What do you think?
Rate this book
White Flames: Erotic Dreams
In this groundbreaking collection Cecilia Tan ( Black Feathers -15,000 copies sold) blurs definitions of sexuality and redefines women's erotica. She delves deep into the world of dark fantasy in a powerful collection of stories that interweave the supernatural and science fiction with the fantasy of daydream; she brilliantly combines noir erotica with startling sensuality to shatter the physical and emotional boundaries of sex.
- GenresErotica
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2008
About the author
Cecilia Tan
204 books598 followersSusie Bright says, "Cecilia Tan is simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature." Since the publication of Telepaths Don't Need Safewords in 1992, she has been on the cutting edge of the erotic form, often combining elements of fantasy and science fiction in her work. She is also founder and editor of Circlet Press.
RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence from GRW in 2013. She has been publishing Daron's Guitar Chronicles as a web serial since 2009 and her Secrets of a Rock Star series (Taking the Lead, Wild Licks, Hard Rhythm) is published by Hachette/Forever. In 2018 Tor Books will launch her urban fantasy/paranormal series, The Vanished Chronicles. In her other life, Cecilia is also the editor of the Baseball Research Journal and publications director for SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.
RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence from GRW in 2013. She has been publishing Daron's Guitar Chronicles as a web serial since 2009 and her Secrets of a Rock Star series (Taking the Lead, Wild Licks, Hard Rhythm) is published by Hachette/Forever. In 2018 Tor Books will launch her urban fantasy/paranormal series, The Vanished Chronicles. In her other life, Cecilia is also the editor of the Baseball Research Journal and publications director for SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 6, 2010
Okay, let me premise by saying I didn't read the entire book. I couldn't...it didn't hold my interest at all. These are EXTREMELY short stories (the first one only two pages) and are more about artistry than plot, character development, and good sex. And that doesn't interest me. So this 2 star rating is based a lot on personal premise, but I couldn't even read more than about 1/3 of the book. Also, I found a story in there I had read previously in a different anthology and that was a huge turnoff for me....they aren't even all new. Stories this short are tough, but they should either have a strong character or have a detailed great sex scene, and they really had neither.
April 1, 2010
White Flames: Erotic Dreams by Cecilia Tan (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2008). ISBN: 978-0-78672-080-4.
Reviewed by Jean Roberta. 1,242 words.
-----------------------------------------
"It began in April, because she said that was when she began, and it was a time for new things. She taught me more than one new thing, like how to kiss her and fondle her at the same time without fumbling either one. She said my kiss resurrected her, and hers made me bloom."
Thus begins a bittersweet little story, "Love's Year," in Cecilia Tan's long-awaited new collection. This story neatly captures the flavor of a stereotypical affair between two women which lasts less than a year. The relationship is a cliche in lesbian culture, but the story is not. It could have been written in the 1970s, or in any decade since then. The narrator's witty word-play suggests the irony of hindsight.
The title "White Flames" suggests that this book is a contrasting sequel to the author's earlier collection, Black Feathers. Both titles suggest the sensory, concentrated, evocative nature of the author's style. White Flames includes a variety of different stories, loosely divided into sections according to theme. The book as a whole is a smorgasbord of convincing fantasy and dream-like realism. The sex seems profoundly natural, even when it involves high-tech toys and immortal shapeshifters. Gender and sexual orientation in these stories are equally fluid. Although this book was not published by Circlet Press, the company that Cecilia Tan founded as a home for erotic fantasy and sc-fi, it has the characteristics for which she and Circlet are known.
Several of these stories appeared first in theme anthologies. "Love's Year” was first published in a lesbian anthology of stories of less than 1,000 words. Two fantasy stories, “The Little Mermaid” (an erotic retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson story, as heartbreaking as the original) and “Rite of Spring,” were first published in the water-themed anthologies, Aqua Erotica and Wet: More Aqua Erotica.
