Bounty of the Heart by J.M. Snyder

TITLE: Bounty of the Heart
AUTHOR: J.M. Snyder
PUBLISHER: Amber Allure
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Gay historical romance
COST: $5.00

Bounty hunters Emmett Ward and Jack Robison find themselves in icy Alaska, on the outskirts of a small mining town where a dog sled race is about to commence. Their purpose? To kill Lin Ji, a Korean criminal responsible for more horrors in both men’s histories than either wants to talk about. When Jack’s old partner shows up, however, his dogged interest in Emmett creates strife between the partners – in Emmett because he loves Jack but has never had the benefit of more than his platonic friendship, in Jack because there is more to this old partner than meets the eye…

The single greatest strength to this story is the reason the reader gets sucked in from the very first page – its vivid Alaskan setting. The temperature chills from beyond the page, the sense of isolation exacerbated by the young and innocent Emmett’s emotional distance from the partner he’s been in love with for years. It’s an excellent use of setting to act as a metaphor for the protagonist’s turmoil, primarily because it’s not one often exploited in romantic fiction. This sense of place puts the reader right in the spot with these two men, with promises of an intense ride to come.

It’s unfortunate, then, that the ride never really happens. While this is most definitely a very smooth and swift read, it doesn’t meet the standards set in those first couple pages. For one thing, it’s labeled a historical, and while that becomes evident as the story progresses, there is still a very contemporary feel to a lot of the various elements – Monty’s (Jack’s old partner) openness regarding homosexuality, some of the dialogue, and so on. The characterizations never quite reach the depths the opening hints at, either. Everything is told from Emmett’s POV, and it’s apparent very early on that his perspective is very unreliable. We see Jack only through his eyes, and frankly, he hero worships the man. So much time is spent in his head, and with Monty, we get little opportunity to actually get an opinion of Jack for ourselves, except as a grizzled older man determined to protect Emmett at all costs. I liked Jack, but I never felt like I knew him, and considering he’s half of the romantic pairing in this short novella, that’s a problem.

The progression of both the romance and the action plot never runs as evenly as the prose would suggest, either. Both rely on convenience and coincidence to run its course, and as a result, neither really manages to fully satisfy. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the story, though. In spite of its flaws, Emmett is full of such longing for Jack that it’s impossible not to want him to get it. I’m not convinced it wasn’t misplaced gratitude, but it’s still far too palpable to ignore. Add in the vivid setting, and I found myself smiling when the story was done. Hope sprang from the frigid terrain, warm and rich where their world was not. My one wish is that the story was longer, to better give the author time to more fully flesh out her characters and streamline the plot they were given. Then, it could have been incredible.

Readability	9/10 – Smooth and clean, with enough variation in pacing to keep it interesting
Hero #1	7/10 – Sweet and innocent
Hero #2	5/10 – Focus on Emmett without more of Jake makes Jakes more of an enigma, even if he is an intriguing one
Entertainment value	7/10 – Room for so much more, and the romance is underdeveloped, but I liked the characters and mood of this
World building	8/10 – Vivid Alaskan setting, though the time period feels more contemporary than I think is intended
TOTAL:	36/50

Favorite Heroes of 2009

I've decided that the reason my shortlist of favorite heroes is always my longest is because I read m/m, too, which offer twice as many men to choose from. Yep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

4th Runner Up
Henry in Henry and Jim by JM Snyder

Henry is the emotional core of this wonderful short story. It's his pain that devastates the reader, and his love that permeates every word. Without believing in him, the ending wouldn't have hit me nearly as hard as it did, and made this a story to remember.

3rd Runner Up
Sutton Albright in Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen

While both young men in this novel are richly developed, Sutton was the one who got to me hardest. His innocence and subsequent growth mirror the tenor of the period, and it's his need and later strength that truly wrapped me up in knots. He brought out every protective instinct I possess.

2nd Runner Up
Jim Kinney in A Hearing Heart by Bonnie Dee

Another heartwrencher. Dee's deaf hero is testimony that beta characters do not have to be weak, that having a disability doesn't necessarily mean melodrama, that sometimes words aren't necessary to convey what someone truly feels. Of all her solo work, Jim stands heads and shoulders above the rest.

