Take one part Appalachian redneck, one part aging wet dream, and one part filthy-minded wordsmith. Mix well and serve with chocolate-covered cherries. There you have the one and only Alessia Brio. In addition to serving as Coming Together's editor, Alessia writes all colors and flavors of erotica, from heterosexual to ménage to same sex, and from twisted to humorous to deeply touching. (Sometimes, usually by accident, it even qualifies as romance.) Her work has earned her critical acclaim in the form of two EPPIEs for Best Erotica (fine flickering hungers & Coming Together: Against the Odds) and a Romantic Times Top Pick (Coming Together: For the Cure) in addition to a plethora of glowing online reviews.

Ms. Brio lives in the mountains near Pittsburgh, where she masquerades as a soccer mom. Her fetishes include SuDoku, rare steak, and stainless steel. She stands 5'8" tall in her bare feet (which is how she prefers to stand) and has a mop of unruly dark hair that is rapidly being conquered by grey, complementing the laugh lines around her mischievous eyes.

The Internet is both her office and her playground, and she can be found online at alessiabrio.com in addition to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and a few other sites.