Part 1 (2/2)

Regrettably, we are well aware that some people are going to use this designation in precisely the opposite fas.h.i.+on than we intended-go through the list picking out the s.e.xy books and carefully avoiding the others. Well-we shan't spoil your fun. Each to her own taste, as the old lady said when she kissed the cow.

We wish here to give some slight acknowledgment to all those who, over the years since the initiation of this endeavor, have contributed overlooked t.i.tles, pointed out our errors, sent comments, criticisms and sometimes cash, laboriously tracked down elusive data, worked as unpaid researchers and stencil-cutters, and in general helped us to feel we were not working in a vacuum.

Special acknowledgments are due to Dr. Jeannette Howard Foster, unfailingly generous and gracious in allowing us to pick her brains; to Leslie Laird Winston, of the Winston Book Service; to the editors of THE LADDER, Del Martin in particular, for helping us to publicize our Checklist, and for allowing us to use reviews run in the _Lesbiana_ column; to Forrest Ackerman, for endless help and encouragement; and to Kerry Dame, whose generous gift of stamps proved invaluable to the heavy load of correspondence necessary to keep this one-woman publis.h.i.+ng house rolling. And to all those others, anonymous by choice, who have sent small gifts of cash and stamps, turned up elusive paperbacks for me in news-standless West Texas, contributed reviews and data, and, above all, provided cheer and encouraging support. We hope this Checklist is half as much fun for you to read as it was for us-all things considered-to prepare.

And here at the end I take off my editorial ”We” for a special, personal THANK YOU to my collaborator and co-editor, GENE DAMON.

And now, until the first Supplement time, it's time to turn the Checklist over to you. Comments and criticisms are invited.

Marion Z Bradley

[Ill.u.s.tration]

List of Symbols and Abbreviations

pbo-paperbacked original; first published in paperback or first English edition in paperback.

pbr-paperbacked reprint.

n.d.-no date listed or date unknown.

ss-short story.

qpb-quality paperback book (as, Grove Press or Vintage).

tct-t.i.tle changed to (as, _Torchlight to Valhalla_, pbr tct _The Strange Path_).

fco-for completists only; variant content either extremely slight or problematical.

+ before a t.i.tle indicates a book of considerable value.

Occasionally used to call attention to a fine new release or the discovery of an old t.i.tle overlooked in previous bibliographies. In general, the plus sign has been reserved for books of honest purpose, sincere if not always entirely favorable treatment of the h.o.m.os.e.xual theme, and some genuine literary merit.

In one or two cases, a plus has been given to a book of little intrinsic worth because of some major and exceptional contribution to thought on the variant theme; or to an occasional book for being extremely good entertainment of its kind, even if no masterpiece.

We have tried to avoid including only our favorites.

(m) indicates a novel concerned mostly with male h.o.m.os.e.xuality.

A very large proportion of such novels, however, contain some discussion of female variance, or lesbian characters, as well.

BAYOR-Buy at your own risk ... either no accurate data is available or the editors find themselves in hopeless disagreement about its relevance.

Evening Waster-good solid entertainment and reasonably well-written, though worthless as literature.

scv-see editorial for complete discussion of this term.

This is the literary ghetto, the gutter books, the commercialized s.e.x trash as distinguished from honest erotic realism.

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