"Love Shook My Heart New Lesbian Love Stories"

edited by Irene Zahava
The 25 stories in "Love Shook My Heart" are love stories in the broadest sense, from unclouded girl-meets-girl romances  to fantasies in faraway kingdoms--even a wintry story based  on the Grimms' fairy tale "Frau Trude." Some of these pieces will seem familiar to readers. The coming-out narrative, for instance--that exclusively gay genre--is well represented, including the requisite lesbian back rub. And there are lots of ex-lovers in the book--another fixture on the lesbian landscape--some running away, others returning, full of endearments.

Less romantic, but equally resonant for queer readers, is Judith Stein's "Members of the Wedding," a painful portrayal of culture shock, in which two "fat Jewish dykes" travel from Boston to attend a straight wedding in Nashville, Tennessee, a city that seems to them like "some kind of alternate-reality amusement park." The best piece in the collection may be Antonia Matthew's inventive "If This Were...," in which two women seduce each other by imagining what they would be doing and saying if they were characters in a romance. Not all the stories here can meet the literary level of "If This Were...," but most are interesting and thoughtfully written, quietly documenting passion in its many changing forms. --R.M.
Paperback - 200 pages 1 Ed edition (February 1998)
Alyson Pubns; ISBN: 1555834043 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.71 x 7.99 x 5.29

"Beginnings Lesbians Talk About the First Time They Met Their Long-Term Partner"

edited by Lindsey Elder
Love at first sight? Cynics beware! In these 50 short narratives of new love, lesbians describe their first meetings with the women who would later become their life partners. For almost all of the writers included here, the ground shook, the clouds flew apart, the sun scattered diamonds on the path ... or maybe lesbians just love a good story.

In each of these tales, there is a moment when sparks fly. "I was almost blinded by her electric light," writes Delane Daugherty, "and astounded at how everything else dimmed a little." Jules Torti agrees "She was the one; I knew this instantly." For Shilpa Mehta, "It was as if, for a moment, time had stopped just for us." And then there's Merrill, who made such a bad first impression on Mary, the beautiful new dyke in town, that when she asked her to call sometime, Mary looked away and said, "We'll see. But I don't think so." Some of the most touching stories in "Beginnings" describe situations in which women were forced to break up families and long-term relationships to be with each other,compelled to seek happiness even at the risk of causing pain. --R.M.
Paperback - 224 pages 1 Ed edition (April 1998)
Alyson Pubns; ISBN: 1555834272 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.57 x 8.52 x 5.43

"Pillow Talk Lesbian Stories Between the Covers"

edited by Leslea Newman
Erotica may be the most demanding genre. If it doesn't  arouse us, it isn't worth reading, yet we expect to feel more than simple arousal. Discriminating readers will find the stories in "Pillow Talk" unexpectedly fresh and well written, portraying sex in all its emotional complexity, as well as in every position known to the Western world. In the surprisingly tender opening story, Roberta Almerez's "A Friend of a Friend of Dorothy's," an older woman hires a prostitute to initiate her into lesbian lovemaking. Louise Blum's "Good Girls" offers a view from the closet in a rural community.

In Cat McDonald's "Kolu, Revisited," childhood friends meet by accident and fall in love. Rhonda, the protagonist of Susan Kan's "Petal Sweat," doesn't get her girl at all, but uncovers something far more precious her own long-dormant sensuality. Leslea Newman, the author of "Heather Has Two Mommies," proves an astute and generous editor, maintaining a fine balance between art and smut--plenty of each, in brimming portions. Inspiring bedtime reading for the solo sleeper or the daring duo. --R.M.
Paperback - 224 pages 1 Ed edition (May 1998)
Alyson Pubns; ISBN: 1555834191 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.75 x 8.02 x 5.26

"Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey"

by Sandra Scoppettone
Fans of the lesbian detective Lauren Laurano and her lover Kip will be thrilled to learn of the fifth book in Sandra Scoppettone's much-loved series. The familiar wisecracks and hard-edged New York humor are here, but in a new setting, a Long Island resort town where two of Lauren and Kip's close friends have just moved. Their trip to North Fork is supposed to be a healing, romantic vacation--Lauren has even forsworn e-mail and the Internet in an attempt to rekindle the fire with Kip--but they haven't even ordered their first breakfast at the local diner when a stranger bursts into the place,

announcing that a body has been found hanged in the woods. The dead man's cousin insists it can't be suicide. Over Kip's objections, Lauren plunges into the case, making  enemies of almost every town official. Or is almost every  town official trying to cover something up? The investigation unfolds against the backdrop of Kip's disappointment in her lover and Lauren's fears that their relationship can never recover the trust and passion it once had.
Hardcover - 264 pages 1 Ed edition (July 1998)
Little Brown & Company; ISBN: 0316776653 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.87 x 9.49 x 6.32