1st Runner Up
Brian Lapahie in Butterfly Unpinned by Bonnie Dee & Laura Bacchi

I predicted in my review that Brian would make it to this list, and sure enough, there he is. Brian is strong, gorgeous, and an all around decent guy. The kind who sees something wrong and wants to fix it. He was the true heart of the book for me, because for as damaged as Butterfly is, his plight was the one that I invested in.

And my favorite hero of 2009 is...
The Commander in The Commander's Desire by Jennette Green

I have no idea how many people read this book. I'll bet not many. It's not erotic, it's not something I see around a lot, and it's het in an e-market where it's obvious to anyone paying attention that the vast majority of books that sell well are either alternative lifestyle, come from Ellora's Cave, or offer shapeshifters. But I loved this book when I read it in e-format, enough that I turned around and bought a print copy for my keeper shelf, enough that it was one of my favorite novels of the year. The primary reason for that is the Commander, who hits one of my reading kinks so hard, he knocked it into 2010. He's an alpha hero who takes no prisoners, who has been viciously scarred both physically and mentally, and yet retains an unparalleled nobility and gentleness. Yes, he's a classic beast archetype. No, I really don't care. I absolutely adore him.

Favorite Short Stories of 2009

Last year, I started presenting my favorites according to length, because I wanted to be able to recognize stories in anthologies. Good work should not go unnoticed. Just like last year, two of my favorites in short stories - for me, that's anything less than 15k - come from anthologies that otherwise wouldn't have gotten the recognition.

4th Runner Up

Painting from Life by Anne Brooke

For someone who reads as much as I do, finding a strong, original voice can make my whole week. Anne Brooke paints as effectively as her unnamed narrator, though words are her medium. In doing so, she created an indelible rendering of a complex relationship that lifts the brief telling to a masterful level.

3rd Runner Up
Angel's Tears by Bryn Colvin

At the heart of this haunting story is a sad sack of a Plain Joe that completely captured my heart. Charley is the reason this story succeeds as well as it does, turning what could have been a maudlin pity party into a tale about hope and love that transcends spirit and flesh.

2nd Runner Up
Henry and Jim by J.M. Snyder

You know it was a good year for short stories when my 2nd runner up title scored a 10 for entertainment. This is one of those stories that prove how masterful Snyder can sometimes be, a bittersweet love story that relates a romance we should all be so lucky to have.

1st Runner Up
Shock Radio by Gabriel Daemon

The common thread running through most of my favorite short stories of this past year is that they are not your traditional romance. This one, especially, is as far as you can get away from that. Daemon grabbed me by the throat with the opening story in this anthology and shook me until I was so rattled I could barely think straight. It's bold and brash, just like its main character, and manages to creep me out just thinking about it in the height of the cheeriest season of the year.

And my favorite short story of 2009 is...

South by Dalyn A. Miller

Though this anthology was one of the better collections - as a whole - that I read this past year, the best one in it by far was "South" by Dalyn A. Miller. The story of two men on the verge of separating, it skillfully weaves backstory and forward momentum in wrenching, realistic ways that put so many other stories to shame. I rooted for this couple with everything I had, and promptly went back to re-read it when I finished it the first time. I find it a little ironic that, like my favorite last year, it was released by a publisher I've had difficulty reading more often than not. But talent shines, no matter where it's published.

Henry and Jim by JM Snyder

TITLE: Henry and Jim
AUTHOR: JM Snyder
PUBLISHER: eXcessica
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 4.5k)
GENRE: Gay romance
COST: $2.99

Henry and Jim have been together for fifty years. As age sets in, though, Henry does everything he can to ensure their remaining years are just as rich…

Considering the age of the characters, it’s obvious from the start of the story that this is going to be a very bittersweet read. We wake up in Henry and Jim’s bed, learning right away that Jim is suffering from some sort of early dementia, where his memory is slow to return and sometimes nonexistent. Henry dreads the day when Jim wakes up and can’t recall Henry’s name, and is determined to enjoy every last moment he can with his partner of the last fifty years. Through his eyes – the story is told in 1^st person from Henry’s POV – we learn how they met, with just enough detail to put their long relationship in perspective. It’s done with romantic, slightly idealized detail, but nonetheless, reaches straight to the gut of these two men’s emotions.

