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uwmspeccoll · 7 months

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Steamy Saturday

The novel that dares to tell the truth about a perverse love.

Theirs was a love no man could share!

Draga yielded her long-legged girlishness to unnatural embraces. . . . it was an ecstasy such as Draga had never known.

Her lips were tender and clinging as she pressed them to Jo's voluptuous flesh. . . .

She was on the brink of total perversion. . . . Draga's only hope now was -- a man!

Oh, the steaminess of it all!! Carol Emory's pulp novel Queer Affair was published in New York as a Beacon Book, an imprint of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corp., in 1957, and even by today's standards, the sexual frankness of the novel is pretty steamy. Unfortunately, because it's the 1950s, a fully-realized lesbian relationship will not stand. At least one of the partners has to be off her nut (in this case, Jo), while in the end male heroes come to the rescue.

The story centers around up-and-coming dancer Draga Hamilton who is introduced to celebrity sculptor Jo Stanhope by Draga's lawyer Gilbert Young who is desperately in love with Jo. Jo, however, has other ideas, as she seduces the vulnerable Draga and they begin a torrid love affair, which, as already stated, is quite frankly narrated. Draga is head-over-heels, until of course her old flame Ronnie Marsh shows up on the scene and ruins everything for Jo.

In the end, the whole sordid love quadrangle literally devolves into a barely-suppressed S&M encounter. Jo takes her revenge on Draga's infidelity by grabbing a bullwhip that is inexplicably hung on the wall and beats Draga almost senseless with it. The whipping, however, sends both into a building sexual frenzy until both Gilbert and Ronnie come bursting through the door. Ronnie whisks Draga out of harm's way (at least as he perceives it), and Gilbert gives Jo a taste of her own whipping medicine, to which both react with this memorable passage:

Jo Stanhope looked up at him with misted eyes. "Oh, Gilbert -- you've done something for me. You've rescued me. Why, it--it was --" "Never mind," Gilbert said. "And you won't find it so bad being married to me. After all, I'm sort of womanish, you know."

Meanwhile, Draga is recovering in Ronnie's soothing arms, to which she responds, "Move over a little, sweetheart . . . I want to sit in your lap." THE END. Ugh!!

Despite Queer Affair being mentioned in several texts on early lesbian pulp novels, we could find nothing on the author Carol Emory, who we suspect is possibly a man. Nevertheless, the author makes sure early on that the reader knows Emery has done their homework on lesbianism:

Gilbert had warned her that the sculptress was a lesbian, but at the time the fact had seemed to her irrelevant. Love between women was not altogether a new and startling idea to Draga. She had read many books on the subject, including those by Radclyffe Hall and Diana Fredericks.

Appropriately, Barbara Grier, in her iconic The Lesbian in Literature, gives Queer Affair a rating of A for having "a major lesbian component but not sympathetically portrayed." While we may not know who Carol Emory is, we do know that the butch/femme cover art is by Frank Uppwall and was first painted for another pulp novel, Gutter Star by Dorine B. Clark, published in 1954, and then reissued for the cover of Queer Affair three years later.

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#Steamy Saturday #pulp fiction #romance novels #romance fiction #lesbians #lesbian romance fiction #lesbian romance novels #lesbian pulp fiction #LGBTQ+#Carol Emery #Queer Affair #Beacon Books #Beacon Book #Universal Publishing and Distributing Corp.#Frank Uppwall #cover art #cover painting #homosexuality #UWM LGBT Collection

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maxgicalgirl · 3 months

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Being a “Fun Fact !” kind of autistic is all fun and games until you get halfway through sharing an interesting tidbit and realize that it probably wasn’t appropriate to share in polite company and now you have to deal with the consequences :(

#autism #neurodivergent #adhd #fun facts #GOD I’m such an idiot #anyways now a 10 year old is out there looking up swear words online and it’s all my fault :(#I got so excited by the fact that I knew a fun fact #that I didn’t stop to think that maybe not everyone knows that fun fact for a reason :(#it’s like explaining how to successfully bury a body at a book club #or explaining the dangers of Scientology to your sister’s boyfriend the first time you meet him #or debating gay sex positions with your best friend in front of your mom #no matter how much I wish to be a beacon of knowledge in this world #sometimes there are things others just don’t want to know #and consciously that’s valid but the autism ? I does not care

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peacefulandcozy · 3 months

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Instagram credit: coffeesoakedpages

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bittersweetyrn · 5 months

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big fan of essek thelyss, not the fanon interpretation, which is either "smol bean, tiny fragile elf who's a sweetheart and basically a child" or people mistakenly calling betrayal of one's home country a "war crime" and then proceeding to be flippant about it anyway, but the real Essek

pretentious motherfucker that committed treason bc he though he was smarter than everyone else

learned to float literally just to impress other rich people

canonically neutral evil

basically head spymaster of his country and master of lies but sucks shit lying to his friends

stayed bitchy even after his redemption arc

"there is nothing I would love more than to not be around you all for the remainder of this day"

a space wizard that crushed someone with telekenesis just to show off (the person was already dying)

sexy feet, nice ass, overall hottie

fell in love with a traumatized wizard of his enemy country and it was mutual despite all the betrayal

faggot

gave away state secrets to enemy wizard bc he though he was sexy

discovered time travel with his boyfriend

proceeded to say they shouldn't use time travel (bc now he's a good boy) but was willing to sacrifice everything and help if his bf wanted to use it

once confessed he had such a bad fight with his dad that his dad ran into the demon caves and never returned (essek doesn't feel bad about this at all)

young for an elf but still 120 years old, he called his bf "young man" and flexed on him about how much more evil he is

#anytime I imagine him stealing the beacons its set to the music from Sinbad where eris steals the book of peace #the way people say “he's basically a teenager!” to excuse his actual evil acts #characters are evil and its cool #very much “my guy didn't do that! he did a bunch of other shit tho”#he is all these cool things yet unfortunately the dice were never on his side 😔#I only have the most correct opinions on essek #I literally don't even critrole anymore but he is my bitch ass wife #critical role #essek thelyss #essik theylas #ask me abt my fic series “I sensed we loved each other without knowing”

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shrugsinchinese · 7 months

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Essek reading a book that Jester recommended him

I can excuse my best friend writing bestseller porn of me and my husband but I draw the line at OOC behavior

#essek thelyss #ask requests #the return of blaze my beacon by fiona fancy pants #for context to those who aren’t familiar it’s a book in my professor widogast series

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cantsayidont · 3 months

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1962. This Stanley Borack cover was later flipped horizontally and reused for a 1964 novel from the same publisher, THE UNMARRIED ONES.

#books #pulp art #pulp cover #beacon signal #stanley borack #toni adler #lesbian pulp fiction #wlw

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somuchtostudysolittletime · 11 months

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24/6/23 // 12.37

A lovely relaxing week in one of the best towns in the world- hay on wye. So many bookshops and I’ve bought so many books 💚📖

#mine #studyblr #studyspo #bookblr #study space #hay on wye #books #Brecon beacons #Herefordshire #reading #bookshop

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danielslaw · 1 year

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JACOB ANDERSON AS LOUIS DE POINTE DU LAC AMC'S INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE SEASON ONE EPISODE ONE "I wasn't sure you would remember me."

#jacob anderson #louis de pointe du lac #interview with the vampire #iwtvedit #jacobandersonedit #iwtv season 1 episode 1 #caligifs #caliedits #(as if louis)#(holding on to that book as a last beacon of hope)#(louis you are insane)

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bikananjarrus · 2 days

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i finally started reading the high republic books! i finished light of the jedi last night, so here are a few of my (non-spoilery) thoughts:

jedi doing cool shit with the force is my favorite thing and there is SO much good jedi doing cool shit with the force content

also the way the force was described was just, really beautiful. it's been a while since any visual star wars medium has really made me feel in awe of the force, but this did the job so well.

the little worldbuilding aspects were really cool. (hypserspace travel still being developed, bacta isn't mass-produced yet, etc.) this book was just a really nice reminder about how cool and strange and fun the star wars galaxy can be (when actual effort is put into making it that way)

on that note, god it felt good to have good star wars content. like this was SO. GOOD. (and i'm so so excited to move onto the next books, but i kind of didn't want this one to end bc charles soule is such a beautiful writer. and he made every pov interesting and engaging; i was never bored)

i think maybe my favorite pov to read from was bell's. he made me laugh, and soule wrote him in such a way that was youthful but not childish, and it was just such a joy reading his pov. i felt so connected to him immediately, and was so proud of him by the end of the book! can't wait to see where his story goes. (also i love his and loden's relationship and i have SO many feelings about the end of the book like..... iykyk.)

avar and elzar. avar and elzar. AVAR AND ELZAR. they've got me down so. bad. help.....i love both of them individually, and their dynamic together is everything to me actually. (i have so many more thoughts on them, but i’ll come back to them later)

another bullet point to again say how much i LOVE jedi doing cool shit with the force, and relating it to elzar and a) how he describes the force as an endless sea.... yeah. i'm in love w that description; and b) him wanting to push boundaries, explore all that the force is capable, is just really really cool.

the epilogue. I have not stopped thinking about it. like i got yearning and terrifying force visions all in one chapter?? charles soule did that for ME <3

i'm reading the main books for phase one in order, so next up is test of courage, then into the dark. (even though i reallyyyy want to just go right to the rising storm lol)

#also i don't know any major spoilers so please don't send me any thank youuuu <33 #like the only thing is that like.. [glances nervously at the starlight beacon]. but even then i don't actually KNOW what happens there #but i'm literally so excited to keep reading. like it's been a LONG time since i've just wanted to DEVOUR a book series like this #i think part of that is how starved i've been for good starwars content lol #but this is getting me more excited for the acolyte! i mean i'm still going into that a little wary bc the recent sw shows have #left a lot to be desired imo #but i'm at least excited to see more of this era #also if y'all see me webweaving later for avar and elzar - don't mind me lol #i can't stop thinking about them #like it's actually embarrassing how quickly they got me #light of the jedi #the high republic #mik reads the high republic #star wars

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neverlearnedtoread · 5 months

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Uprooted

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; my favourite kind of fantasy - classic fairytale with a side of 'dont worry about the details' and 'you gotta believe in the heart of the cards!'

Oh?? 👌😉😏

a really sharp, quick-witted, and willful female protagonist going 'fuck it!' every few chapters or so and doing something crazy (crazy fun) to drive the plot forward, off a new exciting cliff

a soft magic system that really shows off in the best light what makes soft magic systems so valid. its all about the metaphors!! you have to measure the chocolate chips with your heart!!!

nature is so magical and beautiful and deadly. specifically if you treat trees bad they will form a sentient vengeful forest to raze your civilization to the ground and salt the earth with your bodies

kasia. i love an atomic blonde unkillable bad bitch with the strongest queerplatonic vibes with her best friend from birth

a CLASSIC grumpy 'beastly' male love interest. he seals himself away in a lonely tower, makes girls hang out with him for 10 years at a time, and unironically calls himself 'the Dragon'. he even has the audacity to be offended that everyone thinks he's creepy!!!!!!

No.. ❌🤢🤮

if you like having explanations for how magic works and any semblance of a hard magic system in your fantasy, put this book back. 'round here we operate on Vibes Only, babey!!

similarly, if your love language is words of affirmation and/or you think that fanfic-style romance plotlines should stay in fanfic, this romance is Not For You. this is not a judgment, only a warning

Summary: Agnieszka loves her home in her little village in the valley - you know, except for the evil forest simply known as the Wood that's been around as long as there have been people in the valley, with terrible creatures and sentient walking trees. And the century-old wizard known only as 'the Dragon' living in the tower overlooking their land, who takes a young woman every ten years to serve him. But what Agnieszka dreads the most is that her best friend, Kasia, will be chosen next, and that Agnieszka is helpless to save her. Until the day of the choosing, when the Dragon picks Agnieszka instead.

Concept: 💭💭💭💭 I've never gotten along that well with a book blurb, but this one does its damn job - gives me enough plot premise to get me interested without giving it all away, and doesn't make me feel like I've been lied to once I start the book! some stories really don't do what they say on the tin, or take ages to get there at all, but Uprooted starts off exactly at the spot the blurb said it would - with a girl, in a valley, scared of a terrible wizard, about to be whisked away to a tower.

Execution: 💥💥💥💥💥 This story is EXACTLY what it says it wants to be, down to the cadence of the prose - a Polish folklore-inspired fairytale. The rhythm of Novik's narration even fits right - one day I'll get the audiobook for this and get to hear it the way I read it in my head, like a grandmother's bedtime story with twists and eddies and crescendos at the all the right bits. I was in love with the aesthetic of every character, they fit perfectly into the backdrop of what this story was.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤❤ This book aligns to my tastes much the same way An Enchantment of Ravens does, and shares of lot of the same elements without ever feeling derivative - smart girl meets magic boy, causes all kinds of irreversible political upheaval, and lives happily ever after being just as they are - a Girl with The Audacity. its a tale as old as time, and i'll hear it told just as often

Favourite Moment: you know its a good book when you really can't choose a favourite moment - one that comes to mind is agniezska choosing to save sarkan from being grafted onto the heart-tree in the Wood instead of setting fire to it. the 'fuck it!' energy agniezska brings to her moments of crisis is SO good, plus the motif of her always reaching out to sarkan to cast magic together - 'hey real quick, cast a spell with me while you're being pulled into an evil magic tree trying to twist your magic and life force against us. couldn't hurt, eh?' and then it WORKS

Favourite Character: now yall know i love a sarkan-esque character - pathetic wet cat men who are so offended by their own squishy feelings are a great time! and kasia is SO bad bitch extraordinaire, her and agnieszka's love for each other literally makes the plot go - every time, every time without hesitation she puts herself as the last thing standing between agnieszka and the Wood. but agniezska herself is really Something. the way she uses magic, her connection with nature and her refusal to be anything else than what she is - a grubby young woman who wields kindness as her weapon against the world, who holds onto her humanity with both hands and teeth - she shapes this fairytale to be the story she wants it to be, one of connection and empathy. and im still thinking about her introducing the lord of the whole valley to her mother 🤣 power move!!

#uprooted #naomi novik #books #book review #booklover #bookblr #reading #sarkan's refusal to bind himself to the valley is SO. one day agnieszka will stop for breath mid-bickering and really come to grips with #unpacking why he was so unokay with tying himself to the land. an orphan with incredible magical ability growing up surrounded by #power-hungry nobles? yeah that guy has trust and commitment issues. need agnieszka to fuck that out of him #i mean OF COURSE teach him that the valley is a home and not a cage (that no one will ever force him to stay not even her #that he can come and go as he pleases and still be theirs) and its ok to be tied to the people that love you and vice versa etc etc etc.#but also like. he deserves to be dommed into feeling safe enough to put down roots. as a treat.#anyway kasia x agnieszka x sarkan throuple with agnieszka as the homing beacon and kasia + sarkan as the migrating birds always circling #always knowing the way back home

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milkmanviii · 6 months

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I finally committed to painting my phase 1 box set.

I had to put Starlight Beacon on there and the Vessel is similarly iconic. I tried to match the background to the cover art as much as possible. My airbrush is officially dead so I used a sponge instead but I think it came out pretty good. I think there’s still something to this I haven’t quite worked out because I still had issues with some of the paint cracking off and I had to go back and fix it but I think it looks okay, just a little faded. The paint’s probably on too thick but I forget how much is already on there.

Honestly, these are some of my favourite books (not that I read much else). I am perhaps a little obsessed.

#star wars #art #high republic #the high republic #fore edge painting #book edge painting #starlight beacon #jedi vectors #the vessel #into the dark #out of the shadows #midnight horizon #my art

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uwingdispatch · 3 months

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High republic babes, I made you something super cool!!!

These keychains are designed to feel like something Lina Soh gave to folks at the launch of Starlight beacon.

The text over the top says STARLIGHT BEACON in Aurebesh. The bottom says COMMEMORATIVE LAUNCH 7745 CRC. They are printed on marbled acetate.

CRC is the Coruscant Reckoning Calendar that was used pre-empire. (It also appears in Andor on Maarva’s funerary brick.)

Shop is here. Enjoy!

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uwmspeccoll · 8 months

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Steamy Saturday

"Could a woman cure this man's warped desires?" Apparently not. Ray, handsome and muscular, always thought of himself as a typical heterosexual fellow until he becomes wracked by guilt after being seduced by the randy New York sophisticate Bruce Carton. It was easy and Bruce paid well, but was Ray truly gay? He tries to find redemption as the paid consort for the wealthy Amelia, but to little avail. Desperately, he reverts to sexually assaulting Emily, an aspiring actress. The despicable act only deepens his self-loathing. What to do? Well, if you can't beat 'em. . . . In the end "Ray recognized himself as a no-good bastard. But he didn't care, and he knew now that he never would."

There's much steam, not all of it good, in Ben Travis's 1959 pulp novel The Stange Ones, published in New York as a Beacon Book, an imprint of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corp. Beacon Books included Universal's line of queer pulp fiction. Although The Strange One's is often mentioned in the history of early gay pulps, we could not turn up any information on its author, Ben Travis (a pseudonym, no doubt). However, the provocative cover art of a tortured man turning away in despair from a sultry, raven-haired seductress is by the prolific and highly successful pulp-cover artist Ernest "Darcy" Chiriacka (1913-2010).

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