Forgotten Books: Sin-a-Rama - Brittany A. Daley, Adam Parfrey, Hedi El Kholti, Earl Kemp, eds.

(This post originally appeared in different form on March 1, 2005.)

Like a lot of paperback collectors, I'm fascinated by the soft-core porn novels published in the Fifties and Sixties. In fact, I'd say I like reading about the books and their authors about as much as I enjoy reading the books themselves (although I've read quite a few by authors like Harry Whittington, Mike Avallone, Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, and Robert Silverberg under their various pseudonyms, and find them all consistently entertaining).

The highlight of this volume is a reprint of Silverberg's wonderful "My Life as a Pornographer", which I missed in its original magazine appearance. Opening the book and seeing the cover of LOVE ADDICT, which was Silverberg's first novel for William Hamling's Nightstand line, as well as the first Nightstand book published, prompted me to exclaim, "Hey! I've got that book!" I didn't realize it was the debut book in the most famous line of porn novels ever published. In fact, I was surprised as I looked through page after page of cover reproductions by just how many of those books I own. I've never really collected them, just picked them up now and then as I ran across them.

As is the case with IT'S A MAN'S WORLD, the other book I have that was published by Feral House, SIN-A-RAMA could have used a little more text, a little more of the ol' who-wrote-what. But it's still a great book, highly entertaining and informative. The only problem is that now I want to go dig out some of those Andrew Shaw and Clyde Allison and Don Elliott books I have and read them, and I just don't have time.

UPDATE: My copy of SIN-A-RAMA was lost in the fire of '08, but I remember it fondly, especially for all the great cover reproductions. I've read quite a few of those softcore novels since this post first appeared and always enjoy them. SIN-A-RAMA is still available on Amazon.