Disinformation Book of Lists (33 page)

Pulp novels, printed on dirt-cheap paper (hence, the name) and selling for a trifle, are an extinct genre of American writing/publishing. The golden age of the pulps was pretty much 1945 to 1955, but they were around for over a decade before and after this period. A tiny portion of this throwaway lit is still remembered and read today; Louis Lamour, Dashiell Hammet, H.P. Lovecraft, and Ian Fleming are among the few pulpsters who rose above the genre. But they wrote pulp that is still acceptable “genre fiction”—science fiction, horror, Westerns, spy novels, mystery fiction, etc.

What have been almost completely forgotten (except by collectors, bibliophiles, and pulp cultists) are the exploitation pulps that dealt with sex (orgies, adulterous spouses, homosexuality, promiscuous women, etc.), drugs, and violence, sometimes in combination, almost always with as much sensationalism as possible. Sure, 98 percent of the writing was hackneyed and the content didn't live up to its titillating promise, but those lurid titles, taglines, and covers are worthy of immortality.

1.
AC-DC Stud

author
J.X. Williams
tagline:
“A lover and his lady…and his laddie!”

2.
Acid Orgy

author:
Tony Calvano
tagline:
“Psychedelic sin-trippers…way out and wanton!”

3.
All on Sunday

author:
Don Elliott (pseudonym of Robert Silverberg)
tagline:
“The family shame was their only fame!”

4.
Basement Game

tagline:
“Your children know—but they won't tell you!”

5.
Beatnik Wanton

author:
Don Elliott
tagline:
“She lusted in sin orgies and reefer brawls!”

6.
Blondes Are Skin Deep

author:
Louis Trimble

7.
Boss Lady

author:
Ursula Grant
tagline:
“How could she expect a teenage stock-boy to sense her shameless need and shocking desires?”

8.
By Love Depraved

author:
Arthur Adlon
tagline:
“Portraying the frightening spread of lesbianism among the white women of modern-day Africa.”

9.
Call South 3300: Ask for Molly!

author:
Orrie Hitt
tagline:
“A candid novel that takes you behind the scenes at those sales conventions!”

10.
Campus Kittens

author:
Joan Ellis

11.
Chain Gang

author:
Don Holliday
tagline:
“Their sins were the shame of a changing society!”

12.
The Cheaters

author:
Orrie Hitt
tagline:
“Can an unhappy wife be a happy mistress?”

13.
Farm Girl

author:
Anneke de Lange
tagline:
“She lived like a wicked, little animal.”

14.
Freakout on Sunset Strip

author:
Nick Rogers
tagline:
“Fags, freaks and the famous turn the street into a hippie hell.”

15.
Go Down, Aaron

author:
Chris Davidson
tagline:
“Third-sex slave to the Third Reich's brutal lust!”

16.
H is for Heroin

author:
David Hulburd
tagline:
“A teenage narcotic tells her story.”

17.
High School Jungle

author:
Alex Carter
tagline:
“Debbie's date in the park turned into gang rape…And her friends wouldn't let her forget…”

18.
Hill Billy in High Heels

author:
Jeff Boga
tagline:
“She was sixteen…and true to the code of the hills…ripe for love!”

19.
Home to Harlem

author:
Claude McKay
tagline:
“Love was cheap and life was high in the torrid zone of ‘little old' New York.”

20.
Hypno-Sin

author:
J.X. Williams
tagline:
“You feel very, very…sexy!”

21.
If the Coffin Fits

author:
Day Keene

22.
Into Plutonian Depths

author:
Stanton A. Coblentz
tagline:
“An exciting science-fiction novel of a world with three sexes on a faraway planet!”

23.
It's My Funeral

author:
Peter Rabe
tagline:
“Never give a killer an even break—shoot first and the blonde's all yours.”

24.
Jailbait

author:
Jason Hytes
tagline:
“She wouldn't stay out of his bed…no matter what he said or did to her!”

25.
King of New Lesbos

author:
Curt Aldrich
tagline:
“Every man's day dream came true for him!”

26.
Kiss My Fist!

author:
James Hadley Chase

27.
The Leather Girls

author:
Una Mujer
tagline:
“She had the face of an angel, the body of a devil—and the passions of a lesbian!”

28.
Lez on Wheels

author:
Dan Rader
tagline:
“They were she-studs in a free-wheeling trailer of depravity.”

29.
Lovemaster

author:
Lambert Lacy
tagline:
“LSD plunged them into an orgy of violence….”

