“It was a pleasure to burn” famously wrote Ray Bradbury—but I doubt he was thinking about the kinds of fiery lust found in Pyro-Sex. Seemingly unhinged in its presentation of clearly fictionalized case studies, the book validates itself by arguing that the “sexual root of pyromania has been entirely overlooked by almost all criminologists” (8). With the aid of allegedly real criminal confessions, the book claims it will leave readers with a new understanding of sexuality’s role in the “impulse to pyromania” (166).
In these pages we meet such disturbed characters as Steven, the “runt” whose reduced stature makes him appear significantly younger than he is. Worse yet, his dick is also diminutive. After ridicule in gym class and traumatic dates where girls laugh at his little pecker, he begins to have pyromaniac fantasies.
He dreams that he’s not a runt at all, but very big—huge next to Karen, a girl who had laughed at him. Unlike real Karen, dream-Karen is impressed by his manly chest and impressive size. In the dream there is always a house on fire in the distance. At first this is scary, but his brain soon associates the escalating flames with his escalated size. He even begins fantasizing about the burning house when awake.
And that’s when his penis starts to talk.
“You have to set the fire,” his penis says. “You must set the fire so I can grow. I will be strong if you set the fire. Set the fire, Steve. Hurry” (29).
Steven realizes it is Karen’s house in his dream and concludes that he must burn it down. “It all made sense then,” confesses Steven. “If I set the fire I would have a remarkable cock…yes, I had to set the fire, today, because then Karen would be mad about me” (29).
So he enters her home “by way of the garage,” takes out a “gallon of gasoline” and pours the flammable liquid all over Karen’s unoccupied bed. “Now you will love me,” says Steven as he strikes a match and engulfs the bed in “licking” flames (30).
The disturbed youth exits the burning building, ejaculating in his pants along the way. From across the street he watches the house burn with increasing eroticism. His desire escalates further when he hears Karen’s frantic parents scream that she is trapped in the upstairs bathroom.
Somehow he interprets her demise as fulfillment of his dream. “I had finally satisfied Karen…No one could get into the house now, Karen was at last getting a good come and it was from me…me…Steven of the large cock…of the largest cock…” (31).
An officer approaches Steven, whose erotic glee has the common look of pyromaniacs admiring their handiwork. The officer asks if he started the fire.
“Yes, sir, I did,” says Steven.
“Why?”
“So Karen can feel my burning love for her,” he explains.
Even as he’s driven off to prison, Steven doesn’t realize there’s a problem. “I told [the officer] there was nothing to worry about since it was my cock that had told me what to do. It was necessary…for Karen’s sake” (32).
Yeah, so… that’s not something you read about every day. But as wild and clearly made-up as this “case study” is, there are some nuggets of truth in there. Legitimate researchers of pyromania have found that culprits tend to be individuals in need of releasing “built-up tension, anxiety, or arousal.” Hallucinations are another trait of fire-setters and arsonists are in fact frequently found at the scene of their crimes.
Furthermore, I don’t think enough can be said about the frenzied mental anguish some men experience if they feel they are not “up to size.” As a society we are hyper aware of the body issues girls go through, but dudes are just as sensitive to that stuff. Maybe even more so.
The author does not let pyromaniacal psychology in women go unaddressed, however. One of the most memorable cases is that of Susan who suffers from an “inferiority complex due to a traumatic experience upon defloration by an older married man.” Thinking that they would have a life together, she is emotionally wrecked when the older man rejects her for being “too plain” (143).
Since then, Susan has cut herself off from men entirely. Though not a lesbian, she has a lesbian roommate who she enjoys occasional sex with. Most of the time, however, Susan masturbates while visualizing herself being burned at the stake as a witch.
