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Odd Girl Out
by Ann BannonThe classic 1950s novel from the Queen of Lesbian Pulp, Odd Girl Out is the first part of Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker series.
Odd Girl Out
by Ann BannonThe classic 1950s novel from the Queen of Lesbian Pulp, Odd Girl Out is the first part of Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker series.
The Immoralist
by André Gide Dorothy Bussy"Knowing how to free oneself is nothing; the difficult thing is knowing how to live with that freedom" is a central lesson in this short novel, which explores themes of life versus death, mind versus body, and the process of self-discovery.<P> This is the story of the rebellion of a mind against the morality of self-sacrifice and the ordinary civilized standards of personal conduct.<P> Translated from the French: "L'Immoraliste".
We, Too, Must Love
by Ann AldrichA literary lesbian landmark that &“will transport today&’s readers . . . to the 1950s homosexual scene&” (Marcia M. Gallo, author of Different Daughters). Three years after the publication of her groundbreaking 1955 bestseller, We Walk Alone, Ann Aldrich expanded on her journalistic portraits of lesbian subcultures in and around New York, in We, Too, Must Love. Inspired by the hundreds of letters she received by women from around the country (many reprinted here), Aldrich tackled questions of class division; explored the diverse careers lesbians held; guided readers through the social cliques and bar scenes; set the record straight on gay stereotypes; observed the differences among the &“Village,&” &“Uptown,&” and Brooklyn lesbian communities; and hinted at the growing consciousness that would fuel later lesbian and gay rights movements. We Walk Alone and We, Too, Must Love are, in effect, &“indispensable guides to a hidden world&” (Advocate.com). &“Simultaneously intimate and investigative, subjective and discerning&” (UTNE Magazine), &“Aldrich touched innumerable lives and gave hope to lesbians mired in a harsh and ignorant era. Read these books to learn what it was like back then, what we believed and how we made a start in the struggle against prejudice.&” —Ann Bannon, author of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles
The Charioteer: A Virago Modern Classic (Vmc Ser. #84)
by Mary Renault'The Charioteer remains compelling both as a snapshot of a particular - and particularly fascinating - cultural moment, and as a deeply romantic story of love fulfilled against the odds. It has all those qualities that make Mary Renault so memorable as a novelist: craft, subtlety, intelligence, and a terrific natural sympathy with the intricacies of honour and desire' SARAH WATERS'An explosive and courageous book' SIMON RUSSELL BEALEFirst published in 1953, The Charioteer is a tender, intelligent coming-of-age novel and a bold, unapologetic portrayal of homosexuality that stands with Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar and James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room as a landmark work in gay literature.Injured at Dunkirk, Laurie Odell, a young corporal, is recovering at a rural veterans' hospital. There he meets Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly, and the men find solace in their covert friendship. Then Ralph Lanyon appears, a mentor from Laurie's schooldays. Through him, Laurie is drawn into a tight-knit circle of gay men for whom liaisons are fleeting and he is forced to choose between the ideals of a perfect friendship and the pleasures of experience.'Emotionally intelligent, beautifully written and deeply moving, it transcends categorisations' Telegraph
The Charioteer: A Novel (Virago Modern Classics Ser. #84)
by Mary RenaultA WWII soldier embarks on affairs with two very different men in a landmark novel that &“transcends categorizations&” (The Telegraph). After being wounded at Dunkirk in World War II, Laurie Odell is sent back home to a rural British hospital. Standing out among the orderlies is Andrew, a bright conscientious objector raised as a Quaker. The unspoken romance between the two men is tested when Ralph, a friend of Laurie&’s from school, re-enters his life, introducing him into a milieu of jaded, experienced gay men. Will Laurie reconcile himself to Ralph&’s embrace, or can he offer Andrew the idealized, Platonic intimacy he yearns for? This novel has been called one of the foundation stones of gay literary fiction, ranking alongside James Baldwin&’s Giovanni&’s Room and Gore Vidal&’s The City and the Pillar. Celebrated for its literary brilliance and sincere depiction of complex human emotions, The Charioteer is a stirring and beautifully rendered portrayal of love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary Renault including rare images of the author.