”Rite of Spring” is a kind of ugly-duckling romance told by Melinne, one of the girls presented to a prince as a potential bride available for sexual testing. Melinne believes that the prince has inherited “the magic,” but she knows that her relative, who finds him unimpressive, is more likely to be noticed:
"Arnissa was next to me: her gown blue, her lily-white skin and her red hair glowing in the sun bathing the courtyard. My dress was red, my father's colors of course, my black hair hidden inside the hat they made me wear to keep my skin--which browned as easily as a chicken's in a fire--out of the sun."
By means of a classic subterfuge, Melinne is able to fulfill her wildest dreams of submission to one who is worthy of it.
In a more daring story which was published in Starf*cker, an anthology of sex fantasies about real celebrities, the "ugly duckling" is clearly identified as the author. She claims that the object of her crush is baseball player Derek Jeter, and that “I can't really impress him by telling him I'm a somewhat famous (or maybe infamous) erotic writer." If Jeter ever read Tan's fantasy, this reviewer hopes he was flattered.
The BDSM stories (to use a general term) in this collection are especially atmospheric. In "Storm Rider," Stormclaw is an elemental spirit who rides a motorcycle from town to town, looking for macho bigots who need to be taught a lesson. They confront him, and he answers honestly:
"'Jesus, look at you,' one of them says. 'What are you, some kind of a faggot?'
"Stormclaw lets a small smile onto his face. 'No. I'm a fairy.'" The bar bullies come to learn the power of a realm that is invisible to Muggles, the ignorant and the philistine.
Stormclaw's supernatural female companion is the Lady in Black, who has a story or two of her own. She drives down lonely roads, picking up male hitchhikers who consider her easy prey. She always punishes assailants, "And that is why all who harbor evil intentions should fear the Lady in Black." But sometimes she encourages their violence, and this is something that even her eternal companion Stormclaw can hardly bear:
"Stormclaw does not understand her need for these spears of mortal flesh plunging into her. He does not understand her fascination with these animals and their appetites."
Not until the superhuman strength of Stormclaw meets the superhuman hunger of the Lady in another story do they reach an ecstatic mutual awakening.
"Halloween" and "Lip Service" are more mundane stories of BDSM initiation, but they also have a pinch of fairy dust in them. In both stories, a brash young novice finds what she needs, partly by luck or by fate, in a bar which is a microcosm of the world. In "A Tale of the Marketplace," Tan confidently enters the imaginary world of Laura Antoniou's novels about an international organization which recruits, trains and sells voluntary slaves. Tan's story first appeared in The Academy, a collection of "Marketplace" stories by other erotic writers besides Antoniou. In Tan's story-within-a-story, an experienced trainer finds the female slave of his dreams and decides to keep her. The results are ironic, to say the least.
The uncanny intrusion of the timeless and the supernatural into the ephemeral culture of modern America seems to be most convincing in "Dragon Daughter." As the narrator herself explains it, this is a coming-of-age story. It is also a kind of "roots" story, and a caper story about a quest for an elusive prize. It could also be read as the story of a one-sided lesbian crush, as the doomed Romantic search for the ideal in the real, and even as a meditation on the sex trade. This story is a chameleon. What you find in it is likely to reflect what you are looking for.
Two stories in this book deal with the eroticism of rock music. "Balancing Act" is a realistic male-on-male story about a counsellor who at first regards himself as a model of gay-male self-acceptance and responsible partnerhood, and the troubled, dominated rock-star waif who bursts into the counsellor's life and shows him the cracks in it. "The Spark," a story about a girl-band touring some of the outer planets (told by Luna from the moon) includes a theory about why so many performers have died young:
"Glory had told me once that the Spark runs its course like a fever--oh sure, it could be years and years, but the hotter it burns the more likely it is to burn you up. At some point it burns out and leaves you high and dry and unable to function."
