Acquired Tastes XLIII
Gay Pulp Fiction Part 171
All Star Novels
Not a great deal of information is available about the imprint. From the contents of the books themselves it can be determined that they were published by Challenge Publications as the All Star Books/All Star Novels imprint and operated out of North Hollywood, CA from 1961-1966.
Early titles appeared imprinted as " A Private Edition Book" with an alternative numbering system.
Some books include the tagline: "Dynamic, lusty All-Star Books-- the finest in virile, action packed fiction and non-fiction for adult readers."
Let's take a look, shall we?
Front cover: "The Middle Sex - seething with the devilish hungers of their twisted souls."
Front Cover: "She hated men... but couldn't resist them... she desired women, but feared lesbian viciousness."
Back Cover
The overheated cover art is by Doug Weaver. I also learned that the book was produced as a play in 1996 at San Francisco's Lavender Lounge. Percy Fenster? Most definitely a pseudonym.
The adventures of a handsome young man who is repeatedly harassed in the workplace by both women and by gay men. Like so many of the pre-Stonewall gay pulps, the protagonist cannot decide if he is homosexual or heterosexual.
There's a copy available for $99.99 at AbeBooks/Kayo Books. Too rich for my blood, I'm afraid.
Front Cover: "She was a switch-hitter in the game of sex!"
Front Cover: A hot eater virgin, she learned depravity at an early age!
Front Cover: "They were sex-crazy men, taking love where they found it! No perversion was too sordid for their cannibal hungers."
Found this description online:
"Queersville by Ed Culver. Published in 1965 by All Star Books AS-64. Listed in the Cornell University Library's Guide to the Gay Men's Popular Fiction Collection. Like so many pulps of the era, the cover has nothing to do with the story. Not a badly written pulp novel; a tale of a young hunk who goes to Ft. Lauderdale for the summer to work with his older brother who has opened a bar. A fun coming out story. Culver is the author of several gay pulps from the late 1960's including Kept Boy (1964), Gay Three Way (1966) and Queer Hustler (1967).
Found a copy online for $49.99.
Front Cover: Hungry for success, he prostituted himself with a lecherous queer! When he ran out of perverted sex acts, he invented some new ones!
There's a copy available at Amazon for $95.
Back Cover
Front Cover: The gripping story of a strong man trapped by his own weakness!
Description found online: Explicit erotic novel of a strong man trapped by his own weakness...to dress like a woman, act like a woman... make love like a woman.
A copy is available online for $12. I snagged one for $18 at Thrift Books.
I've included all the gay male titles I could readily find and several lesbian offerings I found as part of the Lesbian Popular Fiction collection archived at Cornell University and at AbeBooks.
The cover art varied greatly throughout the imprint's existence, as did the back covers.
Not sure what possessed me - I tend to get impulsive when it comes to these books - but once I started researching this imprint, I started buying some of the copies I found. I've noted the various prices I found them at (I don't like to pay over $30 if possible, so a few of these are out of my price range.)
In the course of researching, I also found the occasional description or a bit of info. I've included that as well.
There are nine gay male titles (frequently masquerading as straight or bi) and a number of lesbian-themed books, but I did manage to find covers for most. As for the rest of the books which make up the imprint's output, it's the usual lot of hetero swingers, bondage/kink, nympho/stud stuff - ranging in price from $4-$65. The funniest of the bunch: 1966's Nights of Forbidden Fruit by Lew deNaste, an interracial-themed book with the tagline: "Consumed by the burning desire for illicit thrills, they lived for strange beds and unnatural partners. Black and white men and women, they intermingled as if there were no RIGHT way at all."
They also republished the occasional well-known adult title, such as Candy by Terry Southern, published under the pseudonym Maxwell Kenton, AS-43 and The Complete Uncensored Edition of Fanny Hill ~ the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, AS-10.
Let's take a look, shall we?
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I Want You
Author: Lester Lake
AS-330
1961
Front cover: "No man could satisfy her. Four men tried to tame this wildcat who knew no end to the daisy chain game of sex savagery... until she met a woman as explosive as herself. Together they stormed into an arena of perverted pleasures that knew no parallel except in hell!"
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Passionate Amazons
Author: Harry Barstead
AS-528
1963
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Love Teacher
Author:
AS-11
1964
Front cover: "Can a woman ever be satisfied with normal love after tasting the sweet elixir of strange fruit? A most unusual lesbian school."
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Runaway Wanton
Rasher Owens
AS-17
1964
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The Maybe Sex
Author: Jack Kahler
AS-18
1964
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The Beds of Bronson Canyon
Author: Robert Bledsoe
AS-20
1964
Front Cover: "Caught in the vortex of her own desire, she made her way from one bed to another to that part of Hollywood known As Dyke Alley."
