Synopses & Reviews
Francesca Lia Block's edgy tales of the Los Angeles dreamscape that is "Shangri-L.A." have thrilled millions of readers and literary critics alike. The author of
Weetzie Bat,
Violet & Clare,
Dangerous Angels,
Girl Goddess #9, and several other best-selling novels now brings her sensual, dream-like fantasies full circle with this work for adult readers,
Nymph. As in her other works, Block weaves together themes of subtle magic, youthful hopes, modern urban decay, and deep emotion, told with lyrical storybook language.
The stories in Nymph bear all the hallmarks of classic Francesca Lia Block punk spirited characters who celebrate love, life, and art with one important difference: this time the author carries her vision through the full range of emotion and erotic interaction that her mature audience craves. An interconnected series of stories, Nymph is a special journey through the lives and loves of characters like Plum, a Crayon-haired girl who has a gift: if she makes love with a person, that person will then meet their true love; or Tom, a burned out surfer whose luck changes when he is rescued by a mysterious, wheelchair-bound woman; or Sylvie, a chronically depressed poet who finds beauty in unexpected places.
Block's erotic explorations of these smoky, kaledioscopic fables are anything but conventional; these are stories of love, loss, and life, about the healing power of sex and bonding.
Review
"[E]rotica for grown-up goth maidens and sexpots who like their tales of passion infused with witchy magic....Block's tales feature her distinctive simplicity and sweetly sleazy downtown dreamers; the sex scenes are heady though hazy with a mystical slant that blunts the erotic edge and makes the collection palatable for hardcore romantics." Publishers Weekly
Review
"[A] series of tales tied together by lyrical sex that would stir a wooden Indian....Call these bedtime firecrackers." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Block takes Ovid's Metamorphoses as her model, spinning tales of the transformative powers of sex amid the sweet young outsiders who inhabit her enchanted vision of Los Angeles. The prosaic exists comfortably with the uncanny in Block's fictional universe." Washington Post Book World
Review
"It's quite tasty." Lambda Book Report