ghlev's convert-attempting harangues at him over the years. (Thank heaven he wasn't interested or we would be hearing none of this.)

A. E. S.

If you are looking for a cheap thrill, you should try one of the paperbacks published under the FABIAN or the SABER imprints. ("If you are charged more than 35¢ for this book within the Continental United States, please notify publisher" at 2919 Belmont Avenue, Fresno, California.) Though they are careful to advertise themselves as competitive lines with independent control of editorial policy and sales promotion, both use the same address, a small commercial printing outfit in the older residential district of Fresno.

Happily for the publishers, some of their books are under attack as "unfit for public reading because they deal with sex too intimately." This should bolster sales considerably. One, LONG DECEMBER, has been banned in Los Angeles County by court order, though it is one of the least intimate. Another, INCEST FOR RENE, was banned by a court of which it is reported neither the judge nor the jury had read it. Under its new title, RENE, it should now sell like hot cakes.

In addition to the usual advertisements of other titles offered, the publishers include in their slender volumes, notices for missing persons, statements of policy, addresses of sales outlets, autobiographies and philosophical effusions by their authors, and all sorts of promotional material. In the back pages of one SABER book is this provocative statement: "Whether our books are good or bad literature is not the point, of course. The best test of their worth is the market place; if they fill some need, if they will give some pleasure, they will be purchased and read and

not otherwise." Only a few of these books are well written though all of them have interesting and/or titillating stories. Most readers will be little concerned with the uneven literary style. (Uneven means that the ininteresting passages can be skipped without losing the story; the most intimate sections are usually stimulating enough not to require any refinements.)

Some of the titles are of especial interest for homophiles. RENE (formerly titled INCEST FOR RENE) by Kip Madigan is one of the better written offerings. It "treads on problems of male homosexuality, beggary [sic!], love and incest."

THE STRANGE THREE by Louise Sherman shows that love for both sexes is possible and that what has happened will continue to happen, and that perhaps it was best.

I AM A LESBIAN by Lora Sela "is scheduled to appear under SABER imprint." THE LADY WAS A MAN (formerly SEX GAUNTLET TO MURDER) by Mark Shane is in its fourth printing and has murders in three sexes. SATAN'S HARVEST by Sanford Aday has also had four printings. It has its quota of murder, rape, honest and queer prostitutes, good and bad cops, and of course the girl who "rose above her past."

Like the publishers, we do not recommend any of these books, or others put out by either SABER or FABIAN, as "the impeccably regular kind which a reverend mother could contemplate with equanimity." They do not always accomplish their "attempt to publish honest, true-to-life stories depicting life as it is and not necessarily as it should be"; but "we do not believe that you must have your reading material spoonfed to you by government officials . . . It would seem sensible to say to each his own when it comes to anything someone else might want to read.. Dick Tyner