Nymph [Paperback]

Francesca Lia Block (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the beloved Weetzie Bat books and other popular YA titles offers a slim collection of adult stories, erotica for grown-up goth maidens and sexpots who like their tales of passion infused with witchy magic. These nine interconnected tales celebrate carnal delights and the transformative power of love, with occasional lapses into syrupy repetition, but they also peek compassionately into romances laced with themes of grief, heartbreak and renewal. A bummed-out surfer gets a second chance at happiness when he meets a beautiful woman in a wheelchair, who may or may not be a mermaid. The spirits of these lovers mythically revitalize the relationship between Sylvie and Ben, a couple whose sex life is on the skids when Sylvie's antidepressants flatten her libido. Sylvie reappears elsewhere, as the sister of a cancer patient, David, who dies in spite of a loving nurse's attempt at sexual healing. Another recurring character is Plum, who has "the gift of love": those she sleeps with meet their true love soon after. Plum is therefore always being left: in "Milagro," she shares an idyllic night with the boy she loves, only to find out he's gay; in another story she sleeps with Sylvie, allowing Sylvie to meet Ben. Plum discovers that her gift can come full circle when she wins the love of aspiring actor Elvis Dean, who has been inconsolable since his girlfriend Coco left him to become a stripper and was mutilated by a plastic surgeon. All set in Los Angeles, 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. (June) FYI: Nymph is Circlet Press's first hardcover title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

YA novelist Block (I Was a Teenage Fairy, 1998, etc.) moves into the adult market—the very adult market—in a series of tales tied together by lyrical sex that would stir a wooden Indian.So many of these spirited sketches turn on sexual metamorphosis that readers may wonder whether Block has been boning up on Ted Hughes’s wonderful Tales from Ovid. Tom Mac (‘Mer’) is an aging surfer who has lost the urge to ride the waves until one day in the rain he meets a girl in a wheelchair, her T-shirt plastered to her breasts and her nipples hard. Her legs stay covered while they make all sorts of love short of coitus. The girl is, of course, a goddess of the sea, though we never find out whether she has a mermaid’s tail. Tom takes up surfing again, and their love life only improves. In the title piece, young Sylvie is screwing anything in reach—guys with swastikas, whatever—but is quite unhappy about her nymphomania. Then Sylvie’s best friend, Plum, a fellow poet of the slams, reveals that all the women who go to bed with her find dreamy guys and leave her for them. So shouldn’t Sylvie have shy and tender sex with Plum? Assuredly. In ‘Goddess,’ Elvis Dean’s girlfriend dumps him, then reappears dancing in a strip bar called House of Goddess—only now she has a cat’s face. Mr. Wonder, the magician owner of the House, won’t let any of his surgically altered employees leave unless a man truly loves them. Will Elvis take her back? The final story, ‘Overcoming,’ turns on Carmelita’s fantasies of transformation, which she thinks will keep her lover, Tony, from wandering. But only the fantasies bring her to orgasm, never Tony. Until . . . . Call these bedtime firecrackers. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Circlet Press (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885865430
• ISBN-13: 978-1885865434
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Erotica > General
  • #49 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > General

More About the Author

Francesca Lia Block, recipient of the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award. has been publishing novels, short stories, essays, memoirs and poetry since 1989. Her work has been translated into many languages. Ms. Block lives in Los Angeles where she teaches writing workshops that are also available online.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating book of subtleties and sensations., September 8, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nymph (Hardcover)

Part of the fun of being a reviewer is seeing something unusual appear in my mail box. I review for a handful of academic journals and my beat is academic criticism, which I review a lot of almost whether I want, or not. Well, Nymph (a handsomely packaged little hardcover collection), by Francesca Lia Block, & Jaeda DeWalt (Illustrator) is a collection of nine tales of erotic fantasy, Mer: Spirit: Milk: Milagro: Nymph: Goddess: Plum: Fox: Change. All, the tales are loosely linked together evoke and then blend classical, literary Motifs, with contemporary, settings, lifestyles, and preferences.

Sadly a major reviewer thought it was his job to thumbnail he contents telegraph (his understanding ) intent of each story. was He used turgid and descriptive language, almost as if you were reviewing an industrial strength porn film. I think he missed the intended market for this work. I will not do that.

It is a challenge to say which story I liked the most because in a sense all of then work together a part of a greater whole. I read the entire book in one sitting and have decided to go with those impressions. Mer was a wonderful story which evoked some long latent imagery from Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock in my mind, it then took us past it to a liberating and mysterious ending, something that has been for over 80 years since Eliot wrote it. Milk was a different story about love and death, and, and Fox, resonate well with some the Images of Well's The Island of Dr Moreau;. Another thing I liked about by Francesca Lia Block, was the way she wrote about and to an extent towards, and about, but not exclusively for, women.

This is a book of subtleties and sensations directed more towards our Senses and sensibilities than our base desire to read about good hot sex in graphic and descriptive language. Francesca Lia Block sharpens our senses with anticipation rather then numbing them with receptive and un mediated images. She understands well the potential of Fantasy Genre to support this type of the erotic short story in the New Millennium

It is interesting that and evolving Fantasy Genre has the potential to function as the last refuge for the erotic short story. Circlet Press www.circlet.com has an informative website which foregrounds many very interesting projects, which are directed to a wide range of preferences. I would encourage the reader to check it out. Hardcover, 126 pages

Phillip Kaveny, Reviewer

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NOT QUALITY LITERATURE, BUT ENTERTAINING!!!, March 4, 2001

By 

Miss D. AwesomePants "Amazon Junkie" (Hoboken, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nymph (Hardcover)

Whereas I'd never call this book quality literature, it is definately entertaining. I read it in under an hour, and it kept my heart beating. It tells several love stories (all heterosexual, except one lesbian story), which are unrelated, but each have one similar character from another to keep them linked... which is a very clever tactic. It's very sexy and magical, and great for a saturday night home alone or a snowed-in sunday afternoon. I definately reccomend this book as a light, frivolous read. Enjoy!! (By the way, the hardcover edition is pocket-sized and purple - very cute.)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the healing power of sex, July 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Nymph (Paperback)

I first read one of the stories in this little book, Mer, in another anthology. I loved it. I review erotica/porn professionally and it was the best story I'd read in ages.

Something about her prose always touches me deeply, but her erotica - well, it brings tears to my eyes.

I don't think it's vulgar, I agree with previous reviewers that the negatives are written by teenagers who were unsuspecting as to the nature of the book since she writes more often for a younger audience. For those who have lived and loved for awhile, check this one out, it is truly lovely.