To say I loved this story feels like an understatement. It succeeds for so very many reasons, not the least of which is the subject matter. So many shorts forget they still need to encapsulate a tiny fragment of time, to have a beginning and an end without biting off more than they can chew. Henry and Jim at first seems to have a slight meandering feel to it, but it’s too short for that to damage its delicate arc. Instead, the author pulls it all together at the end in what seems like an inevitable conclusion, yet somehow still managed to surprise me by how gut-wrenchingly real it was. I felt more in these four thousand words than I have with most of the much longer works I read this year. It’s haunting and romantic, a love story in all the best senses of the phrase. My one and only regret is that I let it sit on my TBR pile for far too long. I’ve had mixed reactions to Snyder’s work, sometimes really enjoying it, sometimes not, which is why I didn’t jump on this right from the start. After this, I’m likely to trust her far more.

Readability	9/10 – Haunting and truly romantic
Hero #1	9/10 – His pain and feelings are devastatingly real
Hero #2	9/10 – Filtered through Henry’s eyes, though still real
Entertainment value	10/10 – This broke my heart with what a terrific love story it was
World building	8/10 – A tad idealized, but vital to the depth of emotion
TOTAL:	45/50

A Heart Divided by JM Snyder

TITLE: A Heart Divided
AUTHOR: JM Snyder
PUBLISHER: Amber Quill (Allure)
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 42k)
GENRE: Gay historical romance
COST: $7.00

Lieutenant Anderson Blanks of the Confederate Army is hoping to wait out the rest of his term, just a few short months before he’s up for re-enlistment, but when pickets complain about ghosts in the woods where they’re currently encamped, he sets out to take care of it, convinced it’s just a dying man. He’s right, but the man is no stranger. It’s Sam Talley, the man Andy has been in love with most of his life, the man who was forced to leave his father’s plantation after their affair was discovered, the man Andy was going to go off and find as soon as he was free of the war. Sam’s been hurt, and now Andy is the only one who can make sure he doesn’t die from his wounds. The only problem is, Sam isn’t fighting for the South…

From the very start, there’s a poignancy to this short novel that overlays the grittiness of the war period in which it’s set. The American Civil War often gets romanticized in historicals anyway, and while there are definite elements of that to this, it still manages to be a touching, emotional, satisfying ride.

The entire story is told from Andy’s POV, which has definite advantages and disadvantages to enjoying it. On the plus side, we get to experience firsthand Andy’s sense of loss regarding his first love, his anxiety when he fears Sam won’t make it, his exhilaration in those moments when Sam is lucid and they can simply be together. It completely puts us in Andy’s corner, because he’s a caring, intelligent, honorable young man. On the down side, however, is the fact that we learn very little about Sam but the superficial. Sam spends the vast majority of the story unconscious, or in pain, or some state in between, so it’s very difficult to get a true bead on him. We get some of Andy’s memories, but those are more of boys than young men, and highly rose-colored. They’re Andy’s means of retaining his sanity about the whole war, so perhaps not the best yardstick to really measure what kind of a man Sam is. As such, Sam ends up being more of a figure for Andy to fixate on rather than a fully developed character in his own right. Does it hurt the romance? A little, though I will say that because Andy’s feelings were so strong and such a rush that I still managed to get swept up in all of it anyway.

