TWENTIETH CENTURY WESTERN WRITERS

TWENTIETH CENTURY WESTERN WRITERS published in 1991 by editor Geoff Sadler manages to insult both Adult Western readers and writers in the preface to the second edition.

"The final transformation-perversion might be a better word-of the Western was the birth of the adult Western, known to the publishing industry as the "wicked" or "porno" Western. Time magazine had noted the existence of the type and called it by name in 1959 ("The American Morality Play," 30 March), but it really began to flourish in the 1970's. Its elements were brutality for its own sake and explicit sex in large quantities. The paperback editors discovered that there was a tremendous appetite for these commodities and began producing them for the mass market. Most of the books came in series named for the central character, and a house name was used for the author. Since titles in a given series appeared as often as once a month, a battery of writers was needed to tum them out. For money, established craftsmen toiled anonymously to give bloodthirsty or sex-starved readers what they wanted."