The Girls in 3-B (Femmes Fatales)
by Valerie Taylor Tania ModleskiAnnice, Pat, and Barby are best friends from Iowa, freshly arrived in booming 1950s Chicago to explore different paths toward independence, self--expression, and sexual freedom. From the hip-hang of a bohemian lifestyle to the sophisticated lure of romance with a handsome, wealthy, married boss to the happier security of a lesbian relationship, these three experience firsthand the dangers and limitations of women's economic -reliance on men. Well-known lesbian pulp author Valerie Taylor skillfully paints a sociological portrait of the emotional and economic pitfalls of heterosexuality in 1950s America-and then offers a defiantly subversive alternative. A classic pulp tale showcasing predatory beatnik men, drug hallucinations, and secret lesbian trysts, The Girls in 3-B approaches the theme of sex from the stiffened vantage point of 1950s psychology.Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women's writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; The Blackbirder; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; In a Lonely Place; Laura; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Women's Barracks.
I am a Woman
by Ann BannonThe classic 1950s novel from the Queen of Lesbian Pulp. "For contemporary readers the books offer a valuable record of gay and lesbian life in the 1950s. Most are set in Greenwich Village, and Ms. Bannon's descriptions of bars, clubs and apartment parties vividly evoke a vanished community. Her characters also have historical value. Whereas most lesbians in pulp are stereotypes who get punished for their desires, Beebo and her friends are accessibly human. Their struggles with love and relationships are engrossing today, and half a century ago they were revolutionary." --New York Times "Sex. Sleeze. Depravity. Oh, the twisted passions of the twilight world of lesbian pulp fiction." --Chicago Free Press "Little did Bannon know that her stories would become legends, inspiring countless fledgling dykes to flock to the Village, dog-eared copies of her books in hand, to find their own Beebos and Lauras and others who shared the love they dared not name." --San Francisco Bay Guardian "Ann Bannon is a pioneer of dyke drama." --On Our Backs "When I was young, Bannon's books let me imagine myself into her New York City neighborhoods of short-haired, dark-eyed butch women and stubborn, tight-lipped secretaries with hearts ready to be broken. I would have dated Beebo, no question." --Dorothy Allison "Bannon's books grab you and don't let go." --Village Voice
I Am a Woman
by Ann BannonLauded as the “Queen of Lesbian Pulp” for her landmark novels of the 1950s, Ann Bannon defined lesbian fiction for the pre-Stonewall generation. Following the release of Cleis Press’s new editions of Beebo Brinker and Odd Girl Out, I Am a Woman finds sorority sister Laura Landon leaving college heartbreak behind and embracing Greenwich Village’s lesbian bohemia. This edition includes a new introduction by the author.
Journey to a Woman
by Ann BannonDesignated the "Queen of Lesbian Pulp" for her series of landmark novels beginning in 1957, Ann Bannon's work defined lesbian fiction for the pre-Stonewall generation. Following the release of Cleis Press's new editions of Beebo Brinker and Odd Girl Out, Journey to a Woman finds Laura in love among the lesbian bohemia of Greenwich Village.
Journey to a Woman
by Ann BannonDubbed the "Queen of Lesbian Pulp" for her series of landmark novels beginning in 1957, Ann Bannon's work defined lesbian fiction for the pre-Stonewall generation. Following the release of Cleis Press's new editions of Beebo Brinker and Odd Girl Out, Journey to a Woman finds Laura in love amidst the lesbian bohemia of Greenwich Village. This fifth in Cleis Press's series of rereleased lesbian pulp fiction classics features a new introduction by the author.