Because of the situation, there’s very little intimacy in this, just a few kisses and some casual mentions of what they did in the past. The true thrust of the story is the tension that coils throughout it as Andy tries to reconcile his responsibilities to his Army with his responsibility for Sam. The world conspires against him. Other soldiers. Time. Piece by piece, it adds up and tightens the noose around the reader’s neck, until I had no idea how Andy was going to get out of all of it. One or two of the twists seem a bit contrived, but for me, since I needed the release so badly, it worked well enough for me not to care too much at how convenient it was. It’s also the reason why it doesn’t bother me so much that, outside of Andy’s father’s reactions in his memories, there doesn’t seem to be that much backlash from his contemporaries when the truth about his relationship with Sam starts to come out. I think if I’d had to deal with the ramifications of the wrongness of homosexuality of the period on top of the tense action, it would have been too much to take.

I tend to be hit or miss with this author, but this one is definitely a hit. It’s a tightly paced, poignant love story, with a truly heartbreaking leading man.

Readability	9/10 – Tense and anxious
Hero #1	8/10 – Honorable and heartbreaking
Hero #2	5/10 – Harder to get a grip on since he’s unconscious or in pain most of the time
Entertainment value	8/10 – I got swept away by the tension of the situation and the love between the two men
World building	9/10 – Gritty and real, in spite of the romanticism of the prose and men
TOTAL:	39/50

All Shook Up by J.M. Snyder

TITLE: All Shook Up
AUTHOR: J.M. Snyder
PUBLISHER: Amber Quill (Allure)
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 25k)
GENRE: Gay historical erotic romance
COST: $5.00

Eduard van De Lier runs a spice plantation on Java – or rather, his wife in name only runs it while he chases after the young native men surrounding him. Ever since being forced to leave Europe when his sexual preferences are discovered, he has indulged everywhere he can. To say he’s obsessed is an understatement. When his lover from the ship that brought him to Java arrives on his doorstep with a letter that could destroy everything Eduard has, he has to work desperately to get it back. But not even Krakatoa’s eruption is enough to keep his desire for Reza from burning out of control…

The setting and concept of this story intrigued me into buying, and I have to admit, the story is pretty much what the blurb describes. I got a taste of what the prose was going to be like in the excerpt, and for the most part, I’m okay with the highly romanticized style. You know the kind I mean. The sort that uses the term “weeping cock” and means for it not to be giggled at. There’s something remarkably easy about reading this particular author most of the time. In spite of the occasional error or cringeworthy phrase, I find myself done with a Snyder story in record time, regardless of what it’s about. This story was no exception to that.

I can’t say the romance necessarily worked for me, however. Eduard is obsessed with sex with all these young native men. Seriously. This is all he thinks about, and since his wife does most of the running of the plantation, the vast majority of his time is spent seducing servants or men he meets about town. He plans for it, he has it, and when he’s not getting it, he’s touching himself, wondering about when he’s going to get it next. When Reza shows up at the house, Eduard doesn’t even recognize him, though it’s only been two years since they’ve seen each other and they spent weeks upon weeks almost exclusively in each other’s company. Yet, later on, I’m expected to believe that Eduard has been looking for somebody to replace Reza this whole time? No, I just can’t. If that was the case, why wouldn’t he recognize Reza when he saw him? The fact that he doesn’t just tells me that he wasn’t nearly as wrapped up in the young man as the author wants us to believe. Subsequently, for as nicely paced and choreographed the rest of the story is, I just can’t buy into it emotionally.

The erotic scenes for what they are serve their purpose, though the fact that Reza has a thick cock whose base Eduard could barely encircle with both hands creeps me out a little bit. Because…that’s pretty big. Try it. Form a circle with your hands and then imagine what that might feel like. Some of the imagery is over the top, too, like When Reza came, filling Eduard with a fiery spurt that triggered his own orgasm, even the distant volcano mimicked their explosive climax. Again, though, that’s indicative of the author’s voice in this. I can’t really complain about it when I knew from the start that’s what I was getting into, and honestly, for the vast majority of the story, it didn’t bother me.

The entire section detailing Krakatoa’s eruption is choreographed with fine detail, and stands as the strongest section of the entire story. I think it’s more than just a credit to the nice pacing of it. For the first time, Eduard gets to react in ways that are not just sexual, and he becomes more human and sympathetic for me. If I’d had glimpses of this man before the catastrophe, I might have had a better time believing the romance. He and Reza – who until that point has proven elusive for the reader as well as Eduard – both finally gain personalities beyond being sexual creatures. I just wish it had happened sooner.