This paragraph beautifully illustrates her Salem-inspired sexual awakening:
After work, when I get back to my little apartment, I usually put some water on the stove for instant coffee. This one afternoon, I turned the gas on and the blue flames puffed into life, startling me. I settled my bottom back against the wall, hypnotized by the fire, staring into it. And there I was again, experiencing my truest sensual feelings. The fire grew larger and larger, the flames licked higher and higher. There was no kitchenette, no pot of water . . . only me, tied to a stake, surrounded by engulfing flame…I am trembling, laughing, as onlookers behold the witch burning. First my clothes burn, little flames dancing over me until I am completely nude and my pussy is leaking colorful liquids into the fire, making delightful sizzling noises, music to my ears (143).
Susan keeps her gas stove eroticism secret for a while, but it doesn’t take long for her lesbian roommate to notice. When confronted, she is immediately defensive: “There’s nothing wrong with it. You eat pussy and I watch fire, so what?” (144).
The roommate is accepting of this peculiarity, especially since it makes her friend so “juicy.” Everything might have been all right except that the witch burning fantasy is a gateway into far more grotesque experimentation.
Susan becomes certain she will never find her “Prince Charming” and enlists the support of a Great Dane to satisfy her. Afterward, she is disgusted with herself and her roommate is even more appalled.
The roommate leaves and Susan has this morose thought: “What good was I when even a lesbian couldn’t stand me? What hope was there for me when my only sexual gratification came from watching a kitchen stove?” (149).
The solution to her fire fetish and relationship trauma is rather disturbing, cementing any question that we are dealing with a particularly unique deviant. One day she decides to go out with some girls from work. Later that night they are approached by a gang who brutally rapes her colleagues. Susan is spared because one of the gang members takes a liking to her and only pretends to rape her. This way the other guys don’t think she’s being allowed to go unscathed.
While mimicking the motions, however, Susan turns hot for her captor and they sneak off to her apartment to enjoy consensual sex. No one calls the police or offers help to the other girls, but the case study ends on a “happy” note because this brute is able to cure her depression, pyromania, lesbianism, witch fantasy, etc. with one good lay.
The 1960s were crazy, y’all! How did these writers even think of this stuff?
In total, the book contains about ten examples of such shocking, unbelievable stories that claim to be based on truth. Again these “confessions” are not something readers should believe as truth, but there is some basis of reality. Trauma, abuse, and other sources of extreme anxiety are situations which psychologists believe contribute to the rare disorder of pyromania.
This book seemingly aims to depict the most extreme cases imaginable. The result is horrific, dirty, and slightly educational. That’s what these Adult Only “case study” books were all about in the 1960s, and it was a winning formula which sold a lot of copies. Pyro-Sex is one of the weirder books from this genre, but pyromania is also one of the craziest disorders out there. For a non-academic text, the book actually does a fairly good job of educating its readers, even if half of the theories are made up and thick skin is needed to get through icky passages.
Generally, Pyro-Sex is not recommended reading except for those who appreciate the value of shock fiction or find historical/problematic perspectives on sexual psychology fascinating. Horniness is the one constant we’ve had as a human species, and personally I do find changing attitudes toward sex worth analyzing. Even when it involves reading outrageous stuff like this, somebody’s gotta do it!
For those who would like to learn more about the author (or would like to know what other books to avoid) here’s what I dug up:
Johann Kreig is the pseudonym of Edward J. Hoscoe. His known published works include:
Furry, The Diary of a Babysitter (as Debbie Prager)
The Astrological Guide to Sex (as Theodor Lawrence)
How the Tarot Speaks to Modern Man (as Theodor Laurence)
These books are credited to Hoscoe in the Library of Congress Copyright Catalog. A number of other books were written under the pseudonym Theodor Laurence, however not all are believed to be by Edward Hoscoe. This era was the wild west of publishing and much about the authors behind the pen names is unknown.
My brief search found no biographical information on Edward Hoscoe except that he likely gave a talk on creative writing in Charlemont, Massachusetts, in 1973. Here’s the complete transcript of a news item on the event:
The Charlemont Youth Group will have a pot-luck supper at the Charlemont Federated Church, Sunday, at 6 p.m. Edward Hoscoe, a writer, will speak to the group about the excitement and problems of creative writing. Tickets may be purchased at the door.
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