Acquired Tastes XLIII: Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 65 - Gay Way Books, Part 3 of 3

Acquired Tastes XLIII: 

Gay Pulp Fiction, Part 65

Gay Way Books, Part 3 of 3

Today, we finish up our look at Gay Way books, which very well may be related to Trojan Books' GX Incorporated of Chatsworth, CA. For one thing, they share a common distribution center, Zorro Distributing Company of San Diego, CA, as well as a similar cover art scheme - black and white pencil/ink drawings on a solid color background, changing the background color every two novels. They also, with the exception of the first four books in this series, have a 'mask of Zorro' icon in the upper left corner on the cover.

Gay Way's story is a bit complicated.

Gay Way began life under the umbrella of the F.S. Publishing Company as Gay Power Line. After four titles, GPL became GW, and after 12 titles in the series, the F.S. Publishing Company became XXX Inc. - both operating out of Pasadena, CA. The reason for all this cup and ball chicanery? It could be a number of things: a means of tax and/or debt evasion, or a means of avoiding prosecution; local law enforcement with the support of the feds were always working to shut these publishing houses down by any means necessary. Censorship laws during the Nixon administration were strictly enforced, the prosecution of those charged, seen as a priority. It was the beginning of the Republican Party's marriage to the fanatical Christian right.

As I researched this imprint, I discovered that many of the books were published without a date. Those that had a date, are from 1970 and 1971. I did my best to find all the covers (35 titles in all), failing four times. Utilizing the archive lists of various libraries, I was able to discover the titles, authors, and catalog numbers for all.

Here are the remaining titles for this imprint.

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Swim Meat

Author: Bob Cochran

GW 123

'Meat' for 'meet? One of my favorite double entendre. It took me a second to appreciate the cover. They are doing the back stroke. Though it appears the dude on the right is interested in trying out a different kind of stoke - one I am certain is not an Olympic-approved event... yet.

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Taming Of The Stud

Author: Rick Lane

GW 124

Ah, noting like Shakespeare. I had the pleasure (though I can't speak for the audience) of playing Petruchio once. My cod piece? The envy of the entire cast. And when I swooped in and planted one on my dear Kate? Now that was what we called real acting! 

Something tells me that poor unsuspecting patient is about to get a bit of a surprise from Dr. Strange-Glove. Hey, doc? Is that a suppository in your hand, or are you just glad to semen?

These latest illustrations? Much better than last week's. These all tell a story. I think Gay Way got themselves a new illustrator... one with a sense of humor. His work is eerily familiar to that of Trojan Books. Hmm...

 

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Comin' Thru The Y

Author: Lance Rogers

GW 125

Comin' Thru The Y? Is that like Bringing In The Sheaves? I am not sure what's going on here, but blondie looks a little long in the tooth to be given a bris. Also, I am pretty sure the invites said, please leave your pitchforks at home!

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'Midst Pleasures and Phalluses

Author: Christopher Ford

GW 126

Huh. This appears to be the work of two different artists. There's the prone figure in the foreground in on style. Then there's that frog-faced man with his puffy leg and weird root foot. I know what's supposed to be going on here... but, to my eyes, this looks like an alien abduction (or should that be seduction?) And then there's that terrible, terrible title. If Twitter existed back then? This would be a #FAIL.

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Man Rape

Author: Gorman Holst

GW 127

Gorman Holst gets right to the point. He calls it what it is. Why bother with poetics? I rather like the illustration (although it is a bit 'rapey'.) That blondie is a cutie with a sweet package, while the dude attempting to ummm... 'seduce' him has something in his jeans that I would love to unleash.

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Guess Who's Up In The Loft?

Author: Karl Young

GW 128

I thought this might be a take-off on Guess Who's Coming For Dinner?, but it's the other kind of loft - the with hay! I have no idea how or under what circumstances the young man on the right got into that position, but having had a couple of romps in haylofts during my lifetime I can tell you... straw is not something you want to press your dick into - or any flesh whatsoever. It will tear you up in a way that blondie there never could.

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Never Quite Alone

Author: George Kiva

GW 129

Does this illustration look familiar?  It should. We've seen it before, but I can't place it. I remember writing something about the worst landlord ever. Well, I can't find it because, guess what? Another faulty USB Thumb Drive just ate my entire collection of vintage gay pulp covers! I am heartbroken. Ah, well, they all exist... somewhere on the internet. I just have to track them down again. Again.  Sigh.

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Prickly Heat

Author: W. Esbee 

GW 130

(Cover Not Found)

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Things Never Went Right...

Author: Vic Carter

GW 131

Book blurb:

“The trouble began for Randy soon after his new stepfather, Pete, moved into the house. Randy hated him; hated lying in his bed at night listening to Pete and his mother fucking in the next room; hated the way Pete ignored his right to privacy and thought nothing of walking into the bathroom when Randy was using it; hated the way he sometimes caught Pete looking at him, as though they shared some really dirty secret.”

And here is a plotline for this one, provided by Maitland McDonagh, of 120 Days Books.  The read the rest of her review, click the link. 