Readability	8/10 – Highly romanticized prose, but oddly enough, it reads in a flash.
Hero #1	4/10 – His obsession with sex overshadows any sense of personality he might have developed, and makes it hard to believe that he’d settle with this one man.
Hero #2	4/10 – An enigma, though thankfully a nice one
Entertainment value	6/10 – For being what it is, a mildly diverting tidbit.
World building	8/10 – The detail with the volcano’s eruption was done incredibly well, as were various pictures the author painted of the daily life.
TOTAL:	30/50

Some Gave All by various authors

TITLE: Some Gave All
AUTHOR: Jefferson Dane, Aline de Chevigny, Wayne Greenough, J.M. Snyder
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 51k)
GENRE: Military drama
COST: $4.99

Four tales of varying genres, all celebrating those who serve in the armed forces.

When I first saw the blurbs for this anthology, it was the description of “Memorial Meeting,” by Aline de Chevigny, that prompted me to buy this. This is the story of the grandson and granddaughter of a nurse and soldier from WWI who corresponded but were never able to hook up after the war. The grandchildren are meeting in their elders’ stead, and it was supposed to be love at first sight. Well, in all fairness to the blurb, it was. Unfortunately, it was an absolute mess when it came to reading. The editing on this is some of the worst I’ve seen, with punctuation so poor that it literally changes the meaning of some sentences. Seriously. “He loved her child,” means one thing, while “He loved her, child,” means something else entirely. The entire story is riddled with these kinds of mistakes. When you can’t even convey what you mean, how am I supposed to be able to immerse myself into your story? It doesn’t help that the characterization is flat and unbelievable, either. The weakest story of the four.

“Flyover,” by Jefferson Dane, is a paranormal drama about a soldier rescued from the Afghanistan mountains, who has been traumatized by both the slaughter of his unit and the terror they witnessed on a nightly basis. It is moody and chilling, and proof that strong authors can rise above sloppy editing, because this suffers from none of the mistakes of its predecessor. The slowly built tension in this helps to make the paranormal aspects painted over an all-too-realistic and grim setting believable. Characterization is careful and delicate; I believed completely in all three of the principles in this, even if the psychiatrist is more of a means of ferreting out the story than anything else. By far, the strongest story of the bunch.

Wayne Greenough's “Thanet Blake's Memorial Day” is a little harder to pin down. I’m going to call it a paranormal detective story, but saying that, I had the distinct impression throughout that I was reading a character I was supposed to recognize. It wasn’t until I was done with the anthology and I checked the author’s website that I saw, yes, Thanet Blake has another story as well. With that in mind, I think this story is best served to those who are familiar with the author’s world. It tells the story of Thanet Blake taking his mother to various graveyards on Memorial Day, with new characters introduced every other page. There are so many that they all blurred for me; I had no distinction on any of them except for Thanet and then the ghost he gets coerced into helping. As a standalone story, it just doesn’t work. There’s too much going on in too small a space for any of it to make any kind of impact.

The final story in the anthology is the gay romance, “For the Boys,” by J.M. Snyder. Carl Prosser is stationed in Korea when he meets USO boy Tommy. Love ensues. Some light sex. And it’s sweet. As prolific as Snyder is, I have to admit this is the first time I’ve ever read her. I think I see what the appeal is. The prose is very romantic, and the situation more so. It’s competently written with likable characters, and if it’s not very challenging to read, it still managed to make me smile more than once. Probably the most feel good story of the anthology.

Readability	6/10 – The first and third stories drag this down.
Plot	7/10 – All but Greenough’s story worked for me.
Characterization	6/10 – Dane has the strongest entry, while Greenough bites off more than he can chew and falls flat.
Entertainment value	6/10 – Dane and Snyder are the only two I’d bother with again.
World building	6/10 – Again, Dane and Snyder are the pros here.
TOTAL:	31/50