Electric by Nicole Foster

Once is rarely enough. In Alyson's collection of its hottest erotica published over the past 10 years, you can savor again the butch-femme attractions of Lesléa Newman's mischievous 'Me and My Appetite' and Marcy Sheiner's 'Riding the Silver Meteor' (surely one of the few stories ever to contain the flatly descriptive line 'The woman had balls'). Luxuriate in forbidden contact between student and teacher in Ouida Crozier's 'Merry Christmas, Katherine' and between old college buddies in Deborah Abbott's 'Eating Out at Cafe Z.' Explore the link between language and lust in Susan Kan's exquisite 'Petal Sweat.' The book also includes a teasingly brief excerpt from Jess Wells's novel The Price of Passion. As with most collections of this nature, the stories are of uneven quality, but even the less-inspired pieces are worth a quick read. In the words of Stephanie Rosenbaum, from her story 'Shine,' 'Every minute is like wobbling a loose tooth around with your tongue. It hurts, but you don't exactly want to quit, either.' --Regina Marler