book will want to pick up some of these briefly mentioned titles on his or her next library trip.

Top Dog by Mary Cobb (Doubleday, 1960) is all about the superficial aspects of the world of dog breeders, the bitches-not all of them four-legged, and their males-not all of them studs.

Political satire always finds an audience and Constantine Fitzgibbon's. When the Kissing Had to Stop (Norton, 1960, Bantam, 1961) is a very good entry in this genre. Not kind to homosexuals but that is not surprising in a slams everything gently and sometimes firmly.

Good old Hollywood again in William Murray's Self Starting Wheel (Dutton, 1960, Avon, 1961). Standard guaranteed addition to any Hollywood novel, one male homosexual character and, in this one at least, one question mark.

All readers of homosexual fiction know that Frederic Prøkosch seldom disappoints. He is very prolific and nearly all of his titles deal with homosexuality at least in part. His Ballad of Love (Farrar, 1960, Bantam, 1961) is the life of a bisexual male. He has several erotic relationships, or as one reviewer described it, several semi-sexual encounters. One of the loveliest is with Tony. It is also interesting that the hero's female love treats him in a near sadistic manner.

There are brief incidents in the rather exciting, but thinly written, novel, The Fraud by Paul Rader (Viking, 1961, Bantam, 1962).

Historical (or hysterical) fiction addicts will enjoy the lengthy history of the Northwest in Helen Rucker's The Wolf Tree (Little, Brown, 1960). A very major character, and substantial parts of the plot are concerned with male homosexuality. Despite this it is an unsatisfactory title.

A better historical novel is Quintin Chivas by Barnaby Ross (Simon and Schuster, 1961, Pocket Books, 1962). Quintin is a street urchin who grows up to be a heller with the ladies. He is a loveable rat though. During his early years he is guided and loved and helped by a sympathetic male homosexual character. Soft edges on rough trade here.

A more modern day rogue (and a thorough going bastard at that) is the hero of The Florentine Ring by Jackson Stanley (Doubleday, 1962). Victor Baldour of "unlimited sex appeal" (so says the blurb) is, like Quintin, a heller with the ladies. Along the way he takes advantage of a male homosexual. There is a touch of blackmail here, but not born of prejudice, just all in a day's work for Victor. He gets his, as the reader will understandably expect and applaud.

Modern day life among the government officials in India is the theme of Robert Towers' Necklace of Kali (Harcourt, 1960). The homosexuality is reasonably incidental, but for the afficionado there is an hilarious refer-

mattachine REVIEW

ence to the famous anti-lesbian author Vin Packer-Ann Aldrich.

The aging but engaging enfant terrible of England, Colin Wilson, in Rit ual in the Dark (Houghton-Mifflin, 1960, Popular Library, 1961) gives us à paradox; a sympathetic homosexual figure who is a sadistic killer, a monster, a modern day "Jack the Ripper." The sympathy, of course, is engendered by the author (narrator) who is a friend of the fiend. A year later Mr. Wilson brought out Adrift in Sobo (Houghton-Mifflin, 1961). This is life among the Greenwich Villagers of England (London). Some are gay of course, but the book is a poor one for Wilson and not worth much effort in locating. Donald Windham, an excellent writer, who is sadly less prolific even than Salinger, and very sympathetic to homosexuality in his titles, did an excellent study of involuted relationships in The Hero Continues (Crowell, 1960). Several reviews alluded to the book's surprising parallels in Mr. Windham's own life.

Young Marianne Sinclair's first novel Paradox.Lost (London, Chapman & Hall, 1963) is the story of a doomed lesbian romance between a "very" young child-like girl and a semi-sadistic (bitch/butch) 40-year-old. Curiously, Marianne Sinclair is the wife of critics darling, Andrew Sinclair, whose recent novel, The Paradise Bum (Atheneum, 1963) describes his futile courtship of a lesbian.

The horrors of prison life, graphic and sexual (homosexual); are well presented in William Wiegand's The Treatment Man (McGraw-Hill, 1959; also as The Incorrigibles, Belmont Books, 1960).

It is a disappointment when a book primarily concerned with the life of ja homosexual turns out to be an unbearably dull book. This is the case with The Vigil of Emmeline Gore by Rudolph Von Abele (Houghton, 1962). Emmeline has loved and cared for her husband in the past-even forgave him (to some extent) his overt homosexuality. What she couldn't forgive was her discovery that he has had a child by another woman.

The Gold Rimmed Spectacles by Giorgio Bassani (Atheneum, 1960) was more or less overlooked. This is surprising since it is a very well written novel about a totally homosexual life. It is very similar to the obsession theme used in Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, since it analyzes in depth the obsession of an adult male for a boy.

There is a very, very short, but very good homosexual anecdote, includ-, ed in Marc Brandel's Rain Before Seven (Harper, 1945). It is a good title.' for just general reading although the pertinent section is just a few pages long. His novel of suspense The Time of the Fire (Random House, 1954, Bantam, 1955) has a more substantial homosexual element in the plot but is also primarily "fun reading.”

The Second World War as seen by the French soldier is the plot of The