30.
Lust Is No Lady

author:
Stephanie Davis

31.
Luther: Amber Satyr

author:
Roy Flannagon
tagline:
“A swamp Negro…A White trash woman…A tragic hunger.”

32.
Marihuana

author:
William Irish
tagline:
“A cheap and evil girl sets a hopped-up killer against a city.”

33.
Marijuana Girl

author:
N.R. DeMexico
tagline:
“She traded her body for drugs—and kicks!”

34.
Mulatto

author:
Joan Ellis
tagline:
“She played upon men's lusts to get anything she wanted…then she tried to cross the color line”

35.
Murder Is Dangerous

author:
Saul Levinson

36.
Musk, Hashish and Blood

author:
Hector France
tagline:
“The adventures of a modern man among the cruel men and passionate women of Algiers.”

37.
Naked She Died

author:
Don Elliott

38.
Nautipuss

author:
Clyde Allison
tagline:
“Agent 0008 battles the temptress of the deep!”
note:
This was part of a James Bond spoof series featuring the voluptuous but deadly Agent 0008.

39.
The Needle

author:
Sloane M. Britain
tagline:
“Man or woman, sister or brother: her lust knew no bounds.”

40.
Older Woman

author:
Sheldon Lord
tagline:
“Where could this woman-boy love affair lead?”

41.
Perfume and Pain

author:
Kimberly Kemp

42.
The Petting Generation

author:
Lucius B. Steiner
tagline:
“The fine art of petting, completely described with authentic case histories.”

43.
The Price of Salt

author:
Claire Morgan (pseudonym of Patricia Highsmith)
note:
Generally considered the first lesbian pulp novel with a happy ending.

44.
Queer Patterns

author:
Lilyan Brock
tagline:
“A delicate theme, treated honestly and candidly.”

45.
Rally Round the Fag

author:
Don Holliday
note:
This was part of a series spoofing
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, called
The Man from C.A.M.P
.

46.
Satan Was a Lesbian

author:
Fred Haley

47.
Shayne

author:
John Burton Thompson
tagline:
“A nymphomaniac who turned men into sex candles and burned them at both ends. Then she fell in love…”

48.
The Sins of Seena

author:
Don Elliott

49.
Slum Doctor

author:
Matthew Clay

50.
Tender Torment

author:
Randy Salem
tagline:
“Her marriage was born in hell—her husband was a woman!”

51.
Those Sexy Saucer People

author:
Jan Hudson

52.
The Trailer Park Girls

author:
Glenn Canary
tagline:
“Their love was as mobile as their home and just as carefree.”

53.
TV Tramps

author:
Walter Dyer
tagline:
“On camera they violate the Code of Decency. Off camera they violated each other.”

54.
Widow's Delight

author:
J.X. Williams
tagline:
“She wore black…but not much of it!”

55.
Women's Barracks

author:
Tereska Torres
tagline:
“The frank autobiography of a French soldier girl.”
note:
This book was condemned by name by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

56.
69 Barrow Street

author:
Sheldon Lord
tagline:
“Their love was right! But their sex was wrong.”

 

 

The causes of such problems as depression, bipolar illness (manic-depression), extreme anxiety, and schizophrenia are the subject of much debate, but we do know that a lot substances, deficiencies, and physical maladies can cause symptoms that are often considered a mental illness. A lot of people who are diagnosed as crazy are really suffering from one or more of the problems listed below, which are drawn primarily from the series
Healthy Mind Guides
by Stephanie Marohn.

1

Diseases and disorders

It's universally recognized that stroke, lupus, mono, and Parkinson's are among the medical problems that can make you feel bipolar, while brain tumors, epilepsy, migraines, low blood oxygen, and liver disease can cause psychotic symptoms.

Medications

Practically any given drug can cause depression, other mood disorders, and schizophrenia in some people. Pain relievers, tranquilizers, birth-control pills, antihistamines, muscle relaxants, and several other categories of pharmaceutical are the most likely to mess with your head.

3

Heavy metal poisoning

Even the medical establishment accepts that heavy metals are highly toxic to the nervous system, yet for some reason they rarely link them to the symptoms of mental illness. Mercury was what made hat-makers “mad as hatters” in the olden days, and many of us now have this poisonous substance right in our mouths. Silver amalgam tooth fillings are at least half mercury, so this neurotoxin is constantly leaking into our bodies. (Ninety percent of depressed people who have their silver fillings removed feel their depression lift.) Many types of fish consumed by humans are loaded to the gills with mercury. Predatory fish (like sharks), shellfish, tuna, and cod are said to be the worst.