Stranger on Lesbos
by Valerie Taylor Marcia GalloFrances, a 1950s housewife, becomes bored with her suburban life and enrolls in a class at the local community college. When she meets Bake, a butch lesbian, her life completely changes. In thrall to a forbidden world of martini lunches, late nights at queer bars, and a sexual passion she never knew was possible, Frances must chose between the safety of heterosexual marriage, or the dangers of life on the edge of society.In this age of Mad Men fever, the re-issue of Stranger on Lesbos comes at the perfect moment, invoking an era we can't help but romanticize yet despise.Valerie Taylor is the pen name of Velma Young (1913-1997), author of the lesbian pulp classics Whisper Their Love (1957), The Girls in 3-B (1959), World Without Men (1963), Journey to Fulfillment (1964), and Ripening (1988). With the $500 proceeds of her first novel, Hired Girl (1953), Taylor bought a pair of shoes, two dresses, and hired a divorce lawyer. After leaving her husband, she kicked off a prolific career as the author of pulp fiction novels, poetry (under the name Nacella Young), and romances (under the name Francine Davenport). A longtime activist for gay and lesbian rights, she was a co-founder of Mattachine Midwest and the Lesbian Writers Conference in Chicago.Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women's writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; The Blackbirder; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; In a Lonely Place; Laura; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Women's Barracks.
We Think The World of You
by J. R. Ackerley P. N. FurbankWe Think the World of You combines acute social realism and dark fantasy, and was described by J.R. Ackerley as "a fairy tale for adults." Frank, the narrator, is a middle-aged civil servant, intelligent, acerbic, self-righteous, angry. He is in love with Johnny, a young, married, working-class man with a sweetly easygoing nature. When Johnny is sent to prison for committing a petty theft, Frank gets caught up in a struggle with Johnny's wife and parents for access to him. Their struggle finds a strange focus in Johnny's dog--a beautiful but neglected German shepherd named Evie. And it is she, in the end, who becomes the improbable and undeniable guardian of Frank's inner world.
Another Kind Of Love
by Paula ChristianUnlike most pulp romances of the 1950s and '60s, Paula Christian's heroines were thoroughly modern women--struggling to define themselves while searching for their own lasting relationships. Fully human and honest, afraid of failure yet always hopeful, these sisters were blazing a trail, encouraging others on their path to...<P> Another Kind Of Love<P> The moment Laura Garraway shares a forbidden kiss with beautiful Hollywood starlet Ginny Adams, she discovers the missing piece of herself. When fame-hungry Ginny won't leave her powerful movie star lover, Saundra, Laura runs away to New York's comforting bright lights, desperate to forget her. There, in the cigarette-and-martini-drenched gay bars of the Village, and the offices of Madison Avenue, Laura finds herself in a new world--one in which who she is and what she wants are completely up to her...<P> Love Is Where You Find It
The Gay Detective
by Lou RandBefore there was Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, vintage pulp writer Lou Rand delivered this high-camp masterpiece in 1961. Set in Beat-era "gay mecca-in-the-making" San Francisco, the novel's tightly-knit plot boasts a sissy gumshoe, his butch ex-marine assistant, a nymphomaniac on the make, and plenty of dishy humor.
The Tree and the Vine
by Dola De Jong Nona KinzerBea and Erica meet in 1938, before Germany has come to power. Bea, who has had very few, but mostly violent sexual encounters in the past, finds herself attracted to the boyish Erica. However, the coming years will be hard on the women, as Hitler's forces draw ever nearer to the land they call home.
Beebo Brinker
by Ann BannonAnn Bannon was designated the "Queen of Lesbian Pulp" for authoring several landmark novels in the '50s. Unlike many writers of the period, however, Bannon broke through the shame and isolation typically portrayed in lesbian pulps, offering instead characters who embraced their sexuality. With Beebo Brinker, Bannon introduces a butch 17-year-old farm girl newly arrived in Beat-era Greenwich Village.
Beebo Brinker
by Ann BannonAnn Bannon was designated the "Queen of Lesbian Pulp" for authoring several landmark novels in the '50s. Unlike many writers of the period, however, Bannon broke through the shame and isolation typically portrayed in lesbian pulps, offering instead characters who embraced their sexuality. With Beebo Brinker, Bannon introduces a butch 17-year-old farm girl newly arrived in Beat-era Greenwich Village.
