GUEST THE REASON

*gulp* She's grown in the last few years. And unfortunately I've grown in the last few seconds.

This cover for the 1965 sleaze novel Overnight Guest features art from Victor Olson depicting an actual scene from the story, except in the text the woman in question is face up and topless. It’s a good illustration, notable for the fact that it wasn’t painted by Paul Rader, who you’d be forgiven for thinking painted every cover for Midwood Books. As for Ludwell Hughes’ story, it’s the tale of a middle-aged man who becomes obsessed with two girls aged seventeen and nineteen, and pursues them relentlessly despite dire and multiplying consequences. This tale isn’t one where main character Richard Pell’s behavior is thought to be acceptable for the period. Pell knows himself to be a predator, and Hughes writes in zero excuses for his behavior. That’s pretty progressive for the era. Unfortunately, the book also takes a wrenching turn into evil lesbian tropes—not unusual in a Midwood paperback. Even so, Overnight Guest was a surprise in terms of theme and quality.

Midwood, Ludwell Hughes, Victor Olson, cover art, literature, lgbt

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 17

1950—The Great Brinks Robbery Occurs

In the U.S., eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston, Massachusetts. The skillful execution of the crime, with only a bare minimum of clues left at the scene, results in the robbery being billed as “the crime of the century.” Despite this, all the members of the gang are later arrested.

January 17

1977—Gary Gilmore Is Executed

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States. Gilmore’s story is later turned into a 1979 novel entitled The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, and the book wins the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

January 16

1942—Carole Lombard Dies in Plane Crash

American actress Carole Lombard, who was the highest paid star in Hollywood during the late 1930s, dies in the crash of TWA Flight 3, on which she was flying from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after headlining a war bond rally in support of America’s military efforts. She was thirty-three years old.

January 15

1919—Luxemburg and Liebknecht Are Killed

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps. Freikorps was a term applied to various paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. Members of these groups would later become prominent members of the SS.

January 14

1967—Summer of Love Begins

The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with between 20,000 to 30,000 people in attendance, their purpose being to promote their ideals of personal empowerment, cultural and political decentralization, communal living, ecological preservation, and higher consciousness. The event is considered the beginning of the famed counterculture Summer of Love.