> I'm looking for suggestions as to what would be the
best way to go
> about researching paperback cover art and blurbs from
the period 1945-65.
> I'm particularly interested in finding books that a.
refer to (directly or
> indirectly) homosexuality, and b. refer to Kinsey or
his report.
Check out Stephen Alexander Loeb's "Tawdry Town" website.
He's a
paperback collector who specializes in sleaze and sex
paperbacks. There
are some interesting articles, lots of pictures, and a fine
selection of
links. He'd also be a good source to talk to about your
project. You
can reach the site at:
http://www.users.interport.net/~xcentrik/maindrag.html
> I realize
> this isn't explicitly a "hard-boiled" question, but
some hard-boiled
> pbs (esp. pb originals) have these
features.
Lawrence Block wrote dozens of pornographic paperbacks under
a variety
of pseudonyms. I've heard that he's reluctant to discuss them
now, and
attribution is largely a matter of guesswork (a bookstore
here in the DC
area has perhaps 3 dozen which they've attributed to Block,
and have
priced them accordingly--about $60 each). I've seen lesbian
paperbacks
attributed to Donald Westlake as well.
> Also, does anyone know/like the work of Vin Packer
(who wrote
> many, many Gold Medal PBOs)?
I haven't read anything by her yet, but a couple of her
novels, like
_Dark Intruder_ and _3 day Terror_ must have been very
popular, because
they went through multiple reprintings. If I recall
correctly, Ed
Gorman had some good things to say about her in his
introduction to the
first _Black Lizard Anthology_ (reprinted in a slightly
revised form in
the _Fine Art of Murder_ collection from 1993).
-- James Stephenson Rare Books & Special Collections Cataloger McKeldin Library University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Email: js272@umail.umd.edu # # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.