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Q: But those trends surface?

A: Themes surface. When AIDS was at its most brutal, frightening, my-God-what-are-we-going-to-do era, that was when vampire stories and stories about blood and trust swept the literary world. Both times we’ve gone to war — I didn’t notice it the first time, because I just thought it was people being generally kinky, which has been a trend, but the second time we went to war, I went, hey, wait a minute! Why am I getting all these stories about men who want to give it all up, be submissive, be ravaged, have somebody else do everything, have them be the one who gives up control? Now I realize that’s a wartime-erotica trend.

Q: Are there ever writers who don’t want to be included in BAE?

A: At the very beginning. I remember asking John Nichols if I could reprint a story of his that I liked very much, and he said, "You want to reprint it in what? Best American what?" It was like I had just invited him to join me in my trash-trailer-park cheese-ball orgy or something. I sent him a copy and he said, "Okay, it’s not as bad as I thought, but people just don’t realize what you’re doing. It’s a very valiant effort, but no thank you." Then a couple of years later he sent me a note that said, "That was so dumb. I really wish I’d been in your book."

Nowadays, no. I almost wish somebody would get upset! It’s much more commercial. It’s like, "Well, how much are you paying?" Believe me, I’m all for writers getting paid, because I certainly want to. It’s just interesting that there’s not a sense of putting yourself in danger or ruining yourself. In fact, I think for a lot of writers, it’s so hard to be read. Finding people who get enormous pleasure from reading books is a more and more unusual experience, and so writers just so much want to be heard.

It used to be erotic writers were kind of presenting sexual lifestyles and behavior that maybe you hadn’t heard about before. It was like, wow, fisting? You’re kidding. Jell-O orgies? Never heard of them! Transgender — what’s that? There was this sense of opening the curtain and showing things. Now, there’s a sense of, "You’re not going to surprise people with that." You’re not going to say, "I had a three-way!" Yeah, right. We already know about that.

Q: If you had to choose between writing about sex and reading about it, which would you choose?

A: For me, reading’s like the inhale and writing’s like the exhale. Which part of the oxygen process do you want to cut off?

Q: When she’s an adult, what do you think your 14-year-old daughter will say about having you as a mother during her childhood?

A: All I can tell you is what it’s like now, which is that on a day-to-day, petty level, she’s very critical of everything I do, from the way I chew to the way I comb my hair to "Don’t look at me that way!" She has a huge list of complaints, and we get annoyed and bicker with each other, and sometimes really hurt each other’s feelings.

On the more serious side, sometimes she really makes me feel like I’m doing all right, when she says that she’s glad that we can talk about things that other kids can’t talk about with their parents. I think she’s glad that she isn’t frightened or needlessly worried about some of the basic sexual information. I’m not talking about anything big. Just things like, "Of course it’s normal to masturbate" and "Birth control, STDs, I know what that means."

She reported to me the other day that some friend of hers [referring to me] said, "She’s a cool mom, she’s so lax." That enraged me! I am so not lax about things like eating good food and getting enough sleep and having a good education and learning and doing your laundry and cleaning the house. I am just ferocious in those things! To me, lax means, "Oh yeah, my mom, she’s drunk every afternoon, and she does everything for me, and I can get away with anything I want." And that’s so not me. Lax means that I don’t think it’s sinful to talk about sex? Is that what that means? Or lax means that we have a Modigliani nude in our living room? I mean, some of the kids think that is just so wild.

Q: How does Boston rate as a sexual city?

A: You know, I give it very high marks, and I’m not just saying that. I have had so much fun when I’ve visited. Partly because I think whenever you’re in a town that has a really intense community sense — that it’s not just a suburb, but this is a city and we have history and we have communities and we know who we are — that is sexy. There’s just something about it; you’re like, yes! I want to get in bed with you! Also, I have this thing about Boston accents. For me it’s like the ultimate phone sex. I think it’s such a turn-on. If there was a Boston phone-sex line, I would call it just to listen to the weather, anything. Anything would be fine.

On another level, when I started getting invitations to speak at places like MIT and Harvard, the sex-nerd impact cannot be underestimated. People who love science fiction really do love sex. They love to think about the possibilities, and their minds are so open. People think Boston is so dressed-down and so uptight and prudish, and I’d go to speak at MIT, and it seemed like every single person in the room was like, "I’d like to talk about my polygamous relationship." For me, to have a place where you can be cerebral and into sex is a real treat. So please invite me! I love invitations.

Q: What are your thoughts on Valentine’s Day?

A: It’s my favorite holiday. It’s like all the best parts of Eros and romance. And platonic love as well. I’m like the kid in kindergarten; I really do send valentines to everyone. And this year I’m making a CD; that’s going to be my valentine. I just love it. It’s right up there with Halloween. It’s totally pagan, you know. It was a Roman sex-lottery day; that’s how it began. It was a Roman sex holiday where young people would draw pieces of paper with everyone else’s name on it, and whoever’s name you got, you got to fuck them for a year, no strings attached. It was like a special get-busy incentive. Kind of like, here’s your blind date to get the year rolling. This was completely a rite-of-spring pagan sex holiday, and should be celebrated as such.

Q: What about Valentine’s Day for single people?

A: [You] have that choice of, do you want to make something happen, and then how serious are you about it? Like, are you going to do the half-hearted attempt where you go to the bar — which I definitely don’t recommend — the "I’ll just go to the random bar and sit there in my red dress and see if anyone speaks to me." Look, if you really want to get laid on Valentine’s Day, there are some excellent orgies happening on Valentine’s Day, and you go to them. And then something really does happen. Don’t act like you really wanted to do it and then, boo-hoo you. No. You either make something happen, or if that’s not your style, if you’re yearning for something that isn’t going to happen in 24 hours, then put your Valentine’s energy into giving love to people whom you already love. The rewards you get from that will be fantastic. There’s no way you can go wrong.

For information on Susie Bright, visit www.susiebright.com. Tamara Wieder can be reached at twieder[a]phx.com