Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 34
Vega / Saber / Fabian / National Library Books
For our next imprints: Vega, Saber, Fabian, and National Library Books, we're going to be stepping a bit further into the past. The books we've been looking at, so far, were published in 1967-1971. Vega publishing house began business in 1955. It's roots can be traced back to one of the earliest gay rights groups in America, The Mattachine Society. Founded by Harry Hay in 1951,The Mattachine Society was initially active in fighting the entrapment laws used to prosecute gay men at the time.
The Vega publishing house of Fresno, CA (1955 - 1969) was founded by Sanford Aday and Wallace de Ortega Maxey. Both were members of the Society.
Sanford “Les” Aday wanted to be a writer, but he struggled to get published, so he moved from Oklahoma to Fresno, California. In 1955, he set up his own publishing house with four imprints: Fabian, Saber, Vega and National Library Books. All four of Aday's imprints published low-quality erotica. Their output was distributed via his company West Coast News.
Writers were given a flat fee for knocking out softcover novels, with sex scenes needing to constitute at least twenty percent of each book. Sold by mail-order or at news-stands, these books always ran the risk of breaching obscenity rules. In fact, the use of numerous imprints was an effort to avoid police attention.
The materials used to print the fledgling company's early novels were of "especially poor quality. The covers... really just wrappers. (T)he paper (used) of lower quality than many magazines of the time. Consequently they (were) quite fragile." However, as the company grew, quality improved dramatically.
His business associate, Wallace de Ortega Maxey is perhaps best known as a 20th-century Old Catholic bishop, but he was also an Anglican, a Congregationalist, and a Universalist who dabbled in theosophy, existentialism, and communism (anti- and pro-). Yes, Maxey liked to push the envelope, however his style, whether as a religious cleric or a member of the Mattachine Society was pragmatic. Though he was not a leader or initiator, he did use his religious affiliations as a means of authority throughout the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, walking a tightrope between "maintaining enough detachment to be useful to a nascent liberation effort, while at the same time contributing sincere arguments."
Maxey was also a prolific author. His 1958 book, Man Is A Sexual Being, was a rallying call against sexual hypocrisy. He also wrote about the sociology of queer Beat culture for One magazine.
One of the early goals of the company was reaching those living in isolation.
In small-town America, the pulp novel was sometimes the only media people could access where LGBT themes were sympathetically dealt with. While lesbian pulp was also often read by prurient hetero males, these books did send a signal to 1950s America: we're here and we're not going away.
Still, gay and lesbian pulp novels had to conform to the then standards regarding obscenity: the main character had to either mend their ways or meet a bad end. No happy endings allowed, unless it was a heterosexual one.
And while creating and disseminating LGBT-themed stories lie at the heart of the company's mission, they couldn't possibly move enough copies to cover the bills focused solely on that genre. Therefore, Aday had to published a wide range of salacious titles in order to keep the business afloat. Several of those titles caused the company a number of headaches.
Aday, personally, faced obscenity charges in Hawaii, Arizona and Fresno, while wholesalers were constantly pressured not to carry Vega titles. In retaliation, he would frequently end each novel published with a summary of the censorship problems he and the publishing company was facing. Aday was described as "a crusader for First Amendments rights who was constantly challenging the definition of obscenity.”
He saw it as sport.
Until one day... when it got very, very real.
Fortunately, their case got the attention and support of the American Civil Liberties Union and an appeal was filed. The Supreme Court struck down the convictions in 1967, for by the time the case finally reached them, other court decisions (Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 496, and Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day, 370 U.S. 478) had altered the perimeters of what was considered obscene.
However, the hounding didn't stop there. Citizens for Decent Literature, a community group led by Charles Keating, had been targeting Vega publishing and others for years. In 1968 they released Target Smut, a film which urged the government to not relax obscenity laws. Nixon later appointed Keating to the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. Once ensconced, Keating issued a dissenting report against the Commission's view that obscenity laws should be relaxed. Both the Senate and Congress would, in turn, reject the Commission's findings.
Weary of the constant battle and in light of changing tastes, by 1969, Vega publishing closed up shop for good. Aday would pass away in May 1989, at the age 70, while Wallace de Ortega Maxey would die three years later, a the age 90. By then the obscene stories published by Saber, Vega, National Library and Fabian books paled in comparison to the hardcore offerings of the booming video market.
