Whether they get to spend the rest of their lives together is another question... Pamela, a charismatic professor, is as charming as she is ruthless; Hope is a beautiful and brainy graduate student. Rachel, a fellow student, has spent the semester trying to convince Hope to take a break from school—and Pamela. Trying to make sense of her life, Hope spends the summer with Rachel where she meets Emerson, whose flamboyance is masking a broken heart.

    Meet Muriel, aka Mutt, a twenty-something wayward waitress with a college degree, who has resigned herself to low standards, simple pleasures, and erotic fantasies. Though seeming to get by on margaritas and old movies, in her heart of hearts, Mutt is actually searching for true love. While Mutt chases the bars with her best friend Jeff, she is, in turn, chased by Diane, a former college classmate with a decidedly romantic agenda. When a rich, seductive Beverly Hill lawyer named Allison steals Mutt's heart, she is in trouble, and like the glamorous facade of Sunset Boulevard, things are not quite as they seem.

    But what about the nights...?Katherine's attractive new landlord, Marlena Weathers, has had her share of lonely nights, too. Despite Katherine's misgivings, the women's friendship deepens, as does the sensual tension between them. But does Marlena have the patience and the passion to prove to Katherine that there is more to life than meets the naked eye?

    "Hot & Bothered" includes work by 69 women from the US, Canada and elsewhere-stories about danger, romance, humor, and of course, hot sex. From a woman in love with Marge Simpson (asking the question, "Are your nipples blue, too?") to a sex-obsessed dyke trying to do her grocery shopping, to a woman wearing tit clamps trying to go through airport security, the stories in "Hot & Bothered" will get you there in 1,000 words or less. Contributors include such luminaries as Dorothy Allison ("Bastard Out of Carolina" and "Skin"), Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Joan Nestle, Nisa Donnelly, Gerry Gomez Pearlberg, Sarah Schulman ("Rat Bohemia"), Persimmon Blackbridge ("Sunnybrook" and "Prozac Highway"), Judith Katz, Lesl?a Newman ("The Femme Mystique"), Elana Dykewomon, Jess Wells, and Kitty Tsui ("Breathless").This book is the first of the four-volume "Hot & Bothered" series.