4Eating is a symbolic and magical act--a transformation, a covenant, a ritual, a comfort, a necessity--but all through history, food-themed stories have also had their dark sides. Food can be integral to the magic, the meetings, and the processes of fantastical fiction: from myth and legend to high fantasy, from hard-science speculative fiction to post-modern magic realism, from Hansel and Gretel to Soylent Green, from Persephone to 2001, from Alice in Wonderland to Alien. In this anthology, Ursula Pflug and Candas Jane Dorsey, two award-winning senior writers of literary speculation, have gathered a range of speculative writing that recognizes both our attraction to the candy coating and our fascination with the poisoned apple. Paired with each story is a recipe, real or fantastical, for food mentioned in the story: consume at your own risk