"'... The scallops arranged in the spider lambis were succulently decadent. A bottle of rare wine had been reduced to its essence and sprinkled over the raw bodies, and rough salt, and finely-chopped redware. The flush of the shell echoed visually the wine and the seaweed, and although there were but five scallops, they were truly sweet meat. The slices of mild green pepper were almost transparent, and they tangled artfully with shreds of young daikon, and pressure-steamed fragments of ti. Hot and crisp and oily-melting, a challenging blend. And the tea, as always, was Black Dragon tea, a hint of smoky coolness in the steam, and a consummation in the mouth. People died just to get it to these islands she had learned. She could think of many worse reasons to die....'"

Keri Hulme (Kai Tahu) has been a fulltime writer since 1983, and has the prior background of wildly varied and mainly dreck jobs that writers outside of the Academe usually stack up. She has been fortunate to win a few awards and prizes, some of them quite glittery. Born in Otautahi in 1947, Keri lives in an isolated area of the South Island, and wh?nau, friends, reading, food, music and whitebaiting loom large in her life. O, and writing .