Cassandra at the Wedding
by Deborah Eisenberg Dorothy BakerCassandra Edwards is a graduate student at Berkeley: gay, brilliant, nerve-racked, miserable. At the beginning of this novel, she drives back to her family ranch in the foothills of the Sierras to attend the wedding of her identical twin, Judith, to a nice young doctor from Connecticut. Cassandra, however, is hell-bent on sabotaging the wedding. Dorothy Baker's entrancing tragicomic novella follows an unpredictable course of events in which her heroine appears variously as conniving, self-aware, pitiful, frenzied, absurd, and heartbroken--at once utterly impossible and tremendously sympathetic. As she struggles to come to terms with the only life she has, Cassandra reckons with her complicated feelings about the sister who she feels owes it to her to be her alter ego; with her father, a brandy-soaked retired professor of philosophy; and with the ghost of her dead mother. First published in 1962, Cassandra at the Wedding is a book of enduring freshness, insight, and verve. Like the fiction of Jeffrey Eugenides and Jhumpa Lahiri, it is the work of a master stylist with a profound understanding of the complexities of the heart and mind.
Winter Love
by Suyin HanThe raw account of a life-altering affair in wartime London—&“Han Suyin&’s outstanding achievement . . . her finest novel.&” (Alison Hennegan)As a college student in London during the bitterly cold winter of 1944, Red falls in love with her married classmate Mara. Their affair unleashes a physical passion, a jealousy, and a sense of self-doubt that sweep all her previous experiences aside and will leave her changed forever. Set against the rubble of the bombed city, in a time of gray austerity and deprivation, Winter Love recalls a life at its most vivid. &“Probably the best thing she has ever written&” (Daily Telegraph), it is also Han Suyin&’s most unexpected, tender, and stirring work.
By Cécile (Femmes Fatales)
by Tereska TorresA coming of age novel set in post-war France by an author who &“launched the modern genre of the lesbian paperback&” (Susan Stryker, author of Queer Pulp). When eighteen-year-old Cécile is orphaned at the end of World War II, the curious and adventurous Catholic student finds refuge in Paris, and with an older man. A former member of the Resistance with Cécile&’s parents, Maurice is handsome, a thrilling cultured patron of the arts, and a mentor eager to introduce the budding young author to his intimate circle of friends—Cocteau, Sartre, and Eartha Kitt! As liberating an influence as he is, Maurice also encourages Cécile to shed her inhibitions he sees as bourgeois. Possessing a sensual and passionate temperament, Cécile is eager to begin exploring—by sharing Maurice&’s mistress, and writing of every life-changing and delightfully scandalous new experience. Credited with penning the first, candidly lesbian novel—Women&’s Barracks, in 1950—Tereska Torrès &“scandalized mid-century America&” (The New York Times). In By Cécile, written in 1963, &“Madame Torres has re-imagined a youthful Colette (here called Cécile) in the infinitely seductive post-World War II period in Paris, where she moves like a sleeping princess through the perverse fairy tales of man-made cafe society. [It&’s] a sharply perceptive novel&” (Joan Schenkar, author of The Talented Miss Highsmith).
If It Die
by Andre GideThis is the major autobiographical statement from Nobel laureate André Gide. In the events and musings recorded here we find the seeds of those themes that obsessed him throughout his career and imbued his classic novels The Immoralist and The Counterfeiters. Gide led a life of uncompromising self-scrutiny, and his literary works resembled moments of that life. With If It Die, Gide determined to relay without sentiment or embellishment the circumstances of his childhood and the birth of his philosophic wanderings, and in doing so to bring it all to light. Gide's unapologetic account of his awakening homosexual desire and his portrait of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas as they indulged in debauchery in North Africa are thrilling in their frankness and alone make If It Die an essential companion to the work of a twentieth-century literary master.