Sleaze

David Bowie, Rochester, New York, 1976 Image © Rochester Police Department

Mug Shots: Celebrities Under Arrest

George Seminara

“The crime, the arrest, the taking down of names and numbers, the emptying of pockets, the one allotted phone call, the fingertips smeared in ink, and finally, the booking photo: the mug shot. Culled from and ferreted out of police departments from all over the country, here are the mug shots of dozens of America’s celebrities who have been arrested. Suzanne Somers, Tim Allen, Larry King, Jane Fonda, Christian Slater—all have blinked in the flash of the police photographer’s camera. With great difficulty, George Seminara has compiled a startling rogues’ gallery of dozens of well-known public figures.”

Publisher: St. Martin's
Paperback: 100 pages
Illustrated

Reviews

Reagangate: White House Connections to the Vicki Morgan Killing

Larry Flynt

“Remember Vicki Morgan, the naughty young lady who participated in magnate Alfred Bloomingdale’s SM orgies? Remember Bloomingdale’s pal, Ronald Reagan? Remember how Vicki was murdered right after she told the press she had videotapes of top Reagan officials frolicking in sexual abandon? Remember how Larry Flynt suddenly got the tapes? Well, here’s Larry’s story! A mind-boggling look at fascist kink and squalor.”

Publisher: Prevailing Winds
Pamphlet: 2 pages

Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry

Sylvia Plachy and James Ridgeway

An exploration, via photos and text, into “the lives of the women and men engaged in the broad variety of work that falls under the umbrella of the sex industry.” Compiled over a period of three years (its research culled mainly from New York City) and motivated by a genuine attempt to understand the many facets of the world of sex workers, the volume reads like transgressive anthropology: a study of the stylized practices and rituals that take place outside the circumscribed orbit of “the norm.” Topics range from “A Porn Actor’s Story” to “Blood Sports” (the exchange of blood as the main event for those who believe themselves to be vampires) to “Hidden Costs” to “Occupational Hazards” (the psychological/emotional tolls of the profession as well as its obvious physical risks). With stark, evocative photos from award-winning Village Voice photographer Sylvia Plachy and a compelling, informative text from the paper’s Washington correspondent, James Ridgeway, Red Light is a thorough, nonjudgmental glimpse into a world as textured and elaborate as it is misunderstood. MDG

Publisher: DAP
Hardback: 256 pages
Illustrated

Rock‘n‘Roll Babylon

Gary Herman

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Babylon casts a jaundiced eye on the antics of such overblown stars as Axle Rose, Michael Jackson and Sting and those who became victims of their own lifestyles—Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Sid Vicious, Freddie Mercury and Kurt Cobain.” Plus great writing and plenty of dirty pictures! MG

Publisher: Plexus
Paperback: 224 pages
Illustrated

Scout‘s Honor: Sexual Abuse in America’s Most Trusted Institution

Patrick Boyle

This is a very even-handed study of documented cases of child molestation which have occurred in the context of scouting. The author, while sitting in on a child-molestation trial, was given free access to over 200 files of similar cases which the lawyer of the current case was using. He noticed certain patterns and similarities in the cases. An article grew into a series of articles and finally into this book. It is not a cheap-shot exposé of the Boy Scouts. It is a well-conceived study of circumstances that can lead to molestation and provides a look at scouting practices that create the greatest risk of enabling it to occur. One might consider such information “an ounce of prevention.” Quite aside from the scouting angle, it is one of the best documents available on the subject of how child molesters operate and how their operations might be prevented. SA

Publisher: Prima
Paperback: 397 pages
Illustrated

The Senator’s Whore

Leo Guild

This purports to be an “as told to” true story about a girl with expensive tastes and only one way to satisfy them. And satisfy them she does—right up to the Capitol dome. Eventually her greed for men drives her to set up a whorehouse that caters to the most powerful movers and shakers in Washington. SC

Publisher: Holloway House
Paperback: 224 pages

Sex Work: Writings by Women in the Sex Industry

Edited by Fredérique Delacoste and Priscilla Alexander

“Voices of pain, voices of power, voices of hard work.” Candid, funny and raw narratives from the women who inhabit America’s tinseled and tawdry sex world. “Street prostitutes, exotic dancers, nude models, escorts, porn actresses and workers in massage parlors speak out on sex work—their work.” GR

Publisher: Cleis
Paperback: 352 pages

Sex, Sin and Mayhem: Notorious Trials of the ‘90s

Edward W. Knappman

“Uncover the stories behind recent headlines for 26 highly sensational, highly publicized celebrity trials and court battles, including those of O.J. Simpson, Heidi Fleiss, the Menendez brothers, John and Lorena Bobbitt, the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow custody case, Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson’s settlement, the Harding/Kerrigan conflict, and William Kennedy Smith. Profiles set the scene, identify the principals, report the verdict and analyze the decision.”

Publisher: Visible Ink
Paperback: 210 pages
Illustrated

The Show Must Go On: The Life of Freddie Mercury

Rick Sky

Another one bites the dust. “It was a secret he had kept from the world for the previous five years… the singer’s gaunt, gray face, bearing no resemblance now to the proud one that had stared down from millions of posters, lay perfectly still on the pillow. His breathing had slowed and his brown eyes saw only the mist flooding the huge bedroom, which occupied much of the third floor of his exquisite home. Next to him sat just one of his most faithful friends, ‘60s pop heartthrob Dave Clark, who was gently holding his hand… He lay there, little more than a corpse, oblivious to the beautiful antiques, Japanese paintings and French Impressionist masters he had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on over the years, building a collection that was the envy of art lovers… His death was finally announced at midnight.” The queen of Queen, born to Persian parents as Farokh Bulsara and raised in Zanzibar and Bombay, goes out in a bohemian rhapsody. GR

Publisher: Carol
Paperback: 202 pages
Illustrated

Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West

Anne Seagraves

Colorful, if not socially acceptable, ladies of easy virtue were a definite part of the early West. Wearing ruffled petticoats with fancy bows, they were glamorous and plain, good and bad, and many were as wild as the land they came to tame. Women like “Molly b’Dam,” Mattie Silks and “Chicago Joe” blended into the fabric of the American Frontier with an easy familiarity. Others, such as “Sorrel Mike,” escaped through suicide, Lotte Johl chose marriage, and the Chinese slave girls lived a life without hope. Illustrated with rare photos, this strong book provides a touching insight into the lives of the ladies of the night. MM

Publisher: Gem Guides
Paperback: 175 pages

Some Like It Dark

Kipp Washington as told to Leo Guild

“Frankly, I’m queer. I’ve had men and animals and five Japanese girls at a time and I even screwed a corpse. But it’s the injured ones that really turn me on.” More than your standard dinge-queen drama, this book is all that and a bag of chili fries! MG

Publisher: Holloway House
Paperback: 224 pages