Susie Bright

Not only is this great comedy, but it was designed with the conceits of the audiobook listener in mind. You MUST play this in the car, while you're driving, for full impact of the punchline. I just love it, I love Stuart Smalley, and I love Al Franken. I'm so mad he's in the Senate now and can't do a sequel!

I may listen again, the plot points coming so fast at times that it was easy to miss something important, subtle or exciting.

The turns and twists in this narrative kept me interested all the way a long. Some blind alley leads that would not be reveled until late in the game made making up my mind about who was at fault tricky and fun.

The arrest of the killer was a tense moment of drama. It was not at all clear that the killer would be taken alive, or that our heroic cops would not be hurt or even killed.

No extremes for me in this episode, just the persistent desire to see the "wrong" cops get taken down and the real killer exposed as well. Connelly is a great student of LA contemporary history and uses that knowledge to guide us on his moral meanderings. Tight and true, as usual!

Of course you expect Lizz Winstead to be funny. But she also brought me to tears with her stories of her family-- her late parents were strict Catholics addicted to Fox News-- and yet they loved each other so dearly. Her family are Irish Catholics from Minnesota, and when she channels their voices, I can hear my own relatives...

If you love the Daily Show, (she was the co-creator... and so much more) if you dig feminist funny, if you love to talk about sex, politics, and how life is ALWAYS stranger than fiction, you will love Lizz's memoir as much as I did.

I was asked by Chronicle Books to do a slip-cover, giant volume of the best erotic authors I'd published in the past 20-odd years... this was the result, and it includes both favorites of mine as well as stories that erotica fans had raved about for years.

Authors include Donna George Storey , veteran Florida horror writer Vicki Hendricks, and incredible end of life piece by Eric Albert, "Broads," by Roxane Gay, "Backstroke," the most hair-raising tennis locker room blow out you've ever read, and the late Donald Rawley's "Slow Dance on the Fault Line." He is like Joan Didion gone erotic.

Bram Stoker nominee Nicolas Kaufmann has a comic/supernatural turn in a porn star "comeback" story, Lisa Montanarelli talks about what kind of trouble two lovestruck girls can get into in a sleepover, and Greta Christina has a truly eeeeeevil story about sex inside a religious cult: "Deprogramming."

"Fairgrounds" is Peggy Munson's carny trannie opus, Tsaurah Litzky gets in Santa's Lap, and "A Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot"--- thank you,Robert Olen Butler!

"Low-Cut" is Lisa Palac's classic story about answering online ads in nothing but your pantyhose, Bill Noble has a castaway scene in Kauai that is absolutely poeticand Carol Queen is unforgettable in "Sweating in Merida."

The audio producers, Stefan Rudnicki and I, poured over who would read each one. Like, "The Man Who Ate Women"... you have to get that right!

Corwin Ericson wrote Downeaster Maine porn for me, called it "Seagum," and now it's a full-length novel.. I'm so proud of him. "Wish Girls" is written by a really, really famous s/f writer and I promised not to tell!

I have a story at the end of the collection-- "The Best She Ever Had." That leaves "Valentine???s Day in Jail," "Full Metal Corset," and Rachel Kramer Bussel's
"A First Time For Everything." I hope you really enjoy it, and please remember, you can always write me about your erotic lit favorites...

This was one of my favorite books in high school, and one of the best women's memoirs ever. Inspired me all my life as a writer and writing teacher. To hear Ruby Dee was like going to a great stage performance. I envy her, I wish I could read it outloud myself! This is just a very, very special book by a kind of person you never hear from otherwise.

Michael Moore is a natural reader and standup comedian. His writing is funny as hell and great satire on late-stage capitalism. Why didn't he read his book here? Mr. Johnson is fine, but we all know Moore so well, it's surprising not to hear his voice. I tend to be on the side of celebrities and actors reading their own work.

I searched for "harry potter" on audio when it first came out, and it wasn't yet available. This parody was the only thing in the Audible catalog! I got it for my daughter, anyway, who was obsessed,and she loved it. Your precocious twelve year old will love it, too.

This is a treat for me, b/c I love Carl Hiassen and his tawdry Floridian romps... and, I knew Stephen Hoye because he's done such great work on some audiobooks I've produced myself, for the Best American Erotica series. It was such a treat to discover his work here.

By the time Villages came out, Updike was not trendy anymore, just a giant that young people barely knew about. But you take one look at this book, just listen to one chapter, and you're blown away. His powers were as great, greater than ever. What a loss. I miss his books so much.

These recordings are awe-inspiring, really great performances. It's as if Poe was made for the stage, for the echo of the studio. I like to play this on Halloween and other dark occasions!

I can't get enough of this combo. All of them are five stars. Trashy mysteries with kick ass heroines, check check CHECK