Revenir
Title Page
Hello and welcome to the Fiction Section of Notes from the Town Hermit. I write literary and slipstream fiction and fantasy focusing on themes of identity and what it means to be human through a lyrical and poetic writing style. Subscribe for free to enjoy more stories.
You are reading a story from Revenir, an anthology exploring the human experience and delving deep into themes of love, loss, and the search for meaning. Written in a haunting, lyrical style and set in a single fantasy world, this collection is for readers looking for character-driven stories with strong emotional resonance.
Dedication
For Renley Chu, my Kochan, my 知己
You are mine and I am yours, forever
Table of Contents
Glass Bottle - Two strangers, separated by stormy seas, find solace and connection through messages in bottles, weathering personal tempests as they yearn for a meeting that seems just out of reach.
A Whisper in the Ear of the Eternal - The timeless spirit of Winter learns the bittersweet lessons of love, loss, and identity when a mortal man enters her eternal world.
Walls - In a world where walls divide more than just spaces, a rebel leader's imprisonment sets off a haunting exploration of memory and betrayal.
A Song of Rain - A musician finds solace and understanding through music as he grapples with the death of a troubled artist he loved.
Stardust in Your Veins - Fate is written in the stars. A young seer must grapple with his own destiny and the profound bond he shares with his sister in the face of terminal illness.
Remember - A chance encounter beneath a starlit grove of peach trees awakens bittersweet memories of a lost love.
Until the Sun Sets Again - Kindred souls navigate the delicate balance between autonomy and connection, their paths diverging and converging in a dance of growth and acceptance.
Tale of Two Brothers - Two brothers born of a forbidden love must navigate the complexities of their intertwined destinies, their unbreakable bond tested by the call of their ancestral elements.
Her Name is Beloved - A mother's unwavering devotion follows her daughter's journey from abandonment to finding the transformative power of friendship and the beauty within herself.
Unraveled Strings - Two souls bound by silver and gold must navigate a world that seeks to tear them apart, leaving one to rot in darkness and the other to face a haunting decision.
Born, Bound, Blind - In a kingdom where the walls whisper secrets, a prince and his ghost companion navigate the trials of growing up, ruling, and the heartache of an unbreakable bond fractured by the relentless march of time.
The Demon’s Lament - An angel and a demon find themselves ensnared in a forbidden love that defies the very laws of the universe, their hearts intertwined in a bittersweet tale of yearning, sacrifice, and the enduring power of a love that knows no bounds.
Beneath the Hawthorn Tree - A young woman reflects on her relationship with a restless lover beneath the symbolic hawthorn tree, as the winds of change threaten to tear their world apart.
Koi no Yokan - An exploration of a connection forged across time and distance, weaving together themes of love, resilience, and the indomitable human spirit.
Introduction
The concept for this anthology was conceived between my son, Ren, and me as a means to channel our experiences with love and grief. While each story can be read on its own without context, a single string runs through all of them that deals with different kinds of love, which, for one reason or another, breaks apart. However, there are tales in this collection that offer some redemption in the midst of loss, and these we hope thread a skein of meaning and hope across an otherwise bleak canvas. Because in a world of billions, against all odds, we found each other and knew in a moment that our souls were one.
Once there was a boy and a girl who met when the leaves were just beginning to fall.
He, a boy with broken wings whose heart could carry the world. She, a girl who didn’t realize there was room enough in hers to hold him.
Distance is merely a number to those whose spirits cross oceans to intertwine with one another.
So it was with them.
Their voices made their way through armory of stone to whisper gentleness to soothe secret bruises. And as the days blended, one into another, they found a refuge in each other.
Though the outside world clamored, and inside it crumbed into chaos, still they remained.
“Don’t let me go,” they would say to each other.
“I won’t. I won’t.”
And they were okay. Because they had each other.
“Who am I to you?”
“You’re the one who knows the melody of my heart.”
Some Reader Reviews
I’ve sat on writing this review for a little bit, not so much because I didn’t know what I wanted to say, but because I’m afraid I won’t be able to do this book justice.
At its essence, this is an anthology of short stories written between two soulmates and published after Renley’s death. I think it’s important to read the About the Authors section as well as the Editor’s Dedication to get a feel for the why behind this book. The two authors not only both have a gift for lyrical writing, but more importantly, shared a deep soul connection that comes through in every page. A connection like this doesn’t happen often, possibly not at all for some people. I’ve experienced it, and have never attempted to put it into words due to feeling inadequate to that task. Fortunately, this book has done it for me.
It’s a short read with not so much stories as moments in time. Or rather, the emotion of a moment in time. In many stories, that moment is just after a loss or the break in a relationship. Loss is a major theme in this anthology, as is love, grief, and redemption. While I favored some stories over others, all are lyrical and enthralling and my recommendation is not to read this straight through, but to choose a story every few days in order to have time to absorb it before moving on. I’ve come back to the Epilogue several times, lost in the beauty of what appears to be the authors writing to each other. It’s so moving, it’s poetry.
This is possibly my shortest review to date, but there’s not much more I can say. This anthology deserves to be read by anyone who has loved, or lost, or just believes in love that last beyond lifetimes.—Ann Dudzinski, Goodreads Review
For me at least, this isn't the kind of collection you can just blast through in one sitting. I had to read through it a bit at a time, giving myself time to digest and feel. To be honest, this book isn’t my typical fare—but even without the action and adventure I usually go for, I still felt a deep appreciation for the facets of love that are showcased in these stories.
Something this book touches on a lot is the complexity of human emotion. Renley Chu takes on the challenge of putting that complexity into words, and the result is a series of stories that form a potent reminder of just how hard it is to understand ourselves, let alone others. These stories are a wonderful combination of artistically abstract and intimately specific, sketching characters in just enough detail that we can catch a glimpse of their lives and experiences. In some ways, I think the briefness of each story supports another theme of the collection itself—the way time moves forward without asking for anyone’s permission. I would’ve liked to hear more about some of these characters, but upon further thought it seems fitting that there wasn’t more said about them.
Here’s one of my favorite quotes, which I think really illustrates the beautiful prose of this book: “One day,” he said, “this grief will pass for us both. You will walk beneath the light of the dawn, bringing light wherever you set your feet, even as I set forth my efforts to undo the good. One day we will not weep at the coming of the night. And we will lift our gaze to the distant hills where we whispered of a love we dared not reach for. And the world will shift as we know it will, until the seas have carved away the shores, and the land is no longer the one we once knew.”—Kim Chia, Amazon Review
Melody of Your Heart hooks you right from the introduction. You can tell from the beginning that it’s a truly heartfelt piece of work, unique from any other. I particularly enjoyed how there were shorter pieces as well as longer ones, and the shorter pieces create an evocative space within themselves— they’re like small snippets of poetic art that shows you just how honest and heartfelt this piece of work is. This is definitely worth the read!
—Heidi Wong, author of Turning to Wallpaper
Beautiful writing. Looking forward to the book.
Will there be an ebook version? :)