Most creative types (including erotic writers) occasionally wonder if this is the way inspiration and/or sexual energy works. Luckily, Luna finds a way to keep the Spark alight in each member of the group. The ending of this story makes a good conclusion to the book as a whole:
"'I'm sorry,' I said as I finished. 'I should have told you before. For some it becomes a curse...' I looked at Glory, still lying in state on the low table. 'But it is a gift, too.'
"In response, they came and kissed me, both together. I already had the sound in my head of the music we could make together."
The author's relationship with erotic fantasy literature as a genre and its community of fans seems equally symbiotic. This book is evidence that the magic works.
---------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by Jean Roberta. 1,242 words.
-----------------------------------------
"It began in April, because she said that was when she began, and it was a time for new things. She taught me more than one new thing, like how to kiss her and fondle her at the same time without fumbling either one. She said my kiss resurrected her, and hers made me bloom."
Thus begins a bittersweet little story, "Love's Year," in Cecilia Tan's long-awaited new collection. This story neatly captures the flavor of a stereotypical affair between two women which lasts less than a year. The relationship is a cliche in lesbian culture, but the story is not. It could have been written in the 1970s, or in any decade since then. The narrator's witty word-play suggests the irony of hindsight.
The title "White Flames" suggests that this book is a contrasting sequel to the author's earlier collection, Black Feathers. Both titles suggest the sensory, concentrated, evocative nature of the author's style. White Flames includes a variety of different stories, loosely divided into sections according to theme. The book as a whole is a smorgasbord of convincing fantasy and dream-like realism. The sex seems profoundly natural, even when it involves high-tech toys and immortal shapeshifters. Gender and sexual orientation in these stories are equally fluid. Although this book was not published by Circlet Press, the company that Cecilia Tan founded as a home for erotic fantasy and sc-fi, it has the characteristics for which she and Circlet are known.
Several of these stories appeared first in theme anthologies. "Love's Year” was first published in a lesbian anthology of stories of less than 1,000 words. Two fantasy stories, “The Little Mermaid” (an erotic retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson story, as heartbreaking as the original) and “Rite of Spring,” were first published in the water-themed anthologies, Aqua Erotica and Wet: More Aqua Erotica.
”Rite of Spring” is a kind of ugly-duckling romance told by Melinne, one of the girls presented to a prince as a potential bride available for sexual testing. Melinne believes that the prince has inherited “the magic,” but she knows that her relative, who finds him unimpressive, is more likely to be noticed:
"Arnissa was next to me: her gown blue, her lily-white skin and her red hair glowing in the sun bathing the courtyard. My dress was red, my father's colors of course, my black hair hidden inside the hat they made me wear to keep my skin--which browned as easily as a chicken's in a fire--out of the sun."
By means of a classic subterfuge, Melinne is able to fulfill her wildest dreams of submission to one who is worthy of it.
In a more daring story which was published in Starf*cker, an anthology of sex fantasies about real celebrities, the "ugly duckling" is clearly identified as the author. She claims that the object of her crush is baseball player Derek Jeter, and that “I can't really impress him by telling him I'm a somewhat famous (or maybe infamous) erotic writer." If Jeter ever read Tan's fantasy, this reviewer hopes he was flattered.
The BDSM stories (to use a general term) in this collection are especially atmospheric. In "Storm Rider," Stormclaw is an elemental spirit who rides a motorcycle from town to town, looking for macho bigots who need to be taught a lesson. They confront him, and he answers honestly:
"'Jesus, look at you,' one of them says. 'What are you, some kind of a faggot?'
"Stormclaw lets a small smile onto his face. 'No. I'm a fairy.'" The bar bullies come to learn the power of a realm that is invisible to Muggles, the ignorant and the philistine.
Stormclaw's supernatural female companion is the Lady in Black, who has a story or two of her own. She drives down lonely roads, picking up male hitchhikers who consider her easy prey. She always punishes assailants, "And that is why all who harbor evil intentions should fear the Lady in Black." But sometimes she encourages their violence, and this is something that even her eternal companion Stormclaw can hardly bear:
"Stormclaw does not understand her need for these spears of mortal flesh plunging into her. He does not understand her fascination with these animals and their appetites."
