Saint Valentine's Day

A story of love and techno-disaster in New York City...

On Valentine's Day, an epic storm hits the Big Apple, and Amy desperately wants to get home to her daughter.

When the storm becomes part of an ominous military attack, a beloved stranger on Amy's subway car rises to the terrible challenge with the old school courage of St. Valentine. But how will they survive?

Author’s Note: I wrote this story in February 2011. At the time, we in New York were having a lovely winter, with weekly blizzards, massive shut downs, and general angst about the economy, terrorists, etc.

My mood demanded an apocalyptic tale. Instead of writing a story set in a distant place and time, or one long after “the end,” I instead wrote a story that extrapolated from the crummier aspects of daily life, a tale that I could easily imagine happening down the street from here, next Thursday.

But the story is about more than this. “Saint Valentine’s Day” is really about love, and the sacrifice that love demands. So often, the problems in our lives – the big ones, the little ones even more – blind us to the people who matter the most, the people who bring magic into the world, no matter how grim it can sometimes get during the daily grind.

You might love a child the way that Amy loves Suki. Or it’s your passion for classical music that means everything to you. Or maybe you just love life itself, in all of its imperfect, crummy glory.

When things go apocalyptic, it’s love that matters in the end…