Burton Dickson – Snowjob (1970)

December 13, 2024December 28, 2024 Justin Tate

In honor of Netflix’s Hot Frosty, I dug deep into the archives to discover this 1970 paperback of frozen titillations. It’s not a tale of snow sculpture brought alive by Christmas magic. But, if you’re someone who wished Hot Frosty had gay orgies along with those Hallmark feel-good vibes, look no further than Burton Dickson’s novel Snowjob.

There is a snowman here too, of sorts. During a treacherous blizzard near a ski resort, Barry stumbles upon a naked ass buried in snow. Thinking it an attractive woman’s ass, he eagerly jumps into a rescue effort — and discovers he’s actually saving a man. A man with a stiff, frozen dick. Barry carries the unconscious, nude man to his cabin where he learns the poor fellow was caught drunk and naked in an avalanche. No doubt he would’ve been dead in a few hours.

Frederick Colson – The Devil is Gay (1965)

June 4, 2024June 13, 2024 Justin Tate

Happy Pride 2024. You know, not long ago in the early days of post-Obergefell v. Hodges, I believed Pride would become obsolete. Soon enough, I thought, we’d just be living our ordinary, twice-married, twice-divorced lives like everybody else. Nobody would care. It would be glorious.

Clearly I’m no prophet! Conservative fury over queer happiness is as vicious as ever and in a world where Roe v. Wade can be overturned, no freedom is safe. Every time I hear someone call a trans person mentally ill, which is every day online and by officials in high offices, I’m reminded that being LGBT+ was once reason enough to be institutionalized.

Gay pulp fiction from the 1960s and ’70s often tackled such dark topics. Being disowned by your family, blackmailed, fired from work, expelled from school, bullied to death, near-death or suicide, internalized homophobia, religious crisis, and extreme poverty due to any of the above circumstances. These were the matters of everyday queer life also portrayed in fiction. For some, particularly those in rural areas, the Sexual Revolution made things even more depressing. Progress was happening—you could see it!—but happiness remained just out of reach. Like dying of thirst in the desert with an oasis seen in the distance.

Now, nearly sixty years since The Devil is Gay was published, perhaps the most painful thing about the novel is that it remains exceedingly relevant. That’s a testament to our unfortunate current affairs, but also to Colson’s mastery of storytelling. What great art isn’t painful?

Vincent Virga – Gaywyck (1980)

December 18, 2023December 18, 2023 Justin Tate

Gaywyck was a sensation when it appeared in 1980. Critics across the US and Canada heralded its excellent prose and landmark existence as the “first gay Gothic.” Though the peer-reviewed journal Gothic Studies recently debunked this claim, having unearthed an earlier (and better) Gothic novel with unambiguous queer characters from the Stonewall era, there are still these forty years where Gaywyck held onto the title.

More important than Gaywyck’s claim of being first, however, was its mainstream appeal. It was popular in the gay community, but also a favorite among women and straight men who enjoyed the genre. The first edition ran 45,000 copies and sold out quickly, as did the second printing of 55,000.

Billy Farout – Man, It Must Be Heaven (1972)

June 24, 2023October 24, 2023 Justin Tate

Gay afterlife meets John Lennon utopia in this fantastical pulp novel. Murder, vengeful ghosts and tongue-in-cheek religious commentary are thrown in for good measure. As a literary artifact it offers a delightfully campy lens into the fantasies and fears of queer existence during the early 1970s.

The novel opens with Reggie Poppov waking up in the “Gay Wing of Purgatory.” He’s disoriented and wearing a big poofy wedding dress. Leaning over him is a “half nude angel” whose rippling physique makes him “more handsome” than Michelangelo’s David. The angel asks what happened to him. Reggie gradually recalls that he had dressed in wedding drag so he could legally marry his boyfriend, Bob. While posing for pictures on the Golden Gate Bridge, however, Bob pushed him over the edge so he could inherit Reggie’s family fortune.

Ed Kroch – Bring in the Clowns (1990)

February 21, 2023March 16, 2025 Justin Tate

There’s a lot of ball juggling in this book, if you catch my drift. The “plot” consists almost entirely of bedroom acrobatics. Fleeting moments of macabre clown imagery jazz up the D-grade erotica, however, and make the book deserving of its collector’s item status.

The opening image is of car headlights strobing red, green and blue as they pass the stained-glass window of a Victorian mansion. Mark, a clown accountant, set up a compound in the mansion for his wildly successful troupe, Bring in the Clowns. There’s a special synergy among the clowns as evidenced by their regular bookings at birthday parties and other adult events. Limitless dedication to gratifying customers further contributes to a growing number of rave reviews. Who knew, with the right services, so much money could be made in the clown business?

William J. Lambert, III – Adonis Trilogy (1969-1970)

November 1, 2021January 3, 2022 Justin Tate

It doesn’t get any more 1969 than Adonis. This novel is as trippy as an extended foot and more surreal than Salvador Dali’s wet dreams. Though billed as “adult only” gay entertainment, much of the sex oozes with a slime of horror and supernatural mystery. You don’t know whether to be repulsed, turned on or terrified. Perhaps it’s the combination of all three which make it so unique.

Back in the day Adonis was popular enough to warrant two sequels. Today it’s an extremely rare find that might cost three figures for a tattered used copy.

California Scene, one of the more literary-minded gay presses, reviewed the novel in their May 1971 issue. They described it as “quite an exciting detective story” and praised Lambert’s “great skill in handling” a “number of good ideas.” In the same breath, however, there was concern that the “extremely involved” plot was peopled with “too many characters” and consequently difficult to follow.