A neurotically jealous band of celebrities’ children abandons one of their pack in the desert. A recovering nymphomaniac plots to kidnap her daughter from a religious cult she deems embarrassingly bland. A stage mother starves her daughter into permanent pre-pubescence then uses her to perpetrate a child abuse scam. Two call girls who operate as a fake twin act suspect each other of murdering their johns.
On the dark fringes of Hollywood’s sparkling glamour live the eternal strivers, the unsung unknowns whose unquenchable ambition and ambivalent compliance in their own exploitation fuel America’s dream factory. Set in the modern disengaged sprawl of Los Angeles, the characters are connected by their internal tangle of deluded grandeur and wrenching resilience. The heroines give a contemporary voice and fully-rendered consciousness to the mysterious, dangerous, devoid-of-inner-life femme fatales who have long been central to the city’s identity.
Auto-Erotica is a black valentine to the city of angels.
Stories from the collection have appeared or are forthcoming in Southern California Review, Willow Springs, Wisconsin Review, Dos Passos Review, NIGHT, Smoke Signals, Confrontation, Quarterly West, and The Massachusetts Review.
