C. A. Valentine was born in Pasadena, California. He grew up in nearby Claremont, and attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he received his B.A. in Japanese Language and Literature. After graduating, he accepted a position teaching in the Hokuriku region of Japan, where he was inspired to write his first novel, Okey-Dokey Sensei. He met his wife while working in Toyama, Japan in 2012.

Valentine was profoundly influenced by a mixture of both American and Japanese authors, including Haruki Murakami, Natsume Soseki, Thomas Lopez, and H. P. Lovecraft.