Contest: Get Your Free High-Quality Erotica

by high-tailing it over to http://lustbites.blogspot.com/ and following the directions in the Feb. 14 post. You might win a lovely bundle of books, including Sex in Public, a hot brand-new Black Lace anthology featuring a Sophie Mouette story, and possibly Caught Looking, which has stories by both Sophie and me. Sex in Public won't be available in the US until April, so here's your chance to, in the words of our local radio station, "win it before you buy it."

And while you're over there, add Lustbites to your must-read blog list. It's good stuff, a bunch of wacky and literate writers of erotica, many of whom add to the fun inherent in talking about books and sex by sharing a delightfully twisted British sense of humor--and sometimes pictures of mostly naked, hunky men.

And, oh...happy Valentine's Day. Yeah, it's commercial and the pressure is ridiculous, and it often as not leads to more conflict than fun. But how can I not love the idea of a holiday that celebrates love, sex, and romance? (And more to the point, how can I not love all the plot twists it offers a writer? Hookups gone wrong, date gone supremely right, going home with the waiter instead of your miserable date, wacky screw-ups that then have to be resolved, etc., etc.)