Black Cactus

Just read a blurb about Johnny Weissmuller. Not only did he win 5 Olympic gold medals while setting several world records, he also starred in 12 Tarzan movies and did many of his own stunts including riding a wild rhino

My grandfather was a frogman in WWII. A little history... The Frogmen were the group that the Navy Seals originated from. As depicted in this book cover, one common task for the frogmen was to deactivate naval mines. From what my grandfather told me however, they never wore scuba tanks as they could risk bumping into the mines and the impact of metal on metal could trigger an explosion. Instead, the frogmen held their breath and cut into the navel mines with hand tools (while free diving in freezing ocean waters) in order to defuse them. My grandfather and other frogmen were among other things, given "a pouch of herbs and chemicals to be worn at the waist, that will keep the sharks away." From what I remember him telling me, all they had was a swim suit, their tool kit, and their trusty bag of shark repellent. The Navy frogmen received special training during WWII, and my grandfather's swim coach in the navy was Johnny Weissmuller, the actor who played Tarzan in the original black and white Tarzan movies. He was also an olympic medal swimmer and trained Frogmen during WWII. Apparently Johnny was quite the playboy of his day, being an olympian and hollywood star who spent his free time training the troops. My grandfather was 6'7", and in order to get into the Navy his local recruiting officer (a friend of my grandfather's) lied on his application and said he was 5'11". Due to the small size of the ship's below deck quarters, you legally couldn't join the Navy if you were above a certain height. He ended up being the tallest man in the US Navy during WWII, and I have a post-war newspaper clipping about this fact to prove the story. During one of his landings in the Pacific Islands, he got separated from his team and was traveling through the local jungle on foot. He was ambushed by a small group of indiginous fighters, who upon seeing him, immediately fled. My grandpa believed it may have been because they had never seen a white man before, and certainly not one as tall as him. (Disclaimer: my grandpa never harmed anyone in the war that I know of, and was the most gentle of souls).

I think I remember reading somewhere that Orrie Hitt would crank out a book a week, writing them at his kitchen table while chain smoking cigarettes.

Adding both of these to my want list. So good!

A very good mail day today!

Hah, I have a copy of The Abnormal Ones that I recently bought that should ship to me soon. Yours is in great shape! What a beauty! I’m queer and so that’s a collecting focus of mine. I honestly couldn’t say which deserve a premium and which are hype, or a one-off crazy sale. I’ve only been collecting paperbacks for about a year so I’m still a novice. I think especially with the sleazier books, pricing becomes rather arbitrary. People make snap decisions, and there’s often not a lot of sales data available for many of the books. A lot of these books are offensive by today’s standards, but that’s part of what makes it so interesting and fun. It’s also worth noting that lesbian sleaze played a pivotal role in the formation of the feminist movement - and for many queer folks, was their first access to stories about people like themselves. In regard to queer/lesbian paperbacks, I would think that those written by queer authors would command a special premium. But always, it comes down to the cover!

This was my first year attending, and I thought it was great. It's one of the smaller convention or shows that I've been to, and I really enjoyed that aspect. It was a full house with a lot of energy, but not overly crowded. And so many books to choose from! I easily could have spent a few more hours (and a few more paychecks) finding new books to take home. I was particularly pleased to discover these Selbee published copies of The Gay Rebels and The Gay Jungle. I wasn't even aware of their existence beforehand, but they published around half a dozen titles at a slightly larger format than standard. The two books measure about 5.25" x 8" instead of the more standard 4.5" x 7", and they have interior illustrations. Here's my haul. I picked up "Flesh" from the aforementioned Terry. I'd been looking for it, and was happy to find it in person.

I've always loved the more illustrative covers of the LOTR paperbacks. Some of the other covers you shared seem pretty pedestrian art-wise, but I suppose that's not unique to any one genre.

In this case the author Carl Corley is also the cover artist! He painted his own covers for most of the ~22 books he wrote and published.

Oh man, there's so many gems that I laugh over. I've bought as many books because I found the cover/title hilarious, as any other reason.

I never introduced myself. My name is David, and in addition to vintage erotica, I also collect animation art and contemporary art. I work in the realm of fine art printmaking, and help artists publish limited edition prints. My favorite snack is a banana with peanut butter. I'm queer, so today I'll share some of my books with a queer focus. Enjoy! and to throw it out there, I'm actively looking for more gay interest books by Carl Corley and Don Holliday / Victor J. Banis

I do have at least one cover with a gimp suit! but I think it has full nudity as well. For now, please enjoy some of the Maitresse series

Here's a few books from my collection happy new year's everyone

Any place that would try to censor a Frazetta is no place that I would want to be! Love the Lampoon cover. I've never thought I needed a scanner until now. I'll take some photos tomorrow of some of my tamer covers. My collecting focus is after 1968 when the obscenity laws loosened. Would things like Bill Ward's and Gene Bilbrew's fetish art be welcome here?