Paperback Entertainment From The Counterculture


Disaffected youth. Emotional wastelands. Occult rituals. Mutant maggots. It can only be the murky world of the early ’70s exploitation paperback.


In this latest instalment of our occasional series, IAIN MCINTYRE carries out further random spot checks on bygone station concourse book vendors and their filthy, fascinating wares.


Illustration by PETER O’TOOLE


ince the key years of the ’60s/70s youth and musical revolution also coincided with the final era of the mass-produced pulp novel, it is of little surprise that publishers cashed in on the counter culture by churning


out hundreds of titles exploiting themore sensationalistic and salacious aspects of the “changing times”.Much of what was produced was uninspired dross reflecting the prejudices and reactionary disposition of hacks desperately seeking a newangle to


generate the required word count for their latest crime/thriller/porn story. Ironically, the cartoon-like portrayals of the “kids” and a widespread reliance on “hep” parlance (better suited to the B-movie beatniks of an earlier era) are exactly what make these books so enjoyable and hilarious today.


Not all pulps can be designated to the “so bad they’re good” category, however. Low- brow publishers had long given class writers such as Harlan Ellison and WilliamS.


Burroughs a start in the literary world, and this remained true in the ’60s with Michael Moorcock, Marge Piercy and Thomas Disch numbering among the many whose soft- back works helped build their reputation. Similarly, whole genres such as the ’70s new wave of Science Fiction (John Brunner, Brian Aldiss, etc) and the “Youthsploitation” genre of British skinhead/biker/subculture novels were largely carried and developed by paperback houses such as Ace and New English Library.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140