Including a new introduction by the author describing the story behind the novel's initial publication in the 1950s which sold an amazing 1.5 million copies. Spring Fire chronicles the story of Leda and Mitch, two sorority sisters at a Midwestern university who stumble into a forbidden love affair. Packer ends the novel unhappily in order to satisfy US postal inspectors who would have seized a novel that affirmed lesbian love, yet Spring Fire has nevertheless touched the lives of countless lesbian readers and cleared the way for hundreds of lesbian pulps since.

Vin Packer is the pen name for Marijane Meaker (born May 27, 1927), an American novelist and short story writer in several genres. From 1952 to 1969, she wrote twenty mystery and crime novels as Vin Packer, including Spring Fire, which is credited with launching the genre of lesbian pulp. Using her own observations of lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s, she wrote a series of nonfiction books as Ann Aldrich from 1955 to 1972. In 1972, she switched genres and pen names once more to begin writing for young adults, and became quite successful as M.E. Kerr, producing over twenty novels and winning multiple awards, including the American Library Association’s lifetime award for young-adult literature (Edwards Award). She was described by The New York Times Book Review as “one of the grand masters of young adult fiction.” As Mary James, she has written four books for younger children.