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Passion Fruit
Author: Nelson Edge
AS-21
1964
Front Cover: "It was hard to figure out who was male and who was female. Sometimes they were interchangeable. Her lover left her cold.. so she thought she was queer."
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Hot Pants Homo
Author: Percy Fenster
AS-22
1964
Front Cover: "Women lusted after this handsome virile jazz man... it took him years of agony to realize he wanted a man. Bisexual... he took on male and female alike."
Note the 'CN' just below the price. It's a Challenge Publication, but I'm not sure what the 'CN' refers to, but it's on every cover of the imprint.
There's a copy available at Kayo Books for $99.99
Front cover: "She was the slave of her perverted cravings. The sight of others loving whipped her passions into a frenzied flame and she had to have satisfaction... from man or woman."
Front Cover: "His eager fingers seared the young boy's body."
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Color Her Hot
Author: Lester Lake
AS-28
1964
Back Cover
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Homo Alley
Author: Gregory Barnes
1965
AS-46
The adventures of a handsome young man who is repeatedly harassed in the workplace by both women and by gay men. Like so many of the pre-Stonewall gay pulps, the protagonist cannot decide if he is homosexual or heterosexual.
There's a copy available for $99.99 at AbeBooks/Kayo Books. Too rich for my blood, I'm afraid.
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The Fruit Plucker
Author: Ralph Churie
AS60
1965
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Good Night Sweet Dyke
Author: Barry Smith
AS 61
1965
As was typical of the times, this lesbian-themed book is written by a man with straight males as its target audience.
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Fruit Farm
Author: F.L. Davis
1966
AS- 63
So, I think they put females on the covers of these to throw off the scent. I mean, if you get caught reading this, you're 'just one of the guys', right?
I purchased a copy for $22. Keep in mind, I also have to pay tax and shipping, so it adds up quickly. I bought this one primarily because I couldn't find a cover for it. Nor did I know it's catalog number.
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Queersville
Author: Ed Culver
1965
AS-64
Front Cover: "Insatiable in his desire for unnatural thrills, the male whore made every trick a treat!"
"Queersville by Ed Culver. Published in 1965 by All Star Books AS-64. Listed in the Cornell University Library's Guide to the Gay Men's Popular Fiction Collection. Like so many pulps of the era, the cover has nothing to do with the story. Not a badly written pulp novel; a tale of a young hunk who goes to Ft. Lauderdale for the summer to work with his older brother who has opened a bar. A fun coming out story. Culver is the author of several gay pulps from the late 1960's including Kept Boy (1964), Gay Three Way (1966) and Queer Hustler (1967).
Found a copy online for $49.99.
So, this is a gay male-themed book with a misleading cover.
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Never On Sin Day
Author: Peter Dunning
1965
AS-65
Front Cover: Queers of a feather flock together.
I managed to buy one for $17 and there's one available at Amazon for $65.
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Any Sex Will Do
Author: Evan Prinz
1965
AS-66
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Hush Hush Sweet Harlot
Author: Jack Vast
AS 71
1966
Jack Vast has a dozen titles to his credit, mostly heterosexual stuff. He wrote a gay male title for National Library Books imprint, Wrong Kind Of Love, and also wrote for Saber Books, Greenleaf Classics, Satan's Press, and PEC.
Front Cover: "Both men and women were suckers for her special brand of sex!"
There's a copy of this one on Amazon for $145.
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Luscious Lesbian
Helen Highwater
AS-79
1966
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Queer For A Day
Author: Jarlene Post
AS-81
1966
Front Cover: "Sex was a two-way street... lesbian lust drove her both ways."
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The Dungaree Jungle
Author: Riley Benton
1966
AS-88
Front Cover: "Two people shared his secret - one was a woman who denied it - the other a man who knew him as no woman had..."
Found a copy for $100 at AbeBooks.
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The Satin Prince
Author: Lee White
1966
AS-91
Description found online: Explicit erotic novel of a strong man trapped by his own weakness...to dress like a woman, act like a woman... make love like a woman.
A copy is available online for $12. I snagged one for $18 at Thrift Books.
The book's cover and verbiage gives one the impression that this is a cross-dressing novel, but it's also gay male-themed (and a total hoot!)
Back Cover
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The Gay Savages
Author: Simon Masters
1966
AS-96
Front Cover: The weren't interested in bunnies - they watched other boys!
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And that's all for now.
Next week: more tantalizing, titillating vintage gay pulp fiction covers.
Until then...
Thanks for reading!
Never On Sunday - Melina Mercouri
from the 1960 motion picture Never On Sunday
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1 comment:
Oh absolutely lurid.
Love the covers.
And of course it was a dude writing lesbian pulp for other dudes. Duh.
I think I have the original soundtrack for Never on Sunday on vinyl, btw.
XOXO
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