Nothing Strikes Back

by Luke Hartwell

What do you do when your girlfriend's younger brother is the best-looking person on the planet and has a thing for you? Parish doesn't know what he's going to do, but he's about to find out. Luke Hartwell, author of Memory and Madness and other works of fiction, puts together yet another short story that is both charming and sexy. As usual, the narrative voice is winsome, the characters are inviting, and the story conveys a solid amount of depth. Available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats.

Genres: M M Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Short Stories, Romance, Gay

36 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2013

About the author

Readers can track Luke Hartwell's book releases on the Watersgreen House website. Luke's books are available from Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Gardners, Baker & Taylor, Smashwords, Scribd, Odilo, and OverDrive.

Reviews

[Shile (Hazard's Version) on-hiatus · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I want more stars

[Apeiron · Rating 1 out of 5]

With a title like that, I shouldn't expect anything, right?

RIGHT! And yet, I still feel cheated, out of 40 minutes of my life and 200KB that I could use for something more spiritually enriching, like this gif:


So this story is about Parish. Parish's hobbies are: fucking women, being a male rights philosopher, feeling objectified and underappreciated by women, getting dumped by women... and music, I guess? But nothing is important if it's not related to being the martyr of the manly race and thinking stuff like:

They were dumping me because after a while they got tired of me and wanted to be fucked by someone else for a while. At least that’s how it seemed. The truth is, I couldn’t figure it out. All I know is I always got dumped.

Yeah. It's a mystery. Because Parish is a total prize:

Seems like girls want to be treated badly these days, want guys to play hard to get, almost like they are doing the girl a favor by fucking them. Maybe they are. My problem is that I always fall in love and want to treat them right. So I treat them right and get dumped.

And he obviously GETS women, so much. It's like he's in my head, like he has ESPN or something. Girls, why would you ever dump someone like that?



And this should be enough to give you an idea of the problem that Parish has, but no. It's not. Because you don't get it. Parish is so victimized by the international lobby of cold misandrist bitches that it's affecting his familial relations:

I wouldn’t ask [my uncle for a favor] either, unless I was desperate like last night. I could tell he had always looked down on my family, although just like with the girls dumping me, I had no idea why.

And let me tell you, you would be traumatized too, if you had problems like Parish:

I have seen the old movies with guys getting worked up over the girls and the girls playing hard to get and not putting out. It isn’t like that anymore. Girls are aggressive now. Maybe girls were objectified back in the old days, but now, I swear it is the guys. I can feel women mentally undressing me just about everywhere I go. I get slipped more phone numbers than I want. And I don’t think my experience is unusual.

So, one day Parish decides that it isn't worth it and he gets some dick instead.

And that scene is fade to black and that's how the whole story ends.

[Shelby P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want more!!!! I really love Luke Hartwell's short stories. Clay, gotta love him! I like that Parish wasn't a cheater and was faithful to his current flame. I want to read a full novel about these guys!!! I want more!!!!

[LenaRibka · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars




It is probably the sweetest and the most NORMAL novel with the most LIKEABLE characters that Luke Hartwell has ever written.

And it was my last to-read of this author.

And I'm sobered and inexpressibly saddened.

[Dena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this--wished it was longer or had a sequel. It felt real.

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Addictive. More, please Mr Hartwell ;)

[Rohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Luke, I didn't know you could ramp up the anticipation to this level.

The ending is perfect. I mean, I just turned the page and the fuck did I know that I wasn't gonna get more. It's simple. As horny as it is gentlemanly. Also, where in the heavens do we find un-angsty bi-curious guys like Parish?

[Trisie]

You'll get exactly what the blurb suggests with this short story, well only without the moment I was expecting the most. It left me staring at the last page with "WTF, is that the end?!" look on my face, lol.

[Pixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

To say this book pissed me off would be an understatement. It seemed more like a start of a story or an idea. It led to something and once you got to what that something should have been it ended. Seething with rage over here….

[Shane Pennell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of this story made me cry it is so beautiful. Another short masterpiece by Hartwell.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
Like many others have stated, I WANT MORE! The book ended right before we could get to the good part, which was a bit disappointing. Other than that, the story was interesting and captivating considering how short it was.

[Miguel Vega · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this one was okay, the narrator was annoying to me and I wish the ending would have gone all the way. It was set up and then cuts off in the one place i want it to continue.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll definitely be buying more books by .

[Journey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see why this story is a favorite for others who are interested in shortstories books.

[Jon O · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not impressive by the dialogues at the beginning of the book. I felt it was a little bit superficial. Another point was why would a straight guy be observing another guy's appearance? I did appreciate the build-up of the story to their 'moment', but it was long overdue. Unfortunately, when the moment came, it ended. Just like that.

The best part of the book - the moment when he felt him touching his abs. Even the last part when it led them to the event, it was anti-climax.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just beautiful.

[jules0623 · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars