Slavemaster’s Plaything by Jocelyn Ryder (Greenleaf Classics #1250, 1969)

In 1969, Greenleaf Classics (Hamling, Kemp, etc) published a fifty title series called Keyhole.  Each cover had a keyhole shape cut into it, and on the other side was a lurid illustration.

Slavemaster’s Plaything is #12 in the series, and behind the keyhole is a nubile nubian slave girl being whipped on a post.

This is a plantation story set in the south, with bad southern dialect in prose and horrible sex scenes.

A great idea for a series…an awful novel.

The problem, as I stated before with Midwood’s post 1966 books, was when the censorship laws went lax, the writing seemed to degrade.

Orgy Maid – Don Elliott aka Robert Silverberg (Pillar Book #838)

Pillar Books (like Ember, Idle Hour, Sundown, Late Library, Leisure, Midnight, et al) was one of William Hamling’s many imprints for Cornith/Greenleaf.  Like the editorially picked titles, and sometimes the pen names, the writers had no idea what imprint the monthly manuscripts would end up with, and what it would be called.

It’s not clear if certain imprints were meant to lean toward the theme and setting of the books — I have noticed that Midnight Books tend to be more crime-noirish, and Embers a little more risque than your average Nightstand.

Pillar often features the slightly altered pen names like Andrew Shole, Dan Eliot, and John Baxter.

Orgy Maid is a bit different than the typical Silverberg Don Elliotts — it’s the first backwoods hillbilly-type tale he’s tackled (usually Silverberg’s are about cheating husbands and wives in the city, crime, the sex lives of urban professionals, young women who find their wanton way to sinful lives as strippers or call girls).  The heroine of the little novel is 12-year-old Lonnie, who becomes a bride and a sex toy for the rich.  The prose style is done in mock southern-porch yarn spinning, with this opening that should b a classic in sleaze fiction:

In the hill country of Tennessee, where Lonnie Garth was born, they have a quaint little folk saying about virginity. “A virgin,” they say, “is a five-year-old girl who can outrun her daddy and her brothers.”

Lonnie was a fast runner. That’s how come her virginity lasted all the way to the age of twelve. (p. 5)

She lives in Holston Mill, population 1,407, and the Holston Family runs all the motels and shops and industry, so all the residents work and rely on the powerful family, who treat them the way nobles treated their serfs: as property.  If a Holston male wanted any girl or woman in town, married, virgin, or wanton, these females have to submit to them or else become ostracized or even killed.

This is why Lonnie’s father has not touched her and his forbade his sons from having sex with her — she’s gorgeous, and he has wanted to keep her a virgin in hopes that one of the Holston boys will take a liking to her and maybe marry her, or keep her as a concubine.

In a town where most girls lose their virginity by age eight from either their fathers, brothers, or a Holston, Lonnie is definitely an oddity.  She feels like she’s missing something since all the girls in her school have been sexually active for several years.

One day, she does catch the eye of a Holston — Tim Holston, the only son sent off to college and who is refined intellectually.  He’s back home on vacation and happens upon young Lonnie swimming naked in the pond.  Mesmerized by her nymphet-allure, he takes her virginity and falls in love with her.

Her father is very pleased she gave herself to a Holston, even more pleased when Tim says he wants to marry her — this means the poor family will have an inn with the Holston Monarchy.

Lonnie and Tim have a two week honeymoon; since she looks seventeen-eighteen rather than twelve, heads don’t turn. Tim’s father had a judge in his pocket who signed a decree that Lonnie could marry as a pre-teen.  They move into the Holston mansion, but soon Lonnie is left alone there when Tim goes back to college. She has a tutor during the day, to finish out her own education, but for the most part her days are idle.  She notices that Tim’s brothers and father sexually abuse the female domestics, like the maid and cook, and these women give in, because they don’t want to lose their good-paying jobs.

It doesn’t take long before the Holston males set their eyes on Tim’s defenseless twelve-year-old bride, alone in her room.  First one brother rapes her, then two of them rape her at the same time — Silverberg makes creative use of evasive words to describe a two-man-one-girl double penetration, and what it feels like for her.

Despite the rape, Lonnie’s body “betrays” her, and she finds she enjoys the forced sex; and wonders if there is something wrong with her for that.

If that isn’t enough, Ted’s sister, her own sister-in-law, makes her lesbian inclinations known to Lonnie.  Lonnie has already been forced to put on a lesbian with one of the maids (hence the title?) and found that she liked the twilight sex, so she gives herself freely to her sister-in-law.

And then one night her father-in-law pays her a visit, so now Lonnie is the sex toy of just about everyone in the house.

To escape the shame and humility, Lonnie hits the bourbon hard, slugging down entire bottles in an hour and passing out.

There is tragedy — at twelve and three months, Lonnie is a bride; at twelve and sex months, she becomes a widow and sexual tigress.

It’s a darn good southern read, and gets an A-minus.

Some Andrew Shaw Covers!

AIMEE & CHLOE by Valerie Grey (Olympia Press)

Olympia Press just reprinted as an e-book a collection of two novellas, Aimee and Chloe: Two Sordid Stories of Sin and Incest by Valerie Grey.

Also out in paperback here.

Where have I read the first one, “Aimee and Her Father,” before?  It seems vintage but may be imitating the style, set in the 1920s, about a consensual affair between a young female writer and her father — sounds like the same set-up in Anais Nin’s memoir, Incest.  The sex is pretty graphic, even with a dash of beastiality.

“Chloe” is set in the 1960s with incest as an experiemnt in free love. A strange tale with the father becoming a Christian and wanting to stop the affair but the daughter doesn’t want to stop, and they have a child together (no webbed feet).

Taboo topics done with grace and poetry. Incest was not really handled in bright lghts in the softcores until the 70s, when things got hardcore, even the covers were explict, as seen below.

One publisher, Suree House, from ex-Greeleaf employees and located in El Cajon, Calfornia, specalized in incest fiction, even with pedophilia.  These were mafia-connected companies; the mob seemed to think there was a market for this smut, and indeed there was.

Today, incest is only “a hot seller” in memoirs, like that Kathryn Harris autobiography a few years back.  Incest is always a topic for grand literature — from the Bible yo Joyce Carol Oates to seedy private eye yarns.

In some lesbian novels, incest (like rape) is often an impetus for the character to turn to women for the third theme of love.

Affairs of Gloria by Victor Jay (Victor Banis) Brandon House 806

Victor Jay was/is Victor Banis, better known for his gay titles such as The Why Not and The Gay Haunt, and his involvement with the boom of gay pulp paperbacks in the mid-60s, with Greenleaf/Cornith, where he published as J.X. Williams and John Dexter, and later Chris Davidson…he a

But his fist novel was somewhat hetero, The Affairs of Gloria, published by Brandon House, and part of the resaon for his indictment, along with Brandon House publisher Milt Luro, in Los Angeles by the Postal Inspector and Justice Department.

Banis talks about the legal problems in his great memoir, Spine Instact, Some Creases (reprinted by one of my publishers, Borgo Press); he also explains that he wrte Gloria after reading a handful of sleaze.  Gloria doe shave lesbian action.  He says he was paid either $500 or700 for this novel, which as the norm back then — keep in mind, in then-time cash that was $5-7,000.

With The Why Not, he convinced Earl Kemp and Greeleaf that there was a market for gay male books, just as there was a market for lesbiana and straight sex.  The Why Not was a huge bestseller, and Greenleaf went full force into the gay market, followed by Suree, PEC, and others.

He also assembled a group of young men to produce en masse gay novels for Greenleaf, taking a cut and making a modest furtune similar to the way Lawrnce Block and Hal Dresner farmed out work to ghost writers, paying them $500-800 and keeping the reest (usually $200-300, not bad for doing no work).

He wrote one book for Marice Girodas’ New York version of Olympia Press, The Gay Haunt,but seems ol’ maurice ripped him off, not reporting actual sales for royalties (he got a $1500 advance and maybe a few hundred bucks in roys, expecting thousands since Olympia’s first print run was 50K and went through several editions after.)

Banis is still alive, but not really writing anymore from what I can tell, and has had Borgo and some ebook places reprint his old work.

Another maker of sleaze paperback history, and caught up in the battle against censorship in the 1960s. But more, he helped pave the way for modern gay publishing, proving there were more queers in the reading public than the publishers realized back then (Iafter all, lesbian novels were really marketed for men).

The Sins of Seena by Don Elliott (Robert Silverberg) Ember Library 306

There are two booksellers who have jacked-up prices for this title ($75 and $95 — c’mon!) and both state there is “speculation” that Donald Westlake ghosted this one.

I asked Robert Silverberg last week if this was so, because he had mentioned hat he did have one Don Elliott ghosted when he was unable to meet the deadline.  He said no, this was not the book in question. “Sins of Seena is mine, I have a copy right here,” he wrote.  He did not, however, say which book is the ghosted Elliott.

Maybe the ridiculous prices on this book will go down now.  Do these booksellers really think anyone is going to pay that kind of money for a book?  In this economy? Sheeee-at. (Myself, I never pay more than $50 for any vintage book, and most are in the $10-30 range.)

As for speculation on which Elliott is the ghosted item, I think contenders are Sin Doll (as Dan Eliot), The Lady from Soho (originally Sin Club), and Diary of a Dyke — these three don’t seem to coincide wth Silverberg/Elliott’s usual style.

Anything Goes by Robert Carney (Newsstand Library, 1961) and Lust Farm by J.X. Williams (Harry Whittington) (Ember Books, 1964)

I got this one because Feral House used the Robert Bonfils art for the cover of Sin-A-Rama, so I was curious about the book — as in, was the story as good as the “water baby” theme art (that Bonfils also uses for Don Elliott’s Lust Queen, soon on my reading list).

Boy was I pleasantly surprised.  This is a great little novel, a lost gem in the blackhole of sleaze paperback publishing….take out sleaze, I would not call this novel “sleaze” per se…it is a hardboiled tale of a guy who has gotten himself into a few tangles in Los Angeles and is trying to wiggle out.

I have no idea who Robert Carney is — Sin-A-Rama calls him “Robert H. Carney” who used a pen name, Herbert Roberts, from what I can tell one novel, Mardi (on my list). The only other Robert H. Carney books I can find is a non-fiction title about the Atlanta Times.  There is a Robert H. Carney in Atlanta on Facebook who seems the right age to have written this 1961 novel…maybe it is him and this is not a another pen name who Whomever.

Carney is influenced by Nathaniel West, but there’s also some James Cain and Jim Thompson tossed in there.  The prose is lean, mean, and to the point.

Joey Allen is a used car salesman whose former partner destroyed their business by gambling, then killing himself.  Joey wants to be rich.  He is sleeping with three women and trying to keep them from each other — a former fiance he has dumped, a new fiance whose father owns used car lots all over California, and the bosses new, young, hot wife, who hates her fat rich husband and his spoiled daughter, and has a plan for getting Joey to committ murder, promising him the car business, money, and her sleek slender body.

Like any good hardboiled Los Angeles story, there’s plenty of drinking, sex, violence, colorful characters, Malibu, and Hollywood smog.

Finding these great lost novels is fun — it’s also depressing to think they are lost, and a book like this was not re-discovered by, say, Black Lizard, the way Harry Whittington’s noirs were.

Harry Whittington was a pulp writer who penned in many genres, but is best known for hardboiled crime and nurse romances (I will talk about his The Young Nurses at some point, as well as more of his Greenleafs).  Lynn Munroe recently put together a catalogue and narraitive of his search for Whittington’s softcore:

In 1986, the prolific “king of the paperbacks” Harry Whittington (1915-1989) wrote an essay about his writing career entitled “I Remember It Well” for Black Lizard Books. Black Lizard used it as an introduction to the 1987-88 reprints of six classic hardboiled crime stories, originally published by Gold Medal and others. In that piece, Whittington revealed this:

“ I signed, in 1964, to do a 60,000-word novel a month for a publisher under his house names. I was paid $1000. On the first of each month. I wrote one of these novels a month for 39 months.”

These 39 unknown books became “the missing 39” for Whittington collectors.

These “missing” books were published under house names J.X. Williams and the ever-prolific John Dexter, and Curt Colman later on, ranging from crime, romance, office, and hardboiled themes.  Lynn Munroe notes:

John Dexter and J.X. Williams are well-known house names used by many different authors, but Curt Colman is a more obscure name. No one I’ve talked to, including Colman’s editor Earl Kemp, knew who Curt Colman was. Only eleven of this publisher’s books are credited to Curt Colman, and seven of those were in the box in Whittington’s house. It was a safe bet to look at the remaining four Curt Colman titles, and all four of them proved to be written by Harry Whittington.

Kemp did not know who Colman was since the manuscripts were coming from the Scott Meredith Agency, true identitfies hidden. Plus it seems Whittington’s wife did not approve of these books by her prolific husband, and Whittington kept them secret until after his passing.

The first was Lust Farm, as J.X. Williams, with (again) a Robert Bonfils cover; it is another James Cain/Jim Thompson infuenced story set in the Detroit farmlands.  Cora has escaped her brutal criminal thug boyfriend from Chicago, but he finds her in a small town working as a waitress.  She “accidentally” kills him and goes on the run.  In another town, as a waitress, dodging men, she meets a 50-year-old farmer, Aaron, and marries him.  She’s 22.  She figures she can lead a safe, quiet life as a farmer’s wife.

Here is Lynn Munroe’s review:

We tend to think of “backwoods” stories taking place in some hillbilly hollow or in the deep South, but LUST FARM takes place in Michigan. Not in any city, but out in a rural setting near a little town called Cold River, down the highway from Lansing. There is no such town in Michigan, but there is a real town on that highway called Coldwater, and LUST FARM is certainly set there. Small town waitress Cora Barnes has a secret. She has fled her previous life, killing the Jack Daniels-guzzling sadist Tony and stealing a package of his money. A kind farmer named Aaron Barr marries her and takes her out to the country to live on his farm. When his college-age foster son Caleb comes home from University up the highway at East Lansing, it’s lust at first sight for Cora and Caleb. Then someone disappears and the local sheriff comes out to the farm and starts asking questions. With names like Aaron and Caleb, LUST FARM reminds us of an Old Testament tale like EAST OF EDEN.

The three on the farm are reminiscent of the trio in Jim Thompson’s CROPPER’S CABIN. Even though it is set in Michigan, the farmers behave more like sharecroppers in Whittington’s DESIRE IN THE DUST than like Yankees. This is Whittington country, not Steinbeck’s or Thompson’s.

I will be reading more books by Whittington…

Greenleaf Classics House Style, c. 1969

Appropriated from Earl Kemp’s great e-zine, el. (If you’re into vintage sleaze, his memoirs are a must read of the times and people who wrote, edited, and published these books.)

Note that this is dated 1969 and states that “shock words” are okay to use, but not over-use.  By 69, court cases on censorship were allowing more dirty words in dirty books…ten, even seven, years before that, in the Nightstands and Midwoods and so on, from 1959-1963, you do not find any dirty words at all: “loins” for vaginas, breasts or bosoms rather than “tits” or “kncokers.”  In Silverberg’s “I was a Pornographer,” he notes that he qould freqently get a list of no-no words and terms from William Hamling and his editors, based on current court cases and what the cops were arresting for in the obscenity scare,  at one time forbidding the use of “give it to me,” which he found riduloulous so wrote a book with “give it to me” on almost very page (I think this was Roadhouse Girl, which I have yet to read and discuss, but soon..)

The writers out there will note that book length requirements were different back then than now — 47K to 67K words…today, most commercial publishers, even those that print erotica, do not want anything under 80K words (c. 300-325 manuscripts pages, coming out to printed books of 250-270 pages).  Harlequin still likes books in the 50-60K range (for those 192 page books); when I wrote for Blue Moon, my books ranged anywhere from a short 30K words to a normal 80K words, but average about 60K.  They never said otherwise; they never said anything was taboo, really, except “illegal” matters like rape and pedophilia and beastiality (more zoning laws in NY City when it came to obcenity than anything else).

In the meantime, for a blast from the past, I give you the…

HOUSE STYLE MANUAL
GREENLEAF CLASSICS, INC.
GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

Compiled and Edited by
PETER V. COOPER
Editor in Chief
Greenleaf Classics, Inc.
San Diego, California

Version dated 06-09-1969

#

I. MANUSCRIPT SPECIFICATIONS

A. Length: Regular adult novels & nonfiction-44,000 to 47,000 words;
Classics-50,000 and up;
Gay classics-63,000 to 66,000

B. Chaptering: Regular adult novels-exactly twelve, which may vary in length.
Other types-variable.
Chapters should be numbered, whether or not they bear titles. This matter should be centered at least six spaces above body copy.

C. Copy must be typewritten (pica or elite only), double-spaced on one side only of unlined 8- 1/2×11 white paper. (No erasable or corrasible bond, please.) Leave approximately 1-inch margins top, bottom and sides.

D. Use pencil only for corrections; ink markings hamper our editing process. Typing and page-numbering should be neat and accurate.

E. In fiction, we require strong emphasis on plot development and story ideas above all else, with a house taboo on irrelevant padding of any sort. The erotic content must be integral to characterization and story progression; it must be strong, meaningful and real.

In nonfiction (credentialed author or co-author preferred), we expect very specific case materials, with natural speech content, balanced by dignified scholarly commentary or narration.

F. We prefer sample chapter and outline, on new material only; we are not interested in examining old manuscripts. Report is within two weeks, and payment is on acceptance, with rate dependent on frequency of acceptance.

G. All submissions must be accompanied by sufficient return postage and self-addressed envelope. We assume no responsibility whatever for unsolicited manuscripts.

II. STYLE GUIDE

A. Reference Works*

1. The American College Dictionary (ACD), C.L. Barnhart, Editor in Chief; Random House, 1963 to date.
2. 20,000 Words, Louis A. Leslie, McGraw-Hill, 1965.
3. The New Roget’s Thesaurus, Edited by Norman Lewis, Garden City Books, 1961.
4. Dictionary of American Slang, Wentworth and Flexner, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1960.

*NOTE-These are standard reference volumes used in our editorial offices. We urge all authors to have copies of at least the first two, as our critiques may refer to information therein. 20,000 Words contains a section entitled “Punctuation Simplified” (pages 237-247), which is an invaluable guide.

B. Additional notes on punctuation and style

1. Brand Names: Avoid, otherwise watch spelling and caps, especially Coke (Coca-Cola), Jell-O, Levi’s (note apostrophe), Technicolor. But: diesel, quonset.

2. Capitalization: Generally, “down” style-a.m., p.m., summer, winter, etc.; the lieutenant (but Lieutenant Jones), the homicide division, the city, the state, the Taft building. If in doubt, check the ACD.

3. Commas and semicolons:
a. Read carefully pages 237-245 of 20,000 Words, with particular attention to the sections on apposition and nonrestrictive expressions.
b. In dialogue sequences, a comma must be used to separate attribution from following action (“Good-bye,” he said, and left), except in subordinate form (“Good-bye,” he said as he left).
c. Terms of address are always set off by commas, before and after.
“Henry, I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“I asked you not to do that, dear.”
“Damn it, Henry, stop that right now!”

4. Dashes: Use two hyphens, no spacing in or around. (I think we-watch out!)
Indicates radical interruption: parenthetical interjection, midsentence thought shift, interrupted dialogue.

5. Ellipses: (…) Three dots only, no spacing in oraround. Indicates tapering off to silence, stuttering, breathy speech, pregnant pause.

6. Definitions: Know your meanings; be certain you mean what you say and vice versa. If in doubt, check the ACD. Especially watch fulsome, noisome, unique, and other such sneakies-strict definition use only. Do not use “oblivious to;” the correct form is “oblivious (forgetful) of.” Do not use “different than;” the correct form is “different (varying) from.”

7. Hyphenation: For general rules, see pg. 246, 20,000 Words. For special cases, check the attached word list. House rules: Good-looking (all-lookings), half-hearted, well-heeled, and all such “new meaning” combinations are hyphenated anywhere in sentence.

8. Italics: Use sparingly for word emphasis not given by context, for uncommon foreign words, for brief speechlike thoughts. Do not use for: “He said no.” “She said yes.”; nor for commonly borrowed foreign words (savoir faire, per se, fiancee, etc.); nor for long passages (three lines or more) of any sort. Always use for names of newspapers (the New York Times, the Gazette), magazines, books, ships, airplanes (but not for makes and models of ships, planes, autos): Lindbergh’s plane was called The Spirit of St. Louis. We flew on a Boeing 707.

9. Numbers: Small numbers (under 100) generally should be spelled out; larger ones may be written as numerals or spelled out, as writer prefers, but consistency must be maintained throughout the manuscript. (Particularly when stating times of day and characters’ ages). In dialogue, all numbers should be spelled out, as people do not speak in numerals. Note the following examples for general rules:
a. Three-thirty or 3:30; five-forty-five or 5:45; six o’clock or 6:00. Kill redundancies such as “at ten p.m. that night,” “at 12 midnight.”
b. A four-year-old, or a four-year-old boy, but four years old; a three-week vacation; but three weeks’ vacation.
c. One hundred forty-six (no and); Fifty-second Street (note caps); $5,000 (note comma).
d. Twenty dollars, but twenty-dollar bill; ten thousand dollars, but ten-thousand-dollar bills (unless there are ten bills of a grand each).
e. Height: Don’t use figures. Don’t abbreviate or use symbols for “inches” and “feet.”
f. Weight: Numerals or spelled out, but do not abbreviate the words “pounds” and “ounces.”

10. Possessives: In general, be sure you know the difference between possessives and plurals: possessives take apostrophes, plurals do not. (That is Mary’s book. Two Marys were invited to the party. This is my brother’s wife. Those are my sisters’ husbands.) Also watch the difference between possessives and contractions. (Whose book is that? I don’t know who’s at the door. That door is off its hinges. It’s about to fall down.) Our preference possessives ending in “s”: the boss’ daughter; Gonzales’ serape; the Joneses’ house (or, the Jones home); Willis’ wagon; but Bruce’s, Candace’s,Denise’s, etc.

11. Prefixes and Suffixes: “Half” is usually separate, except to form an adjective before a noun (note exceptions in word list). “Over” and “re” never take a hyphen unless necessary for clarity (okay are: overripe, reenter, reread, rework). “Ex”, “pseudo”, “quasi”, “self”, and “ultra” always take hyphens, “non” usually does; “like” usually needs no hyphen, “maker” usually does. (ex-husband, pseudo-intellectual, quasi-literate, self-esteem, ultra-modern, non-American, apelike, movie-maker) Also watch “ally” suffixes on such words as: accidentally, frantically, incidentally. When in doubt, check word list and ACD.

12. Quotes: Don’t use singles except inside doubles; for so-called effect, it’s: her “cousin” was, in fact, her lover. Punctuation goes outside quotation marks with one-word quotes only; two words or more, inside; of course, this does not apply to one-word comments in dialogue.

13. Spelled Sounds: Do not go to ridiculous extremes. In general, use these forms: aargh (pain); ah (one h), oh (one h); oh-oh (surprise); en? Hmm? Huh? Humph (doubt, scorn or indifference); mmm (delectation); uh-huh or mm-hmm (yes); uh-uh or unh-uh (no); uh (hesitation); psst, shh. Others, use your own judgment, but please don’t get carried away.

14. Spelling: See attached word list and the ACD. Always use American spellings, not British; color, favor, savor, etc.; caliber, fiber, luster, meager, somber, specter, theater, etc.; afterward, backward (one exception in word list), downward, forward, inward, outward, sideward, toward, upward; dialed, dialing, signaled, signaling, traveled, traveling, marveled, marveling, etc. (Usually, the “l” is doubled only when the emphasis falls on the last syllable, as in: propel, propelling.)

C. TABOO TERMS

Under current contemporary standards, adult fiction knows no restrictions as to word usage. However, please do not abuse this freedom of expression. There is no need to clutter up the manuscript with an overabundance of “shock words” in the narrative, simply to fill up space; use them only where appropriate. In fiction, we prefer use of slang terms to clinical terms in describing parts of the body and the actions in which they engage.

Do not use the following terms to describe anatomical parts (there is no need to be “cute” or evasive): his masculinity, his manhood, his avenger, her mammaries, her womanhood, her femininity.

To avoid tedious repetition of certain descriptive terms, refer to the Dictionary of American Slang or use your imagination-but again, don’t get too carried away.

D. PESTIFEROUS PAIRS

adverse: contrary; opposing in effect (seldom applied to persons)
averse: opposed; having an aversion

affect: (v.) to act on; to change; to impress; to influence
effect: (n.) result; (v.) to bring about

avert: turn aside (one’s eyes) or ward off (evil)
avoid: to keep away from, stay clear of, shun, evade

a while: a period of time
awhile: for a period of time

callous: (adj.) hardened; (v.) to become hard
callus: (n.) a hardened part of the skin

compose: to make up
comprise: to consist of; include

confidant: (n.) one in whom secrets are confided
confidante: (n.) feminine form of above word
confident: (adj.) certain, self-assured

discreet: prudent
discrete: separate

eminent: noted, prominent
imminent: impending
immanent: inherent

hangar: for airplanes
hanger: for clothes

its: possessive
it’s: contraction of it is

lay, laid, laid (transitive) to place or put
lie, lay, lain (intransitive) recline

lustful: libidinous
lusty: hearty

raise, raised, raised: (transitive) to elevate, to lift, to rear children
rise, rose, risen: (intransitive) to go up

repulse: to push away
revulse: to revolt or sicken

tortuous: twisting or complex
torturous: agonizing

principal: (adj.) chief, main (n.) central figure, basic debt, director of a school
principle: (n. always) a rule

rack: as a verb, strain or torture
wrack: noun only, meaning wreckage (flotsam or jetsam)

sensual: inclined to gratification of the senses; voluptuous
sensuous: of or pertaining to the senses; perceived by or affecting the senses

E. WORD FAT-a few common excessive forms to be reduced:

supposing = suppose (This is an imperative verb form: a sentence begun with it should end with a period.)

her own, his own = her, his (unless clarity compels)

excepting = except; off of = off; or from; a ways = a way

the both of them, or the two of them = both, they, or them

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go! = Go, do, go! (Three will suffice at any time for any word or sound being repeated as a chant, shout, etc.)

Excess repetition of that girl, the man, the blonde, etc., once the characters’ names are known to the reader

Excess repetition of characters’ full names (except for special emphasis)

Excess use of bare, nude, naked, etc., once the condition is obvious, or as in: “He reached inside her blouse and bra to touch her naked breast.” Or, after an undressing scene, the completely unnecessary statements: “Then they were naked,” “Then he was as bare as she was,” etc.

Totally unnecessary use of “a pair of,” “two”, “both”, “Twin”, etc., in reference to breasts, arms, legs, buttocks, etc.

Unnecessary use of “of her” and “of him” to show possession, as in: “The breathtaking loveliness of her,” “the strength of him.” Should be: “her breathtaking loveliness,” “his strength,” etc.

III. WORD LIST

Compiled by our editors from notes on most frequently misspelled words in manuscripts. (Asterisks denote departure from ACD form, indicating house preferences.) For all words not listed, use the first form given in the ACD.

abdomen
accommodate
acknowledgment, acknowledgeable, acknowledging
acquaintance
advertise, advertisement, advertiser, advertising
aggressor, aggressive
aerial
afterward
air-condition (er, ed, ing)
airline*
all right (never alright)
any more (never anymore)
any place (always)
any time (always
ash tray
attendant
aureole
baby-sitter*
backward (direction)
backwards (in reverse order)*
ballpoint pen*
barbecue
beeline
blond (masc., noun & adj.)
blonde (fem., noun & adj.)
blue jeans
bourbon (no cap)
bourgeois
boy friend
brand-new
brassiere (bra is okay)
brief-case* (but attaché case)
cab driver
cafe (no accent)*
camouflage  
Canadian whisky (no e)
caress
cave man (n.), cave-man (adj.)
cellmate*
chaise longue (but lounge chair)
cheekbone* (but collar bone, etc.)
Chris-Craft
coiffeur (hair stylist)
coiffure (hairdo; coiffed, adj.)
coolly
cross-eyed (but cockeyed)
Chevy
cross-town (all forms)
damn, damned, damn it, damnedest
daytime
defense
desirable
desperate
diesel* (no cap)
dinner time, lunch time, supper time
discreetly (prudently)
discretely (separately)
disheveled
disk
double-cross (verb)
double-crosser, double-crossing
double cross (noun only)
drug store
dumfounded (no b)
ear lobe
ecstasy
embarrass (ed, ing, ment)
everyday (adj. only)
exaggerate
exhilarated
existence
fierce
fiery (never firey)
fingertip*
focus, focused, focusing
G-string*
garter belt
guage (estimate-never gage)
gouge (to scoop out)
girl friend
glamorous (but glamour)
goddamn, goddamn it, goddamnedest*
good-bye*
good night (but good-night kiss; said their good-nights)
good will (n.), good-will (adj.)
goosepimples*, gooseflesh*
half-day, half-dollar, half-hour, half-mile (but half an hour, etc.)
half slip
halfway (adj. & adv.)
half-wit
hangover* (but hung-over)
harass
hardhead (n.), hard-headed (adj.)
hard-top
hatbox
headwaiter
heartache
heartbreak (all forms)
hi-fi
hitchhike
hors d’oeuvres
idiosyncrasy
indefinable
inside out (hyphenate before a noun)
insistent
intern (n.), interne (f.)
irresistible
jack hammer
jackknife (n. & v.), jackknifed
jeopardy
judging, judgment
Juggernaut (note cap)
kidnaped (one p, all forms)
knowledgeable
languor, languorous
lascivious
leisure
Lesbian, Lesbianism (always cap)*
Lez, Lezzie (never use Les, Lessie)
leveled (one l, all forms)
libidos (pl.)
lieutenant (cap only before or as a name)
living room
loathe, loathsome
loveliness
lovemaking (no hyphen)
love play
lovesick
ludicrous
luster, lustrous
ma’am or madame (polite term of address)*
madam (one who runs a house, not a home)
machine gun (n.), machine-gun (adj. & v.)
machine-gunned, machine-gunner
make-up (all forms except verb), ditto made-up
mealtime
mid-air
midsection*
mid-town
murmur
mustache (never mou–)
nearby (adj. & adv.)
Negro, Negroes
negligee (no accent)
night club, night spot
nickel (metal & coin)
nighttime
occur, occurrence, occurred, occurring
okay (never O.K.)
old-fashioned
paneled (one l, all forms)
panty girdle
paraphernalia
passed (verb form)
past (adj., adv., or prep.)
Peeping Tom (note caps)
per cent (but percentage)
persevere, perseverance
plainclothesman*
playroom
pickup (n. & adj.), pick up (v.)
pile driver
pill box
point-blank
practice (all forms)
prestige
precede, preceded
proceed, proceeded
protuberant
recur, recurred, recurrent, etc.
redhead (n.), red-headed (adj.)
right side up (hyphenate before nouns)
schoolboy, schoolgirl, schoolteacher
scorch
Scotch whisky (no e)
seafood*
seize
separate (v. or adj.)
servant
setup (n.), set up (v.)
shined (polished), shone (gave light)
short wave (all forms)
sibilant
siege
signaled (one l, all forms)
sledge hammer (n.), sledge-hammer (adj.)
smolder (no u)
solely
some place (never someplace)
soundproof, soundproofed
sports coat (jacket, shirt, car, etc.)
strip tease (but strip-teaser, -tease act)
superintendent
supersede
sweatshirt*
T-shirt*
temperament, temperamental
teen-age, teen-ager (always hyphenated)
tendency
terry cloth (n. & adj.)
theater
thrash (only farmers thresh)
titillate
tousle, tousled
toward
towhead (n.), tow-headed (adj.)
tranquil, tranquilizer, tranquillity
trench coat
trip hammer*
truck driver
TV (always caps, no periods or space)
unselfconscious (but self-conscious)
upside down (hyphenate before nouns)
vice president
weekend* (all forms)
will power
weird
whiskey (all except Scotch and Canadian)
wield
worshiped (one p, all forms)
worthwhile* (all forms)
wrist watch
yield
zigzag (all forms)

Motel Sex Club/The Wild Ones by Andrew Shaw (Lawrence Block)

A Lawrence Block-penned Adrew Shaw novel — has Block’s tell-tale clipped noir style. A fast read with short chapters that feels like Block wrote this in several days.

A prevelent theme in 60s sleaze is the sex club — suburban swappers, college sex clubs, wild teens — this is a wild teens sesx club.  A 17 year old girl runs the family motel outside Syracuse while her dad is away for the summer; she soon invites all her friends from college for partiesand sex romps, and sleeps with traveling salesmen and any other men who fancy her delight.

Motel guests sleep with each other, not knowing each other’s names — the set-ups are absurd and more like Debbie Does Dallas situations.

There are wild parties with pot, drifting into reefer madness.  The night they all drop LSD, things go nuts…well, in Motel Sex Club, 1960, it’s speed pills…in The Wild Ones, the 1973 reprint, it’s been updated to acid — the language is updated too: “tits” for breasts” and “fuck me” for “give it to me.”

Not Block’s best, not as good as Lust Damned.

Don Elliott Nightstand Lust Titles