Robert Silverberg is one of my favorite Science Fiction writers, but back in 1959 Silverberg started writing for a men’s magazine called Exotic Adventures. Silverberg wrote under a number of pseudonyms and sometimes wrote ALL the stories in an issue of the magazine!
For the first time, these exotic adventure stories have been collected and this volume includes original cover artwork and interior black & white illustrations. It’s wild and wacky and offbeat stuff! Check out the titles below! GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
ADVENTUROUS BEGINNINGS, introduction by Robert Deis & Wyatt Doyle
CAMPUS HELLCAT (as David Challon)
SAFARI OF DEATH (as Leon Kaiser)
I WAS A TANGIER’S SMUGGLER (as Donald Gorman)
BRIDE OF THE JAGUAR GOD (as Malcolm Hunt)
NUDIST PARADISE ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA (as Martin Davidson)
TAHITI, LUSTY ISLAND OF UNTAMED WOMEN (as Leonard Colman)
EGYPT’S CITY OF PROSTITUTES (as David F. Killian)
RADIANT JADE: THE CHINESE MATA HARI (as Sam Mallory)
SABA, LAND OF LOVE-STARVED WOMEN (as Len Patterson)
OPIUM DEN IN VIETNAM-adventure (as Lawrence F. Watkins)
ISLAND OF EXILED WOMEN-article (as Lin Charles)
THE ARABIAN SLAVE GIRL RACKET (as Jim Hollister)
A TEMPORARY HUSBAND IN LADAKH (as Karl-Heinz Kirschner)
WOLF CHILDREN OF INDIA (as Ronald Bradman)
I WATCHED THE SECRET SEX RITES OF UGANDA (as Richard Banham)
LOVE HUNGRY GIRLS OF JAPAN (as Nick Thomas)
I ESCAPED FROM THE SOVIET SLAVE CAMP (as Anna Lukacs)
Even talented writers were often Brought Low by the demands of “true men’s adventure/detective” magazines…I can believe Silverberg and Lawrence Block wrote about as well for these magazines as one can, but that last phrase might be the limiting factor. (Avram Davidson was one of the few who took the opportunity to write well-researched essays for such magazines, much to the amazement of his fellow writers…Davidson was using it as a mildly remunerated indulgence of his own curiosity.) How might you rate ’em so far?
Todd, Silverberg was a young writer who saw an opportunity to make a lot of money in a short period of time. According to Deis & Wyatt, Silverberg (and others like Block and Westlake) were making $1000 a week from churning out these “true men’s adventure” and writing “sleaze” novels for publishers like Beacon.
Some of the writers of the erotic novels are particularly not fond of the term “sleaze”…at least as applied to their work. Silverberg and Block might be among them. As the kids don’t say, Just Sayin’.
Todd, I was using “sleaze” as the generic term for that kind of writing. Of course, I’m sure Silverberg, Block, Westlake, Pronzini, and others rose above the standards for the genre.
At a NorCal library talk in 2011, with Block, to mark the reprint of Gang Girl/Sex Bum, Silverberg said he prefers the term “mid-century erotica”. The whole fascinating and often hilarious evening was posted on YouTube in 10 minute segments, labeled Lust Lords #1 etc. Worth checking out; I was there that evening.
Art, Todd Mason suggested that I avoid using the word “sleaze” with regard to soft-core porn so I’ll go with “mid-century erotica” instead! I’ll check out those YouTube segments.
Wow!
I never knew Silverberg led such an exciting life!
Well, I think all of us have had a fair amount of encounters with “untamed” (sic) women, and are better off for that…Silverberg has been able to do a lot of travel and meet a lot interesting people over the years due to his writing, including these paycheck-bait items; some of the excitement, such as awakening one morning to find his NYC house on fire, probably among the experiences he’d be willing to trade in…
Todd, I remember that tragic fire where most of Silverberg’s book collection was destroyed!
Dan, I knew Silverberg wrote some “sleaze” novels–STARK HOUSE reprinted a few of them–but I had no idea he wrote exotic adventures, too!
I can see I’m going to have to buy these, though normally I am too cheap to spend this much. I can’t pass this up. I’ve read a lot of his short stories over the years.
Jeff, EXOTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG also includes some of the original cover and interior artwork. Well worth the price!
Not a Silverberg fan.
Rick, EXOTIC ADVENTURES OFROBERT SILVERBERG is an oddity. Probably only hardcore Silverberg fans would be interested in this book.
Well, that is interesting. I had no idea he wrote that type of stories also,
I have been wanting to read more by Silverberg, as I haven’t read much. Some short stories and maybe a novel or two when I was in my late teens, early 20s. I have THE COLLECTED STORIES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG: VOLUME 2, THE SECRET SHARER, which has nine short stories and two novella.
Tracy, I have THE COLLECTED STORIES OF Robert Silverberg, VOLUME 2, too! It’s excellent and you’ll get a good sense of Silverberg’s range in story-telling!
Great! Thanks for replying, George. That is what I was hoping.