Juicy Mangos will shatter your ideas of female innocence forever. Here, the smartest, sexiest literary writers are gathered to tell stories of women at their rawest and most intimate. Each of the seven stories centers around a holiday — from Valentine’s Day to Christmas — when these enticing characters slip out of their daily roles and take on new, daring personas: A married woman finds a back door to Eden where fantastical orgies force her to confront her true and dangerous sexual desires, a historiographer experiences a lustful affair while wearing an enchanting antique dress as an erotic disguise, a sex-toy saleswoman takes on a business partner with benefits to boost her sales.
With exotic backdrops around the world and beautiful, complex characters, Juicy Mangos is sexy enough to keep you glued to the page. But like its diverse protagonists, the stories are smart and provocative and will leave you hot long after your touch on the page has cooled.
Michelle Herrera Mulligan coedited and contributed an essay to Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, and Cultural Shifting. Her articles have appeared in Time, Woman’s Day, and Publishers Weekly. A former editor at Latina, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The winter of 1799 is falling fast on the small Ohio Territory settlement of Hugh’s Lick. Food is scarce, and relations with the Delaware tribe are strained; but things are about to get much worse. In the midst of a storm, frontiersman Cole Seavey is attacked by a creature that is neither man nor beast but something burst forth from the bowels of hell and reeking of the grave. Badly injured, he is rescued by Pakim, a young Delaware brave, and is taken to safety at the home of John Chapman, whom readers will remember from Jensen’s best seller Frontiers. Cole’s intense attraction to Pakim leaves him longing for something he fears to even consider. He half convinces himself that the monster he battled is the product of his fevered brain. But then the killings begin, killings of such ferocity they can only be the work of something neither human nor animal. The Delaware call it the Wendigo. As the town waits in terror for the next attack, Cole, Pakim and Chapman find themselves face-to-face with the Wendigo; it is a face they know well.
Who hasn’t revealed some insecurity to God? After all, the divine creator would find out about it anyway, right? In fact, eavesdropping on everyone else’s neuroses is the appeal of author Kip Conlon’s new book Hey, God!, a tongue-in-cheek look at some very irreverent communications with the supreme being. Consider these “messages” to God: Dear God: What do you think of the new “Jesus is my best friend” bumper sticker on the Honda? Sometimes I think it’s sort of weird. Like, “Why am I telling this to people?” – Stephen, age 27; Dear God: Apparently, I am created in Your image. Which is bad news for the both of us, I’m afraid. – Ronald, age 38; Dear God: Jesus love me. He’s also been dead 2000 years and from what I understand, loves everybody, including Son of Sam. I need a man. Happy New Year’s. – Priscilla, age 43. Handwritten on stationary that mimics private and company letterhead, each piece of correspondence has a style all its own. With illustrations by Susan Conlon (the author’s mother, who has a master’s of art therapy and also works for the American Folk Art Museum in New York City), Hey, God! gives readers a humorous take on communicating with the Master of the universe.