Not until the superhuman strength of Stormclaw meets the superhuman hunger of the Lady in another story do they reach an ecstatic mutual awakening.
"Halloween" and "Lip Service" are more mundane stories of BDSM initiation, but they also have a pinch of fairy dust in them. In both stories, a brash young novice finds what she needs, partly by luck or by fate, in a bar which is a microcosm of the world. In "A Tale of the Marketplace," Tan confidently enters the imaginary world of Laura Antoniou's novels about an international organization which recruits, trains and sells voluntary slaves. Tan's story first appeared in The Academy, a collection of "Marketplace" stories by other erotic writers besides Antoniou. In Tan's story-within-a-story, an experienced trainer finds the female slave of his dreams and decides to keep her. The results are ironic, to say the least.
The uncanny intrusion of the timeless and the supernatural into the ephemeral culture of modern America seems to be most convincing in "Dragon Daughter." As the narrator herself explains it, this is a coming-of-age story. It is also a kind of "roots" story, and a caper story about a quest for an elusive prize. It could also be read as the story of a one-sided lesbian crush, as the doomed Romantic search for the ideal in the real, and even as a meditation on the sex trade. This story is a chameleon. What you find in it is likely to reflect what you are looking for.
Two stories in this book deal with the eroticism of rock music. "Balancing Act" is a realistic male-on-male story about a counsellor who at first regards himself as a model of gay-male self-acceptance and responsible partnerhood, and the troubled, dominated rock-star waif who bursts into the counsellor's life and shows him the cracks in it. "The Spark," a story about a girl-band touring some of the outer planets (told by Luna from the moon) includes a theory about why so many performers have died young:
"Glory had told me once that the Spark runs its course like a fever--oh sure, it could be years and years, but the hotter it burns the more likely it is to burn you up. At some point it burns out and leaves you high and dry and unable to function."
Most creative types (including erotic writers) occasionally wonder if this is the way inspiration and/or sexual energy works. Luckily, Luna finds a way to keep the Spark alight in each member of the group. The ending of this story makes a good conclusion to the book as a whole:
"'I'm sorry,' I said as I finished. 'I should have told you before. For some it becomes a curse...' I looked at Glory, still lying in state on the low table. 'But it is a gift, too.'
"In response, they came and kissed me, both together. I already had the sound in my head of the music we could make together."
The author's relationship with erotic fantasy literature as a genre and its community of fans seems equally symbiotic. This book is evidence that the magic works.
---------------------------------------------------
May 28, 2012
Hallelujah! That was my cry after reading the first two stories in Cecilia Tan's single-author collection WHITE FLAMES. Needless to say, my husband, reading in bed next to me, was a bit startled. When I explained, though, he understood completely.
With review commitments to several venues, regular crits for colleagues, plus a personal predeliction for erotica, I probably read a dozen erotic short stories a month. Most of these stories are adequate: reasonably well-written, moderately engaging, mildly arousing. Rarely do I encounter stories that I consider exceptional, stories that excite me in a literary rather than a physical sense.
What does it take for me to be excited by a story? Each case varies, but I look for an original premise, a unique voice, unconventional characters, and most of all, a treatment of sex more as an emotional or spiritual adventure than as a conjunction of body parts.
I'm delighted to report that, by my definition, many of the tales in Cecilia Tan's collection are exceptional.
Ms. Tan has a reputation for "speculative erotica", erotic fantasy and science fiction. It's easy to be original, one might argue, when one can build one's own worlds and write one's own rules. Yet almost half of the stories in WHITE DREAMS are contemporary erotica, with barely a whiff of fantasy.
Among my favorites is "Just Tell Me the Rules". A woman who is saving her virginity for marriage sends her housemate/fiance off on a business trip, only to have his best friend arrive at her door, a challenge to what she thought she wanted. Another delight is "Always", a down-to-earth tale of a loving threesome that begins with
a scene all too familiar from my days in New England:
"A raw spring day in Somerville, me in galoshes and a pair of my father's old painting pant with a snow shovel, cursing and trying to lift a cinderblock-sized (and -weighted) chunk of wet packed snow off
the walkway of our three-decker."
Vivid and concrete one moment, Ms. Tan can wax tender and raunchy the next:
"Morgan's hands travel up my thighs like they come out of a dream. It never occurs to me to stop her. Sex with Morgan is as easy and natural as saying yes to a bite of chocolate from the proffered bar of a friend. Before her fingers even reach the elastic edge of my panties I am already shifting my hips, already breathing deeper, already
thinking about the way her fingers will touch and tease me, how one slim finger will slide deep into me when I am wet, how good it feels to play with her hair on my belly, how much I want her. With Morgan, I always come."
Then there's "Baseball Fever", Ms. Tan's hilarious and highly explicit fantasy about a Yankee rookie for whom she has the hots: "This guy's got destiny. He fits right in with multi-ethic New York, too - half-black, half-white, cannily polite with the media but cocky as hell when he gets on the field." I'm not much of a sports fan, but when Tan brought Tiger Woods into the final scene of the fantasy, "just to make sure it's not 100% percent heterosexual", I laughed until my stomach hurt.
At first glance, one might dismiss "Halloween" as an instance of the overworked "girl meets dominant man of her dreams in a bar" genre. Tan brings new life to the old scenario, partly due to the kick-ass attitude of the world-weary Goth narrator. "The Hard Sell" is a tale of a modern woman longing to escape from the labels and slogans that society applies to everything and everyone around her - including the man who drives her into a frenzy.
Although WHITE FLAMES includes some excellent realistic pieces, I must admit that myth and magic lie at its heart. The middle hundred pages of the book are devoted to fantasy, starting with a stunningly erotic retelling of "The Little Mermaid" then flowering into more original tales. In "Bodies of Water", a team of archeologists discover an
ancient ship on the floor of the Mediterranean. The discovery transforms them, both literally and figuratively. "Dragon's Daughter" is a fascinating tale of a Chinese-American girl who learns that she's an immortal who can travel through time and space to anywhere Chinese culture dominates.
"This is the ignominy of the American educational system: that to speak the tongue of my ancestors I had to fight to be enrolled in a special college class and trudge to it every morning at 8:00. I didn't think I knew the words to explain what I was doing there, anyway... I had no words yet for worry or conflict or secret or dream."
Three amazing stories featuring the same characters - Stormclaw and The Lady in Black - conclude this section. Like so many characters in the today's wildly popular "paranormal" genre, Stormclaw and the Lady are "elementals" - creatures of wind and fire and earth. They are not just people with special powers, however. They are truly inhuman, incomprehensible to and uncomprehending of the mortals among whom they move. They are drawn to human passion, yet do not understand it.
These stories are lyrical and intense, strange and haunting.
"He flies. He flies over clouds as dark as his hair, his eyes, his mood, as he thinks about her. Stormclaw is the dragon of the wind, coiling his power like a cyclone, soaring over night sky, moving eastward like a front of incipient weather. He sees without eyes, senses without skin, when he is the wind, considers without thought, and loves without a heart."
Stormclaw haunts seedy bars, taunting the men who drink there, trying to remember what it is that he seeks.
"Stormclaw feels the first strike of the leather cat-o-nine cross his back like the first bite into a sour summer fruit, a rich and intense pleasure. He draws breath waiting for the next blow to fall, and as he exhales he feels Ravenhair's breath on his shoulder--they are like one animal, tensing and then letting go, and then gathering themselves again. Breathe in, tense for the strike, then let go as the pain rains down around you."
One of the delightful aspects of this collection is its inclusiveness. These stories embrace all orientations, without self-consciousness or politicizing. WHITE FLAMES offers FF, MM, FMF, and FFF tales, not to mention sexually-aware mermaids and robots. In Ms. Tan's worlds, desire is a universal force, not confined to any particular gender or even species.
The book ends with three science fiction tales, of which the best is "The Spark". What if the magical energy that seems to animate the gods and goddesses of rock and roll was a real, measurable force, that could be stoked, and shared -- and lost?
WHITE FLAMES includes a few stories that are hohum, but Ms. Tan hits the target far more often than she falls short. If you enjoy literary erotica that will make you wonder as often as it makes you sweat, I highly recommend this volume.
With review commitments to several venues, regular crits for colleagues, plus a personal predeliction for erotica, I probably read a dozen erotic short stories a month. Most of these stories are adequate: reasonably well-written, moderately engaging, mildly arousing. Rarely do I encounter stories that I consider exceptional, stories that excite me in a literary rather than a physical sense.
What does it take for me to be excited by a story? Each case varies, but I look for an original premise, a unique voice, unconventional characters, and most of all, a treatment of sex more as an emotional or spiritual adventure than as a conjunction of body parts.
I'm delighted to report that, by my definition, many of the tales in Cecilia Tan's collection are exceptional.
Ms. Tan has a reputation for "speculative erotica", erotic fantasy and science fiction. It's easy to be original, one might argue, when one can build one's own worlds and write one's own rules. Yet almost half of the stories in WHITE DREAMS are contemporary erotica, with barely a whiff of fantasy.
Among my favorites is "Just Tell Me the Rules". A woman who is saving her virginity for marriage sends her housemate/fiance off on a business trip, only to have his best friend arrive at her door, a challenge to what she thought she wanted. Another delight is "Always", a down-to-earth tale of a loving threesome that begins with
a scene all too familiar from my days in New England:
"A raw spring day in Somerville, me in galoshes and a pair of my father's old painting pant with a snow shovel, cursing and trying to lift a cinderblock-sized (and -weighted) chunk of wet packed snow off
the walkway of our three-decker."
Vivid and concrete one moment, Ms. Tan can wax tender and raunchy the next:
"Morgan's hands travel up my thighs like they come out of a dream. It never occurs to me to stop her. Sex with Morgan is as easy and natural as saying yes to a bite of chocolate from the proffered bar of a friend. Before her fingers even reach the elastic edge of my panties I am already shifting my hips, already breathing deeper, already
thinking about the way her fingers will touch and tease me, how one slim finger will slide deep into me when I am wet, how good it feels to play with her hair on my belly, how much I want her. With Morgan, I always come."
Then there's "Baseball Fever", Ms. Tan's hilarious and highly explicit fantasy about a Yankee rookie for whom she has the hots: "This guy's got destiny. He fits right in with multi-ethic New York, too - half-black, half-white, cannily polite with the media but cocky as hell when he gets on the field." I'm not much of a sports fan, but when Tan brought Tiger Woods into the final scene of the fantasy, "just to make sure it's not 100% percent heterosexual", I laughed until my stomach hurt.
At first glance, one might dismiss "Halloween" as an instance of the overworked "girl meets dominant man of her dreams in a bar" genre. Tan brings new life to the old scenario, partly due to the kick-ass attitude of the world-weary Goth narrator. "The Hard Sell" is a tale of a modern woman longing to escape from the labels and slogans that society applies to everything and everyone around her - including the man who drives her into a frenzy.
Although WHITE FLAMES includes some excellent realistic pieces, I must admit that myth and magic lie at its heart. The middle hundred pages of the book are devoted to fantasy, starting with a stunningly erotic retelling of "The Little Mermaid" then flowering into more original tales. In "Bodies of Water", a team of archeologists discover an
ancient ship on the floor of the Mediterranean. The discovery transforms them, both literally and figuratively. "Dragon's Daughter" is a fascinating tale of a Chinese-American girl who learns that she's an immortal who can travel through time and space to anywhere Chinese culture dominates.