Like mercury, the metals copper, aluminum, and lead—all present in our environments—trigger hallucinations, depression, anxiety, irritability, and mental fog.

4

Omega-3 deficiency

Most people don't get enough omega-3. This type of essential fatty acid is absolutely crucial to keeping your brain humming along smoothly, and the lack of it has been clinically tied to depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Fish oil is rich in omega-3, but then you have to worry about the mercury! Instead, try the seed oil of flax, pumpkin, or hemp. Some supplements mix these vegetable oils together for maximum effect.

5

Amino acid deficiency

Derived from ingested proteins, amino acids are the building blocks of neurotransmitters. In a two-step process, tryptophan is turned into serotonin, which plays a crucial (though not understood) role in mood.
Natural Mind
author Stephanie Marohn notes: “Research has found that tryptophan may be beneficial in the treatment of mania, depression, anxiety, panic disorders, sleep disorders, and psychosis.” Other amino acids have been shown to help alleviate depression, and if a person doesn't have enough GABA, he often becomes manic.

6

Vitamin B deficiency

All of the vitamins in the B family are vital to keeping you sane. Being low on any of them can touch off depression. Not having enough folic acid, B
₁
, B
₃
, B
₆
, or B
₁₂
makes you unstable and psychotic. Lack of B
₃
actually causes a recognized disease, pellagra, which is virtually indistinguishable from schizophrenia.

7

Vitamin C deficiency

Hey, vitamin C fights more than colds—it also staves off depression, mental fog, and even psychosis.

8

Out-of-whack hormones

If your thyroid is overactive or sluggish, you can feel bipolar or even have delusions. In women, not enough estrogen means depression; too much means anxiety. Whacked-out adrenal glands can cause problems often mistaken for schizophrenia.?

9

Hypoglycemia

Chronically low blood sugar often causes depression and related mood swings, which can be quite severe. I can testify to this, since I'm hypoglycemic. The minute my blood sugar dips, I get extremely irritable (just ask my girlfriend!) and I hate the world. Cutting out sugar and caffeine, minimizing carbs, and eating five or six small, protein-rich meals a day keeps blood sugar at a constant, optimal level and eliminates hypoglycemia.

10

Candida albicans

In order to function properly, your body needs a certain amount of the fungus
Candida albicans
in your intestines. Candida is kept in check by good bacteria, such as acidophilus, but sometimes the balance is disrupted. When acidophilus is killed by mercury, antibiotics, or the Pill, the yeast-like Candida takes over, producing a laundry list of “mental” problems: “depression, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, memory and concentration problems, dizziness, insomnia, headaches, feelings of unreality, and even delusions, mania, psychosis, and suicidal or violent tendencies,” according to Marohn.

My ladylove Anne suffered a Candida overload brought on by antibiotics, and I can tell you, it ain't pretty. She had never felt physically or mentally worse in her entire life, and, of course, doctors had no idea what was wrong. When a kinesiologist-chiropractor-nutritionist corrected the imbalance, she felt better in less than two weeks and was back to her old self in six weeks.

11

Food intolerance

If you pay attention, you might notice that symptoms start soon after you ingest certain foods or drinks. This is because your body is intolerant to a given substance, triggering your immune system to attack this invader, and this process can directly impact the brain. In
Natural Prescriptions
, Dr. Robert Giller writes that a “study found that 85 percent of a group of depressed children and adults was allergic” to something they were eating. Wheat, especially the gluten it contains, is the most common edible culprit when it comes to depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

12

Food additives

Aspartame (NutraSweet), MSG, and sulfites are three big causes of depression and anxiety. Lots of other preservatives, taste enhancers, and artificial colorings and flavorings are to blame, as well.

13

Skull squeeze

If your skull is misshapen due to traumatic birth or later incidents, it may be putting pressure on your brain. This can lead to malfunctions, which can be at least partially alleviated by craniosacral therapy.

14

Sleep deprivation

Take a perfectly sane person, deprive her of sleep for 72 hours, and she'll start displaying classic psychotic symptoms—hallucinations, paranoia, delusions. Actually, it's not sleep in general that's so necessary; it's the REM stage (in which we dream). In experiments, scientists have let people fall asleep but wake them up the second they enter REM. The result is virtually identical to being deprived of all sleep. Not sleeping on a regular schedule can cause similar problems.

15

Light deprivation

Not getting enough sunlight (or, alternatively, light from full-spectrum bulbs) is known to cause depression and numerous other physical/mental problems. With its creation of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the mental health establishment has officially recognized this effect.