"Randy is only 16 when Pete, his new stepfather, catches him jerking off to some dirty pictures and rapes him. Within a year Pete is selling his stepson’s ripe ass to every pervert in town and Randy’s mom has made it clear that she couldn’t care less. Randy eventually demands a cut of the profits and has accumulated a substantial nest egg by the time he’s 18. After an anonymous call to the police that gets his mother and stepfather thrown into jail, Randy moves to Hollywood and strikes out on his own, quickly becoming – not surprisingly – the worst sort of hustler, the kind who ruthlessly rolls and beats johns in a vain effort to quiet his inner demons.

Randy eventually gets arrested and sent to prison, where he learns some new tricks and decides to set his sites higher: Instead of hustling, he wants to find a sugar daddy or mama and really doesn’t care which. Fortunately, Randy cleans up nicely and quickly gets a job at the ABC Manufacturing Company, where boss lady Marcia Banning looks like a good prospect, except that she’s already married. But her husband, Ralph, seems sort of gay, so Randy gets to work. First he seduces/sexually assaults Ralph, then takes him to gay bars followed by a gay party that ends with Ralph being gang raped; that, Randy figures, should convince him to leave Marcia. Which Ralph does… but he turns up at Randy’s door, suitcase in hand, just as Randy is scoring with Marcia’s secretary, Rose. Rose bears uncomfortable witness to Ralph’s last humiliation: Randy mocks him and throws him out, which is enough to convince her that she doesn’t want to stay either.

Ralph commits suicide, and Randy–whose veneer of affable normality lies lightly over a truly disordered inability to understand the way most people think and feel–puts the moves on Marcia right after Ralph’s funeral. He rapes her when she resists, and she retaliates by hiring a pair of goons to beat the hell out of him. When he turns to Rose for comfort she tells him to go to hell–she doesn’t know what he did to Marcia, but she can guess. "He had a stupid urge to cry like he hadn’t done since he was a kid," writes Carter. “The last time he had cried had been the time his stepfather… raped him."

Randy goes on to get drunk, pick a fight with a barfly that gets him thrown out onto the street, picks up a young guy in a nearby park (“there was always a faggot where there was a park,” he figured) and beats him to death just as a cop comes by on his nightly rounds. I’ll leave the rest to Carter: “There was only, suddenly, a quick, hot pain in the small of his back and it seemed as though he had… become lighter, as if his feet had taken wings. Then he realized that he was falling, tumbling over and over into the damp grass. Things had never gone right for him."

Okay... now? Go ahead. Try to whack off to that!

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Wyoming Stallion

Author: Jerry James

GW 132

That pretty lil' cowboy is about to mount something, but it is not a horse (though he might be hung like one?) I take it this is one of those 'dude' ranches.' You know, the kind gay divorcee's run away to right after the divorce decree becomes final. Though... come to think of it. I might be confusing this book with a scene from the classic motion picture The Women.

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No Holds Barred

Author: William Bent 

GW 133

(Cover Not Found)

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Navel Maneuvers

Author: Jack Wood

GW 134

This one is available as an eBook or a PDF at Hommi Publishing for only $1.95!

Here's a small excerpt of the book provided by the site:

“Take it out for me,” Don whispered.

Jerry’s hands shook as he pulled down the zipper. He fumbled around inside Don’s pants and shorts and pulled out his cock. His breath caught in his throat. “Jesus,” he breathed as he saw the huge, thick, stiff cock he pulled into view. It was gigantic. It was the biggest, hardest prick he’d ever laid eyes on. It was magnificent!

“Suck it,” Don urged.

Jerry hesitated. He thought of Tommy and high school. “No, I can’t,” he said. “I’ve never done that,” he lied.

“Well, start now,” Don said.

There was an edge of nastiness in Don’s voice, Jerry noticed. He wanted to suck the cock into his mouth but he couldn’t make himself do it. Don inched his hips forward; the prick was right at Jerry’s lips.

“Go ahead, kid, suck it,” Don whispered as he continued to lick Jerry’s prick, balls, thighs.

Jerry looked around. His eyes grew wide. Vic had Jim pinned down on the floor and was fucking him in the ass. Jim was writhing and squirming and moaning. His eyes were closed and it was obvious that he was enjoying Vic’s cock up his ass very much.

“Suck me, Jerry, please,” Don urged.

“It’s too big,” Jerry argued. “I couldn’t get it in,” he whispered back.

“Sure you can. Try it. Go ahead, kid, try it.”

Jerry closed his eyes. He felt Don move closer and Don’s cock touched his lips. Don moaned. It tasted salty and slick."

That Jerry... some pussy, huh? 

Me? I believe in that old saying: Try it! You might like it!

And Jerry? Trust me. He likes it just fine!

As for that cover... remember Lucite chairs? No, it's true. See-thru molded dining chairs. And, again... this illustration appears to be something drawn by several different artists. What a dog's breakfast!

Sadly, this was the last book for the imprint. Why they went out of business? Lost to ages, my dears.

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And another one bites the dust. That's all for the Gay Way imprint. 

Next week, we'll move on to a new imprint. 

Until then...

Thanks for reading!

 Try It Out - Gino Soccio