Gods, demigods and SoCal
Francesca Lia Block combines her love of myth and her home region in her latest
Francesca Lia Block had what she called a “strange and mysterious moment” after getting lost while exploring the area surrounding the tiny Salton Sea community of Bombay Beach.
“Mapquest led us to a random, tiny little street in the middle of nowhere,” says Block on a recent video call. “It was Isis and First Street, literally in my direct line of vision,”
Finding that intersection in the midst of the desert may have been a moment of kismet for the author, whose latest novel, “House of Hearts” (in stores today via Rare Bird Books), is both inspired by Egyptian mythology and set largely around the Salton Sea.
In it, Block's heroine, Izzy Ames, sets out to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of her boyfriend, Cyrus Rivera.
“It's a quest story. It's a search for the beloved as well as, ultimately, the self, and it's a fertility myth,” says Block. “All of those elements I was drawn to and hadn't been able to find a story to utilize them within until this idea came to me.”
Los Angeles-based Block had spent a bit of time living in Joshua Tree, and when the idea for the story that would become “House of Hearts” came to her, the desert proved to be a fitting home. Joshua Tree plays a role in the book, but as she explored the broad expanse of this region, Block was attracted to destinations near the Salton Sea, like a drive-in movie theater in Bombay Beach and Salvation Mountain.
“This sort of beauty within the very stark landscape interested me,” she says.
Author Francesca Lia Block ventures into the Southern California desert in new novel “House of Hearts,” set near the Salton Sea.
The setting also allowed Block to touch on climate change and environmental issues, which she says are often on her mind.
“I think about them all the time, but I never really know how to fix it. I feel a little overwhelmed,” she says. “I wanted to at least incorporate that into Izzy's story by setting it there — and also in terms
of the fertility myth aspect of the book and some kind of resurrection of the landscape, at least metaphorically.”
Since the 1989 release of her debut, “Weetzie Bat,” and the “Dangerous Angels” series of novels that resulted from it, Block has amassed a fan base drawn to her style — rich in sensory details and allusions to mythology, folk and fairy tales.
Mythology has long been a source of inspiration for Block.
“I feel that these stories give us a template on how to survive in the world in a way. That's why they've survived for so long,” she says. “Even if we don't understand why we are drawn to the story, we may still feel it resonate and give us some kind of guidance. I love them for that.”
It's through mythology, too, Block says, that she learned how to build and sustain compelling tales, which is something she imparts to the students who take her myth-making classes.
“I think that those two things — the survival aspect and the craft aspect — are actually connected,” she explains. “That's another thing that I teach: In order to learn the message of the story in order to survive, one needs a structure that helps the reader identify with the character to go on the journey of the story and learn the message of the story.”
Block's myths come alive through her gift to see the extraordinary within the everyday surroundings that others may take for granted. Take her “Dangerous Angels” series, for example, where her descriptions of Los Angeles helped blur the line between realism and fantasy and become a driving force in the books.
“I know that I like to use setting as a source of conflict, and that's what I teach when I'm working with my students — how to create that tension through details in the setting,” says Block. “I think that once I know where a story takes place the story can usually reveal itself.”
In the case of “House of Hearts,” the story came together as Block settled on the locations of specific scenes.
“It was always the desert with some parts in L.A., but I moved certain things around, exact locations for certain things,” she explains, “and that seemed to help me visualize it better or understand the story better or have it make more sense.”
The detailed settings often come out of Block's personal relationship to place. Much of her work is set in L.A., her hometown, and often comes alive with the juxtaposition of nature in the urban environment. “The wildlife, such as it is, that's in the city — that's been another element that I hardly even think about because it's so much a part of my experience, and also in my writing, and continues to inspire me as well,” she says.
Of L.A. nature, Block adds, “It's just magic. It just is and I don't use that word lightly.”
She notes that it can be more challenging to write stories set outside of L.A. “It will sometimes take me longer to write about a place if I have not lived there for decades,” says Block. “For example, I've always lived in Los Angeles, but I only lived in Berkeley briefly, so it took me a long time to integrate the experience of Berkeley and write about it in `The Elementals.'”
She adds, “In the same way, I lived in Joshua Tree quite a while ago, so I think it took me some time to integrate that and write about it. Finally.”