Elegant and explicit, tender and arousing, these erotic stories articulate your fantasies. Carolyn Banks's heroines come from the ranks of the familiar: housewives, nurses, officeworkers, students - all recognizable. The sexual tension arises as these women manage - through imagination, wit, and an occasional flirtation with the occult or the taboo - to put a fine erotic edge on their daily lives. Some of her heroines are innocents; others have been married long enough to suggest their couplings might be tinged a shade of jade. However, all triumph in these well-crafted sexy stories. These twenty-three stories explore a variety of characters and situations: In "A Long, Long Time," only the impassioned language of the body - of two bodies - is needed when an American tourist meets a handsome native of Florence. And in another story, Carolyn Banks cautions the reader, when eating Chinese, to take your fortune seriously. She's forty-two, he's twenty-four; "Malaquite" tells the story of a passion that bridges the ages. And in "Salon Satin," one woman discovers a delicious way to lose weight that doesn't require dieting. Sometimes teasing and innocent, sometimes biting and arch, sometimes deep in dreamy sensuality, these stories all build to a satisfying last-line release. Whether read alone or shared with someone, Tart Tales will delight and titillate.
Reviews
Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
This uneven collection of 23 very short stories, 14 of which have previously been published, unintentionally reminds readers that not all things sexual are necessarily erotic. Banks's ( Mr. Right ) most memorable offerings are more humorous than lascivious: in ``Silk Lady,'' a desperate woman approaches two prostitutes her husband frequents, asking that they teach her everything they know, and in ``The Wish,'' a drab museum curator tries to cast a love spell on the scholar for whom she lusts. Some selections--for instance, ``Shhh, Shhh, It's Christmas,'' about a woman who learns of her husband's affair just before the holiday--seem more likely to douse than to fan the flames of passion. Seemingly aimed at white, heterosexual women, the collection features rough-and-ready studs, introverted and girlish women just discovering desire, and stereotypical, sometimes racist portrayals of blacks (``An Early American Love Story''), Latinos (``A Real One'') and gays (``The Wish''). Although a few tales, like the fantasy-driven ``Malaquite,'' are truly steamy, his book promises more than it delivers, and the omission of several tales might have improved the overall effect. (Feb.)
From Barnes & Noble
Carolyn Banks's remarkable heroines, though drawn from the familiar ranks of housewives, nurses, officeworkers and students, manage--through imagination, wit, and an occasional flirtation with the occult or taboo--to put a fine erotic edge on their everyday lives. Elegant and explicit, tender and arousing, these twenty-three stories articulate your most delightful fantasies.