Above, just another brilliant effort from illustrator Paul Rader, this time for The Reluctant Nympho by Joan Ellis, 1968. 

If hands could have erections this is what it would look like, because to us the guy on the front of Paul V. Russo's This Yielding Flesh seems about to lose it in a messy way. But the book is not actually about a guy with overly sensitive hands—it deals with a woman who runs into some shady characters at a music festival, and who then attracts a protector determined to save her from the evil counterculture and its rampant sexual deviancy. Drugs, lesbians, and hippies—but no hand orgasms—all under the umbrella of light sleaze. Paul V. Russo was a pseudonym used by Gilbert Fox, and this effort dates from 1961, with art from Paul Rader, who outdid himself. 

Here's another mid-century novel for the ever growing lesbian corruptor bin, When Lights Are Low, by sleaze maestro Dallas Mayo, 1963, for Midwood-Tower. Mayo was a pseudonym inhabited by Gilbert Fox, who apparently wrote this when Midwood honcho Harry Shorten conjured the title out of thin air at lunch and told Fox to produce a book to go with it. You can read that tale at paulrader.com. Fox was super prolific, writing many books as Mayo, as well as under the names Kimberly Kemp and Paul V. Russo. The cover art is yet another brilliant effort from Paul Rader. It's inspired us to go have a snack of our own.

This cover for Rock Anthony's 1963 novel Fringe Benefits was painted by Paul Rader and ranks as one of his most famous pieces. You see it everywhere. But as far as we know, nobody posting the art has bothered to read the story, so we bought a copy of this Midwood Books classic and sat down with some cold white wine. It took just over three hours to read, which was perfect timing because we were out of wine by then.

Basically, you have a corporate drone who has his pick of women but isn't inspired by any of them. There's Adele, the society woman who's the major shareholder of the company. There's the boss's smoldering cougar secretary Mildred. There's the drab but sweet office assistant Nina. There's Gladys, the always available member of the steno pool. And eventually there's the eighteen-year-old new girl Dolly. We have no idea which one is supposed to be depicted in Rader's cover art. Probably Mildred, though she's a redhead in the book.

Anyway, the protagonist's continual scheming to get laid leads to him landing an executive position, and from there he finds himself in the middle of a takeover war. If he makes the right moves he'll end up as company president, and if not—well, at least he still has love. And is there any doubt who he'll end up with? Take a guess. Of course it's the drab but sweet Nina—but only after she transforms herself into a super hotty.

Fringe Benefits may be a classic in the pantheon of mid-century sleaze art, but don't be fooled into reading it. There isn't enough humor or sex to maintain interest, and with vocabulary like “sarcasmed” and “sideglanced,” the writing might make you wonder if Rock Anthony got his break because he had an uncle in Midwood's executive suite. You know what the real fringe benefit is? We read the bad books so you don't have to. 

Above, The Teaser, by Jason Hytes, aka John Plunkett, for Midwood Books, with top notch brushwork by the wizard of sexually suggestive paperback art Paul Rader. The story: a virginal girl is taught about sex by her eager lover, but shows such an aptitude for it that her desires grow to the point where they become perverse and freaky. Sounds like the perfect woman to us. Copyright 1963. 

Above, a cover for a rare triple novel featuring the sleaze work of Joan Ellis, Jill Hammond, and March Hastings. We like how the stories cover three different stages of life—Teen-Age Sex Party is high school, Office Playmate is the working world, and Experiment in Adultery is married life. A follow-up triple included Middle-Aged Miscreants, Retired but Desired, and One Dick in the Grave. Well, not really. But we missed our calling, don't you think? The cover art here is from Paul Rader, and the copyright is 1968. 

What is “the soft way,” according to the author March Hastings, aka Sally Singer? It's not having to make any effort. For instance, life can be “soft” for a guy. The main character in The Soft Way, who's named Jeff, has three girlfriends and life is definitely soft for him. So the cover blurb basically means the female character has to take Jeff on his own terms. It has nothing to do with the need for pharmaceutical intervention to do it the hard way, as implied by our subhead. But maybe it should—we bet the book would be especially interesting then. 1963 copyright on this, with Paul Rader art.

Above is a cover for Russell Gage's 1963 sleaze novel Immoral Lady. Basically, you have another tale of an ambitious New Yorker who pursues success with all the numerous tools in her box, including, apparently, her asscrack. Butt if you've got it flaunt it, we say. The main character Robin Tracy's immoral acts escalate, until she loses all sense of propriety and shame. Midwood later re-issued this as No Price Too High, with considerably less interesting cover art. Speaking of which, this work is often attributed to Paul Rader, and it looks a lot like his work, but Rader himself laid no claim to it, so the artist here is technically unknown. As a side note, this reminds us of another bold fashion statement we shared some years back. We can only hope this actually comes into style one day.

Normal travelers need not stop at the Valhalla Motel—the place is strictly for the sexually adventurous, including a newlywed couple that wants to be filmed having sex, an older woman who likes teen boys, a masochist who gets off on pain inflicted by a masseur, and of course the usual assortment of lesbians and bisexuals. Building a sleaze novel around a motel and the manager's efforts to discreetly please the customers is a pretty full concept for a book, but author Richard Donalds also saved a little creativity for efforts such as Not Since Eve and Something Special. Those books, as well as Sign Here for Sin, were published in 1963, but only the latter has brilliant Paul Rader cover art. It's one of his better efforts and it makes the book highly collectible.