Called "a trollop with a laptop" by East Bay Express, Alison Tyler is naughty and she knows it. Over the past decade, Ms. Tyler has written more than twenty explicit novels, including Learning to Love It, Strictly Confidential, Sweet Thing, Sticky Fingers, and Something About Workmen (all published by Black Lace), as well as Rumors, Tiffany Twisted, and With or Without You (Cheek). Her novels and short stories have been translated into Japanese, Dutch, German, Italian, Norwegian, and Spanish. She is the editor of Batteries Not Included (Diva); Heat Wave, Best Bondage Erotica volumes 1 & 2, The Merry XXXMas Book of Erotica, Caught Looking (with Rachel Kramer Bussel), Slave to Love, Three-Way (all from Cleis Press); Naughty Fairy Tales from A to Z (Plume); the Naughty Stories from A to Z series, the Down and Dirty series, Naked Erotica, and Juicy Erotica (all from Pretty Things Press). Please visit www.prettythingspress.com.

If you want to make someone's next birthday extra special and are seeking inspiration, The Happy Birthday Book of Erotica is an excellent place to begin. Read through the nineteen short stories, and savor the sparkling, amusing accounts of lovers' celebrations of that special day. Find the most exciting sections of each story, and see if you can combine some of them to create your own customized birthday party.

Of course, it is always fun to act the stories out, even if no one is having a birthday. A few props, combined with a vivid imagination and some privacy, can yield a surprisingly good time. A little more preparation could result in a performance worthy of an off-Broadway production.

Sometimes the mishaps and forgotten lines are the most fun of all. You trip on your skirt during your grand entrance into the ballroom, or he knocks the lamp over with his belt instead of delivering the first of many well-earned blows.

Take a leaf from Shakespearean actors and reverse roles. Imagine your male significant other in a skirt, hose, heels, and full makeup, tossing his hair over his shoulder while mascara and tears course down his cheeks during his birthday spanking. Can you resist?

This book features interesting prose, which is fast-paced enough to maintain my interest but somehow not arousing enough to make me put it down.