Here is a tiny sample of the works published by Vega publishing house:
Author: Eve Linkletter
A Fabian Original Novel
"Were they pranks of nature? Or were they the third sex - the gay ones?
Eve Linkletter
The photo shown is believed to be Eve Linkletter. It's the photo that accompanied any book credited to that name. Whether or not she actually existed? That is hotly debated. Some believe she was merely the front for other writers. Linkletter is credited with a number of novels in the genre, most of which are lesbian in nature.
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Author Lou Rand
Saber Book
"Francis and Tiger had found out what they needed to know. The trick now was to get the nude Vivien out of the bathhouse and to safety..."
This is somewhat of a classic and was reprinted numerous times over the years by a number of publishers with a variety of covers.
--- ---
Author: Mark Shane
A Fabian Original Novel
"Johnnie always wanted it her way. That was all right with Tony until he shot her a knockout drop and disrobed her. Johnnie wasn't a lady.
Oh, my. I wonder if this ever happened to Bill Cosby...?
--- ---
Author: Stella Gray
Vega Book
"Because she now favored women for love, each arrow she shot at her male assistant seemed to be aimed closer to castrate him."
Most of the books published under the Vega Book banner were lesbian-oriented.
This one would seem to be of the man-hating variety. Ah, yes... clichés: they exist for a reason.
--- ---
Lost On Twilight Road
Author: James Colton
National Library Book
"The lemonade was spiked. The woman was near-naked. It was taking unfair advantage of Lonny because he hadn't wanted her advances. But it was one of the many episodes which caused him to become lost on Twilight Road."
Published In 1964, James Colton is the pseudonym of Joseph Hansen.
--- ---
Author: Ray Douglas, Jr.
National Library Books
"Hank had found him. Mal had been sexually assaulted by the sailor and he lay suffering from the onslaught."
Poor Mal... all that 'suffering'.
--- ---
Author: Ray Douglas, Jr.
National Library Books
"He had to do it or everybody would find out he was a homosexual..."
Oh, come on, Helen... it's not that bad...
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Passion to Disaster
Author: Ross Roberts
Twilight Edition by National Library Books
"In apartments and rooms in big cities, in dark alleys and bus station rest rooms, and even in the war-torn jungles, there's a twilight life..."
Don't you sometimes feel like you missed out on all the fun?
--- ---
Author: Ross Roberts
Twilight Edition by National Library Books
"Seeking new sexual thrills, they went to Old Mexico... but they ended up together..."
For me? These two only inspire 'zzzzzzzzzzz'.
--- ---
Well, that's all I have time for this week. Hopefully we'll be given an opportunity to take a look a number of these authors in greater detail at a later date.
Until next week...
Thanks for reading.
Sources: @PulpLibraian, @arkhamlibrarian, Hughs, David. "Wallace de Ortega Maxey." The Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Religious Archives Network, September 2013, and The Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection @ Mount Saint Vincent University
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4 comments:
very interesting
What a pity you can't have in English this interesting book here on Amazon
i've just traslated the presentation:
This book supports the non-obvious hypothesis that "morality par excellence," that is, about sex, is one of the things in which our civilization has progressed least in the last 4,000 years. Those who believe they have no limits would never dare to do sex in more than two. All couples display strict monogamy, and any contact with third parties is considered a betrayal that can destroy the relationship. Even the very young people live substantial marriages of mutual surveillance. And while everyone claims to be libertarian, in fact, people's reputations are continually being damaged by their sexual behavior. Deep down, sexual morality has changed very little, and in some respects it is turning back, as many intellectuals point out. The book is aimed at those who are perplexed with respect to the continuing role of Catholic teaching in conditioning the common mentality, and with respect to the principles which the legislator still obeys in matters of family law. And it meets the sons - and daughters - of more or less overtly repressive parents. But above all, it wants to induce doubts about one's conviction of being free.
It's always interesting to read about the trailblazers - those who laid the asphalt so to speak. It has enabled us to post the things we do, to write and consume what we want. As I remember one justice remarking, "Obscenity is in the eye of the beholder." Kisses.
Some very interesting titles. Love the Mattachine Society meme.
Fascinating!
Those obscenity laws were created to censor anything remotely related to sex. The Repugs and the xtianist have not changed a bit.
I'd love to read the Sex Life of a Cop novel. I had no idea that they had a stipulation as to the percentage of sex needed!
I love me some one-handed lit.
XOXO
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