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Quiet day here at the hacienda once the kids left for school and Scout decided to take a long nap. It gave me just the right amount of time to read the latest offering from Edwards' winner Francesca Lia Block. I have been a fan of hers since WEETZIE BAT, her first offering for YA readers. Once I understood the genre of magical realism, that is. At first, I was just plain puzzled. Now, I enjoy reading this genre.
BLOOD ROSES is a collection of short stories, actually almost vignettes, that will provide readers new to the genre an interesting introduction. Centaurs, fairies, and other magical creatures exist alongside the more ordinary humans. The interaction is sometimes wonderful and occasionally dangerous. One young woman, in love with a tattoo artists, finds herself being covered in the wearable art. Two girls search for the rare blood rose in the canyon near their homes. Blood roses are rumored to be present only when someone is near death. Can doll houses be haunted? How would it be if your mother were a vampire? These and other questions provide grist for Block's exquisitely wrought fiction.