Banned!

This collection gathers three novels that were condemned as "indecent, lewd and obscene" in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their sales led to prosecutions of booksellers, and two of the cases reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Modern readers will find them mild by current standards.

Design for Debauchery, by March Hastings, first appeared in 1960 as Fear of Incest and was later reissued under its new title. The U.S. Postal Service ruled it one of twelve books by the author it would not deliver, calling them obscene, lewd, lascivious and indecent. Los Angeles bookseller Samuel Dodd Williamson was arrested, jailed and fined for selling a copy, and the Supreme Court upheld his conviction. The story follows a wealthy family whose prestige hides a darker secret, centred on a father determined to seduce his own son and a fearful young woman named Robin.

Twisted Love, by Mark Tryon, was earlier published as Sweeter Than Life and The Twisted Loves of Nym O'Sullivan. In 1953 undercover officers in Los Angeles bought a copy from bookseller Eleazar Smith, who was convicted of obscenity. On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in his favour, but not on whether the book was obscene. It found that the ordinance made booksellers criminally liable for stocking such books without proof they knew the contents, which violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The novel centres on Nym O'Sullivan, the daughter of a lesbian, who grows up distrusting men. After a man forces her into marriage, she turns her attraction against him and against a younger lover, Johnny Martel, while also pursuing women, including a young blonde named Lynn Rawlins.

Veil of Tormentt, also published as The Sherwood Scandal, is another March Hastings lesbian pulp novel. It was refused mailing by the U.S. Postal Service in 1960 and labelled indecent in the United States and Canada by the National Organization for Decent Literature. It follows Ivy Sherwood, a stage actress admired for her glamorous public image, whose private life is restless and secret. Away from the spotlight she roams the streets and seeks out strangers as she struggles with an uncontrollable sexual appetite.

The three novels are reprinted together here, each shown with its original publication history.