Valentin’s Day

Title: Valentin’s Day
Author: Charles Edward
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Anne Cain
Genre: fantasy/ paranormal, Bittersweet Dreams
Length: short story (15 pdf pages)
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

A Guest Review by Feliz

Summary Review: This is the melancholic story of a man who puts all his life force into spending as much time as possible with his lover and, for all his struggles, can’t achieve more than a few preciously short hours at a time.

The Blurb: Valentin treasures every stolen moment he can share with his lover, Laurent, in their little cabin the forest. But Laurent is haunted by fears of a danger he can’t quite remember, memories he’s sure Valentin can help explain.  Nothing can stop the flow of memory or time, but Valentin will protect and cherish Laurent as best he can.

The Review: All Valentin ever wanted was Laurent. They’d loved each other since they were children, they went to university together, where Laurent studied to become a healer, while Valentin took up sorcelry. But in their homeland of Parige, the queen’s law forbids relationships between men. When they are found out, their fates take a tragic turn which condemns them to a reclusive life apart from each other in the forests. The nights they get to spend together are precious and rare, and always overshadowed by the memories of the past. This story takes place during of one of those nights.

This story seemed like a glimpse into something bigger, like some character’s backstory or a subplot from a longer novel, taken out of content. There’s love, danger, loss and reunion, all condensed in 15 short pages, which didn’t leave much room for world building, even though I got the impression that the author was very familiar with his fictional world. The overall feeling of the story is a “classic” fantasy setting, a middle-age-like, somehow European environment, which is backed by the character’s names, the seemingly old-fashioned writing style as well as the tone of the dialogue. However, there were some details mentioned to which I’d have loved to have a little bit more background; as they were they didn’t make much sense to me.

Given the short format, Valentin, the narrator, was surprisingly well-worked out. His love and devotion for Laurent, his willingness to do just about everything in order to be with Laurent, shines through his every thought and action.  Laurent remains mostly shadowy — which, given the nature of the story, might be intentional — but he clearly loves Valentin back.  Their lovemaking emphasizes the kind of commitment they share; even though Laurent submits willingly and encourages Valentin to take, Valentin still lets Laurent have the reins, since he places his lover’s pleasure before his own as always.

Valentin’s entire life is focused on Laurent, one might say he only lives for those rare nights he can spend with his lover. His place of residence, the kind of sorcelry he chose to study, even the way he furnished his cabin down to the decision what they’ll have to eat, everything is designed for Laurent’s needs. The sad thing is that Laurent apparently misses big portions of his memory, so that he’ll never be able to fully appreciate to what lengths Valentin goes to keep him safe and happy.

For all I felt for Valentin and his sorrow, I couldn’t make myself like him. His life, his entire existence is so fruitless, when all he has to live for are stolen moments with a lover who can’t even really participate in his life. He’ll never grow, with his life practically on hold until he can be with Laurent again.

I read this story several times. On the first read — through I only pitied Valentin, but by the third, I wanted nothing more than shake him out of his doom loop of melancholy and nostalgia.  I guess I built an emotional connection to him after all, if not a good one. His story pulled me down.

This is a very sad and tragic story, with just the barest half-hint at a possible tiny little sliver of hope. Of all bittersweet titles I’ve read so far, this was the most “bitter” and least “sweet” (not that it doesn’t have both, but…). Consider yourself duely warned before you tackle this, which you still might, since it was generally well — written, and surely emotionally absorbing.