Marcus Van Heller

Van Heller's tale of a small town couple who trade their bodies and souls for fame and fortune. Great sleazy take on the art/theater scene at the time, with some occultists thrown in for good measure.

Classic smut from Maurice Girodias' legendary Parisian imprint, Olympia Press, published sometime in the late 50's/early 60's. This is an actual Van Heller work, who was actually English writer John Stevenson. His novels were so successful for Olympia Press that Girodias published several under the name that weren't actually written by Stevenson. Highly recommended to smut historians.… (mais)

This is a crime thriller set in early 1950s London, but it also contains erotic scenes to an extent that qualifies it as erotic literature. A young man, demobbed from the RAF post-WWII and at a loose end, becomes involved unwittingly in a drugs gang as their driver, and also with a young lady who is desired by the sadistic gang leader. There are plenty of steamy scenes, very well described and covering the romantic erotic as well as humiliation/submission, although the main plot holds together well too, and the book proves to be an entertaining read, despite some scrappy proof-reading.… (mais)

This thriller follows the erotic exploits of an aggressively potent young Englishman following his non-consensual chance encounter with a young woman hitch-hiker. Leaving her rather the worse for wear he flees the country, and is pursued around France and Belgium, having no problem striking up steamy relationships with a variety of willing female partners. His activities with these ladies are always described here in detail, including his day spent at a club specialising in orgiastic goings on. The novel proves to be a moral tale as his flight becomes increasingly pointless. As is usual with van Heller, the thriller element of the book predominates, although its erotic overtones are by no means underplayed.… (mais)

Classic Smut Review!!!

Back in the early 1950's, Parisian publisher Maurice Girodias founded the Olympia Press to publish smut as way of making a quick buck. He recruited several soon to be famous authors to write for him, including Henry Miller and Samuel Beckett. One of the most popular Olympia imprints was the Traveller's Companion Series. Some of the more famous books that that was published in this series were, Lolita, Naked Lunch, and Story of O. There were a lot more that became infamous and highly regarded by smut collectors for the next 4 or 5 decades. Rape is one of those.

I'm going to summarize the entire book in the next paragraph so skip it if you don't want to know what happens.

Rape is the story of Harvey Crawford of London, and how he becomes a forger, rapist, and murderer. One day he picks up a teen girl hitchhiking, and in a fit of drunken lust, rapes her. On the run from the cops he flees to Paris, there he is employed by a shady guy who he forges art for. He also shacks up with a young, naive, starving artist type, Monique, who takes a genuine liking to Harvey. Harvey, unfortunately, can't seem to keep it in his pants, even to save his own skin. He gets his employer's girl, a statuesque blonde named Olsa, drunk and takes advantage of her. Of course the boss doesn't take lightly to that and sends 3 goons to beat the hell outta Harvey and rape Monique, which they do. As soon as Harvey recovers from his injuries, he's on his way to his boss's place with revenge on his mind. He beats up the boss, ties him and Olsa up and then rapes Olsa in front of him. He then beats on the boss some more and then takes off for Cannes to lay low for awhile. There he takes up with a married American woman, Gene, who's vacationing with her golf-obesessed hubby. She takes him to a mansion in the countryside where many people congregate to drink, drug and orgy. Harvey takes the time to slip a length to one of the Asian dancers before he's off on the run again as his shady boss's men are hot on his trail. Heading back to Paris, he learns that the father of the girl he raped back at the beginning of this tale, is now in Paris, with his daughter and they're on the hunt for him. Harvey gets the drop on them, kidnaps the daughter at gunpoint, and takes off for the countryside with the cops chasing right behind. He holes up in a barn, the cops gas the place, and he kills the girl in the process of his capture. It ends with Harvey sitting in his cell.

This one was #2 in the Traveller's Companion Series and from what little details I can glean from the net, was first published in 1955. Van Heller was really John Stevenson, an English writer, and he wrote around 12 books under the name Van Heller and the Olympia Press also put out quite a few under that name as well that weren't written by him. According to the back of the book:

Quote:
This book was an instant success for Stevenson and the Olympia Press, leading many a soldier or naval crewman to write to Girodias, asking when the next Van Heller was coming out.

This is real smut, aimed at male readers, sold in the back of stores, that was printed with blank covers with just the title and author on the cover. It's also an interesting artifact of the 50's, the attitudes and machismo of the post-war male are on display pretty much every page of the book. Highly recommended for it's over the top plot and as a relic of a bygone era. It's a must read for smut historians. This edition published in 2004 by Olympiapress.com. #55 in the New Traveller's Companion Series. 146 pages.… (mais)