"Just keep on writing. Even if your story gets worse, you'll get better."
- Ed Wood from Hollywood Rat Race (1965)
Many have wondered, but few have seen anything but the front cover of this obscure sex/horror magazine. It has appeared at auction on scarce occasions, most recently in April at Heritage, and is considered very rare.
Published in 1972, HORROR SEX TALES was the first in a series of adult magazines of erotic horror fiction from Gallery Press. The imprint was owned by one, Bernie Bloom, who had previously worked for a large distributor of adult products out of Los Angeles before going out on his own. The stories were accompanied by staged photos similar to those seen in the Stanley Publications line only sexier. As a matter of fact, I suspect that since the Stanley 'zines were published just a few years earlier that the "creative team" at Gallery Press might have been influenced by them and got the idea to go one step further with harder-core eroticism.
Besides being so rare, what makes these magazines so collectible? It certainly wasn't because the photos were necessarily appealing -- in fact, they are decidedly un-sexy for the most part -- or for the mostly sophomoric and janky artwork by uncredited artist/s (some illustrations were signed, but no credit is given).
| Back cover photo illustration "Experiment in Flesh". |
The only reason these 'zines are so sought after is that many of the stories were written by none other than Ed Wood. Wood of course, is known for his micro-budget films that fall well outside the professional luster of mainstream movies. He made a handful of quirky films with themes ranging from juvenile delinquency, to transvestism to necrophilia. Included in his oeuvre were a handful of horror films such as BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955), NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (1958) and the mind-boggling ORGY OF THE DEAD (1965). He is perhaps best known for PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1956), having the distinction of being Bela Lugosi's ignominious last role ("Pull the string!") and being dubbed "the worst movie ever made" (until recently dethroned by MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE).
Wood was also the prolific author of upwards of 100 adult-themed books and countless short stories over his career, most of them being outre, perverse or just downright kooky. Wood was a fetishist and his predilections boiled over into nearly all of his work in one form or another. So, the opportunity for him to contribute to his friend Bloom's Gallery Press was a marriage made in heaven. Wood was known for using a ton of pseudonyms, many of them identified as his and some are in question; chances are there may be still a few out there that may never be identified as his. The scans shown below show Ed's only second story using the pen name, "Dick Trent" as he puts his own sexy spin on Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders In the Rue Morgue" (the first being in the same issue, titled "Witches of Amau Ra").
Most of the rest of the stories in the issue have been attributed with Wood. He seems obsessed with necrophilia, cannibalism, maggots and other unsavory topics throughout. One of his non-fiction pieces is, "Bloodiest Sex Crimes of History", about pedophile and serial killer Albert Fish. It is excerpted from his 1967 Pad Library (groovy, man!) paperback edition of the same name. Although I have no way of verifying this, one source reports that two of the stories are adapted from Hal Kantor's An Adult Version of Frankenstein, and that the publisher of the book was also owned (or distributed) by Gallery Press.
| Back cover photo illustrating "Revenge of the Female Werewolf". |
One of the most curious stories is written by Wood under the name T.G. Denver called "Cease to Exist". The title may ring familiar to some as it is the same one used by Charles Manson for one of the songs he wrote. It's similar to the tune that The Beach Boys infamously "appropriated" and recorded as the B-side as "Never Learn Not to Love" (a line from his song) to their single, "Bluebirds Over the Mountain", both cuts which were included in their LP, 20/20 (1969). Manson was said to have received some cash and a motorcycle for his efforts, but was not credited on the album, as the Boys were trying to distance themselves from his shady reputation. Being the petty and vengeful person that he was, this infuriated the would-be rock star which I'm sure didn't help his overall disposition prior to his ordering the Tate-La Bianca murders just a few months later. Wood uses one other Manson song title in this story, "Mechanical Man", so it's unlikely to be a coincidence that he was associating these phrases with Manson and applying them to his grisly story, albeit in a subtle way.
| Back cover illustrating "The Price of Passion". |
Having no idea how much this magazine would be worth 50 years later, I purchased it via mail order a year or so after it was published. Finding it far below my expectations, I nevertheless tucked it away and hung on to it all these years. It wasn't until recently that I unearthed it among some other magazines that have been with me for many years. My copy has a price sticker of $2.50 on the cover -- I believe it originally sold for $2.00. Had I known then what I know now, I would have bought a few more!
So, I now offer you, in all its unvarnished glory, the rare opportunity to read a full story, Ed "Dick Trent" Wood's "The Rue Morgue Revisited", from HORROR SEX TALES #1!
WARNING! PERVERSE CONTENT AHEAD!
| Horror Sex Tales Table of Contents. |
| The back cover of Horror Sex Tales. |
BONUS!
Charles Manson performs "Cease to Exist":
The Beach Boys perform "Never Learn Not to Love" live:
NOTE: As of this writing, I have come across only two copies of HST currently for sale (in VG/FN condition) on the 'net from second-hand book sellers -- both of them with the asking price of $175.00. I am considering digitizing my NEAR MINT copy and offering it at a nominal cost. If you would be interested in obtaining an image file of this very rare horror magazine, please let me know by using the Contact Form on the right-hand sidebar of this page. Depending on the level of interest, I would consider doing this in the near future.