Steamy Saturday
The world suddenly exploded into a fantasy beyond all dreams. Michele had never touched a woman before, had hardly even allowed herself to think of it. But the instinct of desire hurried steadily, surely, toward the ways of fulfillment.
No more jealousy. No questions. No distrust. She would do anything for Leda, anything that would keep Leda loving her, would keep Leda's sweet body beside her in the night . . . .
Oh, yes, quite steamy! Right down to the provocative cover art by prolific pulp-cover illustrator (Isaac) Paul Rader (1906-1986). This week we bring you another lesbian pulp romance, The Jealous and the Free, by March Hastings, one of the pseudonyms used by lesbian romance fiction author Sally Singer (b. 1930), published in New York by Midwood Tower in 1961.
The story revolves around long-time roommates Michele and Leda who fall for each other; Michele the newbie, and Leda the more experienced. Michele's jealousy, however, drives them apart, and Michele seeks refuge in the arms of the older and wealthy Corrine. But, as you might imagine, Michele still longs for Leda, however . . . can she find her way back to her?
Spoiler! Well, of course she can, silly! And, "She would never leave the girl again. Never. 'The coffee's boiling,' Leda said against her ear. 'Let it,' Michele said." However, half a decade earlier, it wouldn't have been silly for the average reader to expect that such a relationship would end in disaster, and that Michele would only find solace in the man she left behind. Although Singer, who was one of the few lesbian pulp authors who lived openly as a lesbian nearly her entire life, did write such dire endings in her early career, by the late 1950s most of her lesbian romances would end with positive resolutions of fully-realized lesbian love, more realistically reflecting Singer's own lived experience.
Both Singer and illustrator Paul Rader were mainstays of the Midwood Books line of Tower Publications romance novels, which specialized in lesbian pulp fiction.
View another lesbian romance by March Hastings.
View other pulp fiction posts.
