Above is the cover of the sleaze novel LSD Lusters, published by Greenleaf Classics for their Nightstand Books line in 1967. Author John Dexter was a pseudonym inhabited by a number of writers, including Robert Silverberg. Because of that, we don’t know who actually wrote the book. But they must have been high when they agreed to do it. Art is by Darrel Millsap.

The men of pulp and sleaze fiction typically have a personal creed, a set of unbreakable rules that the best authors constantly mock by presenting the heroes with incredibly bizarre grey areas. We have a suspicion what the guy on the cover of John Dexter’s (Robert Silverberg’s) Sinners Three wants. But how is he going to talk himself into it? We suggest he think back to his college frat and remind himself this wouldn’t be the first time he took advantage of a girl after she had too many shots. 

Loren Beauchamp is known to have been a pseudonym of sci-fi titan Robert Silverberg, but according to the blog vintagesleazepaperbacks Sliverberg himself disavows any association with Les Floozies. Considering how many smut novels he wrote there's no reason for him deny any particular one, so you'd tend to believe him. But we also learned that the book, published in 1965, is a reprint of a 1962 effort called Hotrod Sinners, which Silverberg definitely wrote. So it looks like what happened here is the book got chopped up by editors and Silverberg decided it wasn't his anymore. That isn't an unusual reaction from a writer whose work has been altered. Even so, Les Floozies is pricy for something cobbled together by, well, who knows, really? It's basically about a couple of call girls and their love triangle with a young, hot-rodding pimp, with the plot moving the principles from dusty nowheresville to New York City, where they rise in the big time sex industry ranks. All very interesting, but it's actually the unusually attractive cover that interested us. It's not credited, though, and that's just the way it goes with sleaze publishers. Quelle bummer. 

Since we mentioned the great Robert Silverberg’s foray into smut, we thought we’d post another one of his dirty books. Here he writes under the name Don Elliott and, believe it or not, we saw this paperback online for $42. Yeah, for real. Since the original only cost ninety-five cents, that represents an appreciation of like… well, we have no idea. What we do appreciate is the masterpiece cover art by Robert Bonfils featuring four girls who like to draw outside the lines.

The things writers do to pay the bills. Loren Beauchamp was the pseudonym of multiple award-winning sci-fi author Robert Silverberg, a highly respected authour who wrote more than 80 sci-fi novels, hundreds of short stories, scores of non-fiction books, and countless thought-provoking articles. But in the late fifties, when the sci-fi market was minimal, the man whom the Science Fiction Writers of America would eventually name a Grand Master turned to softcore sleaze novels, which he wrote under a couple of different names. 1959’s Unwilling Sinner was about a nympho wreaking havoc on the male population of a small town, while 1962’s Wayward Widow concerned the desperation of a twenty-two-year old widow to obtain sexual satisafaction.

Unluckily for smut fans, Mr. Silverberg unceremoneously bade so long to schlock after a few years and went on to earn multiple sci-fi Nebula and Hugo awards. But not before he produced more than twenty sleaze books, mostly working for Midwood publishing. Those novels are floating around on various vintage and auction sites, and we recommend you mail order one and curl up for a titillating read. We doubt you'll be disappointed, though we haven't actually read these yet. We'll get around to it. The artist on both, by the way, was Paul Rader, who painted hundreds of paperback covers. More info on him here.