"This is the ignominy of the American educational system: that to speak the tongue of my ancestors I had to fight to be enrolled in a special college class and trudge to it every morning at 8:00. I didn't think I knew the words to explain what I was doing there, anyway... I had no words yet for worry or conflict or secret or dream."
Three amazing stories featuring the same characters - Stormclaw and The Lady in Black - conclude this section. Like so many characters in the today's wildly popular "paranormal" genre, Stormclaw and the Lady are "elementals" - creatures of wind and fire and earth. They are not just people with special powers, however. They are truly inhuman, incomprehensible to and uncomprehending of the mortals among whom they move. They are drawn to human passion, yet do not understand it.
These stories are lyrical and intense, strange and haunting.
"He flies. He flies over clouds as dark as his hair, his eyes, his mood, as he thinks about her. Stormclaw is the dragon of the wind, coiling his power like a cyclone, soaring over night sky, moving eastward like a front of incipient weather. He sees without eyes, senses without skin, when he is the wind, considers without thought, and loves without a heart."
Stormclaw haunts seedy bars, taunting the men who drink there, trying to remember what it is that he seeks.
"Stormclaw feels the first strike of the leather cat-o-nine cross his back like the first bite into a sour summer fruit, a rich and intense pleasure. He draws breath waiting for the next blow to fall, and as he exhales he feels Ravenhair's breath on his shoulder--they are like one animal, tensing and then letting go, and then gathering themselves again. Breathe in, tense for the strike, then let go as the pain rains down around you."
One of the delightful aspects of this collection is its inclusiveness. These stories embrace all orientations, without self-consciousness or politicizing. WHITE FLAMES offers FF, MM, FMF, and FFF tales, not to mention sexually-aware mermaids and robots. In Ms. Tan's worlds, desire is a universal force, not confined to any particular gender or even species.
The book ends with three science fiction tales, of which the best is "The Spark". What if the magical energy that seems to animate the gods and goddesses of rock and roll was a real, measurable force, that could be stoked, and shared -- and lost?
WHITE FLAMES includes a few stories that are hohum, but Ms. Tan hits the target far more often than she falls short. If you enjoy literary erotica that will make you wonder as often as it makes you sweat, I highly recommend this volume.
August 5, 2021
(Review) White Flames by Cecilia Tan. A book of erotic short stories. Haha. A fun book, some graphic, many of them interesting. Some, I didn't really get. Overall, a great intro to erotic literature. The proper one, not the 50 Shades one.
.
Cecilia's writing style is fantastic. Interesting, graphic, yet portrays a very American element to it. The stories are of a few categories - urban ones, disconnect, love and myth and folklore. One or two really resonated with me. Most, not so much lah.
.
A pleasant read, especially after the mess of last week. I needed something light and different and haha this was SUPER different. I had fun reading this.
.
Cecilia's writing style is fantastic. Interesting, graphic, yet portrays a very American element to it. The stories are of a few categories - urban ones, disconnect, love and myth and folklore. One or two really resonated with me. Most, not so much lah.
.
A pleasant read, especially after the mess of last week. I needed something light and different and haha this was SUPER different. I had fun reading this.
December 5, 2008
My review appears at the Internet Review of Science Fiction
IROSF review
If it asks you to subscribe to see the article, it is free. (And if you're into SF, a good site to know about.)
IROSF review
If it asks you to subscribe to see the article, it is free. (And if you're into SF, a good site to know about.)
April 4, 2010
Not as good as I had hoped, but some were interesting.
January 3, 2012
Tan's erotic stories are always a treat.
June 27, 2015
This book was passed on to me with a hearty recommendation. Disappointed, didn't finish it, although... I would have appreciated it greatly when I was 16.
November 13, 2013
you need to read this book.....just too darn good. I love erotic short stories...my fav.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews