Downloading Lesbian Pulp Fiction: The Sexually Intrepid from 1950 to 1965

Long before the rise of the modern gay movement, an unnoticed literary revolution was occurring between the covers of the cheaply produced lesbian pulp paperbacks of the post–World War II era. In 1950, publisher Fawcett Books founded its Gold Medal imprint, inaugurating the reign of lesbian pulp fiction. These were the books that small-town lesbians and prurient men bought by the millions — cheap, easy to find in drugstores, and immediately recognizable by their lurid covers: often a hard-looking brunette standing over a scantily clad blonde, or a man gazing in tormented lust at a lovely, unobtainable lesbian. For women leading straight lives, here was confirmation that they were not alone and that darkly glamorous, "gay" places like Greenwich Village existed. Some — especially those written by lesbians — offered sympathetic and realistic depictions of "life in the shadows," while others (no less fun to read now) were smutty, sensational tales of innocent girls led astray. In the overheated prose typical of the genre, this collection documents the emergence of a lesbian subculture in postwar America.

Grande dame of lesbian literature Katherine V. Forrest presents a rich survey of the best of the pulps, including work by Ann Bannon, Vin Packer, Marion Zimmer Bradley (writing as Miriam Gardner), Brigid Brophy, and many others.Contains: Tereska Torres: Women's Barracks Vin Packer: Spring Fire Anne Herbert: Summer Camp Sloane Britain: These Curious Pleasures Joan Ellis: The Third Street Randy Salem: Chris Artemis Smith: The Third ex Valerie Taylor: The Girls in 3-B Valerie Taylor: Return to Lesbos Miriam Gardner: The Strange Women Dorcas Knight: The Flesh Is Willing Kay Martin: The Whispered Sex Fay Adams: Appointment in Paris Brigid Brophy: The ing of a Rainy Country March Hastings: Three Women Shirley Verel: The Dark Side of Venus Della Martin: Twilight Girl Paula Christian: Edge of Twilight Paula Christian: Another Kind of Love Ann Bannon: Beebo Brinker