Welcome to another Monday!  Did you remember to set your clocks forward an hour? It's time for a new story review, and this one is brought to you by Cole Matthews!  Enjoy!

Lighthouses: Volume One

ValentineDavis 21

Reviewer: Cole Matthews

Status: Complete

Word Count: 67,960

Gayauthors is a great place for writers and readers for many reasons. There are lots of new characters, topics, engagements, love, folly, and fictional conflict providing us with a venue to communicate with one another.  We can explore relationships between people who are gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and many other points on the spectrum or rainbow of human affection. We can delve into what it means to define ourselves and to show our many perspectives.  

I think the best thing about Gayauthors is we love to experiment with different kinds of writing. While we enjoy our coming of age and coming out stories, we also try new avenues of fiction. There is a vibrant poetry-writing community here and lots of exciting genres from mysteries to fanfic to fantasy and sci fi, yet we aren’t limited by these choices, which leads me to a book by Valentine Davis21.  His experiment has made me think and wonder about what lies beyond.

Lighthouses’ Volume One tells the story of three couples who over time find a lighthouse that acts as a lodestone or magnet in their lives. These three couples have very different stories, but they occur in different eras and so we begin to see patterns even as the times change so radically.
We start with Judas and Duane in the present day. They are traveling to an island. Judas is a bit needy and Duane is happy to take care of him. Their back story begins to come out as Judas remembers:

Something else is going. We’re not sure what is happening, but we get a glimpse when Judas has a visitor. This guest isn’t a flesh and blood one, but not really a ghost either.  Here is how Judas introduces Johnny and Thomas.

Judas and Duane’s story pauses in a bit, and we are then introduced to Johnny, and the setting in 1959.  The young man was found with another boy and in those days, it was believed that something needed to be done. Johnny is being ‘treated’ and ‘helped’ to cure his ‘illness’.  

Johnny’s predicament is handled delicately. It’s obvious his aunt and uncle are trying to help, but it’s not working. That’s when we get a glimpse of the lighthouse again, and we meet Phillip Russo. There is something haunting and familiar about their meeting. It slides inside your brain and makes you squirm.  So much is going on, but we don’t know what.

And then we meet Thomas.

In 1929, Thomas was invited to the island to ghostwrite a biography for an accomplished man. He meets Agamemnon Angelopoulos, and something passes between them, and here is a taste of it:

The story has interwoven links and themes that suggest things, hint, and let the reader wonder. What is the main story? Are all three couples the same people or are they drawn to an object that warns of danger?  What is the peril that binds these men?  Certainly, Thomas, Judas, and Johnny are connected but how?

Valentine Davis finished the story, but it’s not complete. He promises to revisit it in another volume, but what I love about this book are the questions it raises. I adore the characters who are fresh and flawed, open and yet bound to each other. They are struggling to cope, yet there is happiness and promise. You can feel hope right around the corner, even as you realize you just passed the corner filled with despair.

Read and savor the ideas and see where it takes you. This lighthouse is the calm within the storm of these men’s lives.

 Category: Fiction   Genres: Thriller/Suspense, Historical, Mystery, Paranormal  Tags: mature adult, depression, abuse  Rating: Mature