I would like to invite Laurel K Hamilton over for dinner just to thank her for having the courage to continue to write amazing fiction about the joys and some of the real pitfalls of polyamory, without making it a sensational type of experience. I'd love to just as if her ideas are based on research or real life. More than likely I'd invite her to meet at a good restaurant and if things go well over to the house for coffee after dinner.

I would love to invite Jane Austin over just to see if she still holds her views about the world given the changes from her time to ours. She had such a piercing eye and quick challenging mind. It would be fun to just have a conversation about how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. I think it would be amazing to cook for Ms. Austin and I'd probably plan a nice sit down dinner and chat.

I would Love, Love, Love to have dinner with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) because I hear he was an amazing dinner companion! He had such a way with small talk and then could launch into some pretty biting, and, yet accurate observations about the people around him as well as the state of the world in general. I would love to take him to a nice restaurant and just talk. It is well known, here in Missouri, that the man did love to eat and talk!

I dunno if I'd exactly be forthright about my sex life unless it somehow came up in conversation with any of my favorite authors. I really doubt I'd be pulling out the stash, but I might slip any of them a coupon if they are interested!

I asked Arch which author he'd love to have over for dinner and he said he would love to "entertain" William Shakespeare...and then poison him in some very theatrical way. He has nightmares about being forced to read Romeo and Juliette twice in High School. I did explain that it was the teachers that made that play so boring, but he is of the opinion that if the man hadn't written it then the point would be moot. So he'd still poison him but he'd invite the teacher who was a theater in the round enthusiast over to watch her "Great Man" die horribly. I told him that I figure it would suit Mr. Shakespeare just fine to be "offed" in such a cruel and twisted way...but there'd have to be some oddly turned phrases and comic relief in there somewhere! less

I know, right??? I don't like porn, and I have mixed feelings on erotica, but I did buy the trilogy on a whim and read it. I was so distracted by the complete and utter nonsense ("Penises do not work that way!" "You can't even physically do that..." "No one can be bound that way for that amount of time without suffering very serious injury." "My knees hurt reading this.")

All that being said, I would love to have Agatha Christie over. I hear she was a hoot and a half. I'm thinking some sort of stew or fish, breads, cake, coffee and some really nice sherry or scotch.

Shakespeare may be fun, too, if he indeed was a single person (food: he'd be a pub night, I think). Poe could also be entertaining (food: something simple and homemade, like a casserole or soup). Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and Toni Morrison may also be...not fun, but informative. less

I'd be worried that Poe could be a downer....could you imagine Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe? Talk about a RIOT!

As for Anne Rice....I can't say that I like any of her work. Her Mayfair Witches were insulting to the Voodoo faith and pagans in general. Plus it was just bogus crap, all of it. The vampire novels were at best ok but really? The idea that all "good" vampires were forced into the life (unlife?) and should be emo'ing around everywhere is old news. Gimme a vampire who is sexy, self confident, LOVES being a vamp and doesn't "sparkle" and I am all over that! I kinda liked the Beauty series but only because it IS so damn fanciful and I was very young when I read it the first time. I never took it for blueprints though...Good to read wouldn't wanna be there!

Agatha Christie (~sigh) I would love to just give her a big old hug and sit her down to watch the entire Poirot series with David Suchet. Could there be a finer actor to portray the gentle but quirky detective? I think Ms. Christie would have been ecstatic with the way the series turned out. All her characters are so well drawn and so very, heart warmingly, human. I would SO love to have met her.

Another author that I admit to loving is Dame Barbara Cartland. She was the most prolific writer of the 20th century and ALL of her books had a simple and elegant class to them. Yes, they are predictable, and, yes, they are fluffy little romances, but they have a grace that leaves me satisfied after finishing the book. It's like eating a delicate and sweet petit four. I'd go for an elegant pink tea or a full blown cream tea if she was going to visit. Mmmmmmm tea, romance and talk of traveling the world, that would be an event to savor. less