Author Description

I asked the writers in this collection to share their recipes of seduction: Vida Bailey: There are some foods that bypass my taste buds and seem to affect a deeper place in me-Indian food, coriander, pumpkin pie. Food is something we share an enjoyment of on the same level as we share an enjoyment of sex. We worry about its preparation. We serve it up with pride, as an offer of love, of thanks, of seduction. To have someone cook for you is to be given a gift of being looked after, and the gift of their vulnerability and hope at the same time. Jax Baynard: Food and sex are both life-sustaining. We are a little confused in this society. We think it's about money and possessions. But if the money and the possessions are all you have, you aren't doing that well. I've had a few run-ins with the money. It's not always a pretty picture, though of course it is always seductive. Shanna Germain: This story got its start the year I worked at a farmers' market. I rode my bike there early every week to set the place up-it was just me, the farmers and all of the berries, cherries, melons and tomatoes. Between the sweat and the dew, we all glistened in those pre-dawn hours, and it always felt like a magic, sensual place of hands and bodies and food and hunger. In this story, I wanted to capture the inherent sensuality of that time and experience, to explore the what-might-have-beens. Sommer Marsden: My mother told me to never play with my food. I've never been a very good listener. Thank goodness because some lovely locally grown carrots gave me very dirty ideas for my very dirty story. N.T. Morley: Partially because it's what sells and partially because it is my own favorite dynamic, I write about male dominants and female submissives a lot, with female-female domination scenes thrown in. This never gets tiresome to me because I love it, but I occasionally need to keep my chops up and write about submissive men and dominant women. "Early Girl and the Cherokee Purple" is also a va