Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 32 - Barclay House Books / Part 1 of 2

Acquired Tastes XLIII: 

Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 32

Barclay House Books

Part 1 of 2

Today, we'll take a brief look at Brandon House's gay-oriented titles published under their Barclay House imprint.

During their heyday in the late-60's, Brandon House published under a number of imprints, including: Hanover House, Command, Barclay House, and Essex House. The secret of their incredible profit‐making was that they had their own printing presses, thereby eliminating a publisher's largest cost.

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Pederasty: Sex Between Men and Boys

Author Victor Dodson

#7001

Psycho-Sex Study

Victor Dodson is credited with two books. It's the pseudonym of  Victor J. Banis (Godfather of modern pulp fiction) and and his life-partner, Samuel Dodson. 

The "Psycho-Sex Study" is a tagline used on a number of Barclay's offerings, which consist of pseudo academic studies presented for mass titillation. This guise was used by a number of publishers at the time to skirt the United State's strict censorship laws which would be in place until 1967. 

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Making The Team

Author: Otto Grant

#7023

"An adult novel of men in the womanless world."

This is the only title credited to Otto Grant.

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Male Wives

Author: Norman Bates

#7031

Frequently credited to Ed Wood, Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space), Norman Bates is actually the pseudonym of Charles D. Anderson, editor/staff writer of Pendulum Books - which is where Ed Wood, Jr. published many books during his most prolific period. 

Ed Wood, Jr.

Anderson has stated that all of the novels credited to Norman Bates were, in fact, written solely by him. That also includes a number of short stories for various magazines published by Pendulum.

However, there is one known, verified collaboration between Anderson and Wood: Edusex/Gallery's A Study of Fetishes and Fantasies published in 1973. Credited on its cover to Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Norman Bates, it is billed as a "sexual encyclopedia for adults only."

All that is known about Anderson is that his writing career often paralleled and occasionally intersected that of Ed Wood, Jr. They wrote the same type of fiction/non-fiction, in the same place during the same time period.

And, yes, it is a nod to Hitchcock's infamous Psycho character, as is one of Charles D. Anderson's other pseudonyms, Marion Crane. used for 1972's Brother John and Sister Mercy published by Pendulum's Little Library Press imprint. Incidentally, Little Library Press also published Ed Wood's To Make a Homo in 1971.

The last person who seems to have been in touch with Anderson was Wood biographer, Rudolph Grey. However, Grey is on record saying that he's never even seen a picture of Anderson, much less met him, and after being interviewed for Nightmare Of Ecstasy (Wood's biography), Anderson "sort of just vanished."

Makes one wonder, huh?

 

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Homo '69

Author: George Kaplan

#7034

Psycho-Sex Study

This is the only book credited to George Kaplan. 

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The Honey Horn

Author: John Maggie

#7054

"An adult novel of men in the womanless world."

John Maggie wrote six novels for the genre. We've seen one of his before, Brandon House's Go Down In The Valley. The others were published by Lambda Press and Trojan Books. 

His Three Ring Circus is one of the books reissued by the short-lived publishing company 120 Days Books, founded by author Maitland McDonagh. It was her intention to begin reissuing classic gay novels in an effort to preserve them and expose them to a modern audience. However, her imprint was bought out by another company and since that time, based on what I have been able to learn, little has come of the project. 

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Foc'sle Boy

Author: Carl Driver

#7056

"An adult novel of men in the womanless world."

Carl Driver has eight credits in the genre, most published by Greenleaf Classics' Pleasure Reader imprint. 

This one seems to have a nautical theme. I looked up 'foc'sle': 1. The section of the upper deck of a ship located at the bow forward of the foremast. 2. A superstructure at the bow of a merchant ship where the crew is housed. 

It didn't mention anything about ropes and whips. 

Well, we gay guys... always so creative!

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First-time Homosexuals

Author: R.T. Powers

#7063

Psycho-Sex Study

This is a one-off credited to R.T. Powers.

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Orgy World

Author: Victor Von Lodz

#7085

Psycho-Sex Study

Another one-off by a mysterious author.

I included this one because, if you've ever been to an orgy, the general consensus would seem to be 'a hole is a hole'. And as long as one has consent... well, there's a possibility of some man-on-man action, right? I don't know... maybe Hugh Hefner had some firm rules about that sort of thing in the grotto?

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Black & Gay

Author: Victor Dodson

Psycho-Sex Study

"The Survey of Interracial Homosexual Practices"

Another one under the pseudonym of Victor J. Banis and and his life-partner, Samuel Dodson. 

I  wonder if they actually interviewed people or just made the whole thing up. 

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Well, that's all for today. Next week, we'll finish up the Barclay House offerings I was able to find. 

Thanks for reading.

Honey in the Horn - The Four Aces feat. Owen Bradley