The Door to Lost Pages

The stories that form Lalumi%C3%A8re's insanely imaginative short novel all revolve around a mystical used bookstore called Lost Pages, a place that "wasn't fully tethered to the world," where the boundaries of history, mythology, and reality have blurred into nonexistence. The store and its inventory of arcane books often draw in people who are lost and in need of help. One such customer is 10-year-old Aydee, a girl who runs away from her negligent parents only to be rescued by a gigantic lioness and entangled in the eternal conflict between the benevolent Green Blue and Brown God and nightmare lord Yamesh-Lot. Others are Billy, an eight-year-old monster hunter; Kurt, a man tormented by a dark sorcerer; and the author himself. Lalumi%C3%A8re's talents are on full display in this cerebral, erotic, and hypnotically compelling tale of bibliophilic wonder. (May)