For almost ten years, Brini Maxwell has been spreading the joys and retro-fab of gracious living. First, through a cable public access program, then a bigger, better show on the Style Network. Now you can have a bit of Brini and those indispensable tips, recipes, and philosophies 24 hours a day with her first book, Brini Maxwell’s Guide to Gracious Living: Tips, Tricks, Recipes and Ideas to Make Your Life Bloom. The book will be available next month.

     Illustrated with retro 1950s-60s style photos and graphics, and blessed with Maxwell’s so-slightly-subversive sensibility -- "Living graciously is an art, but it’s not one of the easy arts … like sculpting with cross sections of animal cadavers," she writes.

     The Guide is a perfect companion to Style Network’s The Brini Maxwell Show, Season One of which is available on DVD. Season Two kicks off in October. Maxwell is the alter-ego of New York-based Ben Sander, whose love for thrift store vintage items and gracious living led to Maxwell’s creation and a 1998 public access show.

     It’s important to chat with a style maven now and then, and this time, she talked about not becoming the next Martha Stewart and what the new season holds.

     BRINI MAXWELL: It was pitched by the merchandising department at the Style Network to the publisher and they snapped it up. I tried to cover everything that happens within the span of an ordinary person’s year. The everyday mundane things that go on are in Chapter One. Chapter Two is for when you have guests over, when you entertain. Chapter Three is for when you travel and then the milestones that happen maybe four or five times within your life. The book leaves room for future publications - books about holiday entertaining, and other things like that. I’m excited about future possibilities as well.

     Well, if you notice I don’t include a section on how to have a gracious sex life. And my guacamole recipe -- it doesn’t have tomatoes in it. That’s something a lot of people don’t know about me. I have a tomato aversion.

     Oh yes. We were doing an episode this season about Hawaii and Hawaiian influence in culture. One of the things was flaming food -- you can see the disaster brewing in that segment - and how to soak bread cubes in lemon extract. Lemon extract’s a wonderful accelerant if you ever need one. It lights very quickly and burns with a beautiful blue flame.

     So we soaked these bread cubes and strung them on skewers to use as garni in drinks. I lit the cube and was holding it and showing it off to the camera. We used a wooden skewer so of course it burned right through and fell onto the counter! It taught us you have to watch what you’re doing when you’re dealing with fire and food.

     ` Someone sent me a recipe - I haven’t tried it yet - called potato candy. It’s mashed potatoes that have been sweetened and baked. And then there’s a wacky hangover cure. You slice a lemon in half and take the halves and rub them in your armpits. For some people it works like a charm and others go, "Why did I even try this, it’s so stupid."

     It’s a little more refined, pulled together. Each episode is more chock full of useful information. It’s just hitting our stride

     Oh yes. We had lots of fun this season. We did have some really fun times with some wacky people at places like Los Angeles’ erotic museum. Then we had great guests who made some fun recipes with us like on the hippie episode.

     We actually didn’t go into that this season. We were discussing the possibility but it was a little much for us to surmount this time around. Perhaps for Season Three.

     Not at all. I never thought of myself as the next Martha Stewart. I always thought of myself as the next Sue Anne Nivens. I think Martha’s pretty smart to get where she was. She slipped up but then who doesn’t.

     Well, instead of investing in the stock market, I invest in the vintage fondue pots. I don’t think there’s any insider nonsense going on with that market

     I think people regard me as an authority. I have had people write in for information, and questions about how to deal with certain subjects. So yes, I do think people respond to me as an authority, which is nice. I get e-mails from 12-year-old girls and 80-year-old women and married couples, middle-aged men, a broad range. Oddly enough I get a lot of e-mails from gay men. I don’t know why that is.

     They’ve been very good about taking me at face value. They’ve been very open and understanding about what I do and the kind of style I have and the quirky quality of what I do. It’s been a very positive experience. W