Aphrodite by Robert Maguire

WILD TO POSSESS (1959)

Art by ROBERT MAGUIRE

Ballinger's Rule, paperback cover by Robert Maguire, 1983

Robert Maguire

1961 PBO; Sex Fiend by L.T. Woodward, M. D. Cover art by Robert Maguire. Published by Monarch MB 511

'Aphrodite' by Robert Maguire.

Cover art for the 1957 edition of the novel, 'Aphrodite', written by Pierre Louÿs.

Dorothy Daniels - Portrait of a Witch - Pocket - 1976 (cover illustration by Robert Maguire)

Untitled Pulpscape No.  1  - mixed media - robert matejcek - 2023

“Just for the record, the weather today is partly suspicious with chances of betrayal.”  - Chuck Palahniuk - Diary

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“The Room Upstairs” Robert Maguire 1974 Cover artwork for the Ace Gothic edition of Monica Dickens' novel.

Robert Maguire      Aphrodite, Pagan Goddess of Love by Pierre Louys

Steamy Saturday

Steam swirls in tangled wisps of desire and uncertainty in this 1962 pulp edition of Luxury Nurse by noted American romance novelist Peggy Gaddis (1895-1966), published in New York by the Macfadden-Bartell Corporation. Originally published by Arcadia House as Magic in May in 1956, Luxury Nurse revolves abound a tangle of love interests. Nurse Sally Sinclair is dating Dr. Garry Linton, but does she love him? Sally is called out to care for the petulant 19-year-old Lisa Cannon at her affluent family's Azalea Cottage on Sea Island, Georgia. Lisa, “the season’s most successful and most popular debutante,” is recuperating from a serious mental breakdown, but her "high-strung disposition and self-pity made her as unpleasant to be with as she was lovely to behold," leading to strained relations between patient and nurse.

Local cad Thorne Cooper wants to marry Lisa, mostly for her money, and Lisa enjoys stringing him along. Soon, however, both Sally and Lisa begin to fall another local, the kindly Allen Blaisdell, who has built a miniature village on the island with the assistance of a community of disabled vets (seriously). This toy village imparts a kind of Lilliputian fantasy element to life on this exclusive island resort.

There's more to the story, but why bother. In the end, Lisa recuperates along with an inexplicable change in personality, winning the heart of Allen Blaisdell (with good riddance to Thorne). Nurse Sally returns to Dr. Garry, falling "into his arms as naturally, as beautifully as a homecoming bird comes into its nest at sunset” -- Gag!!

The last few paragraphs concerning the mutual affection of Lisa and Allen end with uncomfortable metaphors of cattle branding: Allen "put up a tough fight," and Lisa "had to run him down and hog-tie him," but she finally "got my brand on him at last. . . . he didn't have a chance once I'd marked him as mine." In response, Allen kisses her "golden head" and orders her to "Stop behaving like a bold little hussy." Oh, just . . . really?! Please!

Peggy Gaddis Dern was a dedicated and highly successful writer of romance fiction, especially nurse romances. She loved writing, and Wikipedia quotes her as saying "It's a sort of drug, for which I hope no one ever finds a cure." The cover art is by the prolific American illustrator Robert Maguire (1921-2005), who illustrated many of our nurse romance covers, including Nora was a Nurse, also by Peggy Gaddis, which we posted about earlier in this series.

View other nurse romance novels.

View other pulp fiction posts.

Aphrodite, Pagan Goddess of Love by Pierre Louys Illustration by Robert Maguire

Robert Maguire - "Black Opium" Book Cover Illustration 1961

ROBERT MAGUIRE book cover art - Dead, Man, Dead - 1959