well the narration conveyed his ever-repeating regrets and then his amazed relief.
Snyder's Persistence of Memory is one of my very few 5-star reads, and it also uses present tense to good effect. I'm not going with 5 on this one, but for a short story it's quite effective. 4 stars.
There's a Big Misunderstanding driving the love-story half of the plot, but given that this is a short story -- not a lot of room for development -- I thought it was well done. I especially loved how desperately sorry and guilty our narrator felt during the Misunderstanding, and how well the narration conveyed his ever-repeating regrets and then his amazed relief.
Snyder's Persistence of Memory is one of my very few 5-star reads, and it also uses present tense to good effect. I'm not going with 5 on this one, but for a short story it's quite effective. 4 stars.
February 2, 2010
The summary tells enough so I just want to say that this is one sweet story, a classic of one falls in love with the best friend. Adds the historical day of Pearl Harbour and what I get is a story that makes me smile in the end and sigh in satisfaction
November 14, 2013
J.M. Snyder most definitely knows how to write an excellent short story! This one hooked me from the first few lines and didn't let go until the very end... well, not even then because I really, really want to know what happens "after"!
June 24, 2009
This is my book so I'm not going to write a review.
July 30, 2016
What an amazing, beautiful, intelligently written short story! I can think of no better way to spend a quiet hour. Prepare to be wowed!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews