Ellie Midwood Popular Books

Ellie Midwood Biography & Facts

Midwood Books was an American publishing house active from 1957 to 1968. Its strategy focused on the male readers' market, competing with other publishers such as Beacon Books. The covers of many Midwood Books featured works by prolific illustrators of the era, including Paul Rader. Novels from Midwood Books were written by many well-known authors, most writing under pseudonyms. Among these were Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Robert Silverberg, and Richard E. Geis. History Harry Shorten was a writer and editor who had worked for MLJ Comics, publisher of Archie, for most of the 1940s and 1950s. He had made his fortune by creating, with comics artist Al Fagaly, a syndicated gag cartoon called There Oughta Be a Law!. Looking for an investment in the financial results of his comics, Shorten decided to become an editor of paperbacks. He wanted to follow the example of publishers Beacon Books and Universal Distributing, which specialized in publishing cheap, lightweight books telling dramatic or erotic romances, with suggestive covers, for a male audience. Thus he created in 1957 the publishing house Midwood Books, named after his neighborhood in Brooklyn. At the time, the publishing house address was 505 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. Unlike other New York publishers such as Bennett Cerf at Random House, Shorten did not have extensive knowledge of quality literature. But he knew what would entice the average American reader. His books were bright, colorful, and eye-catching. Midwood's first publications were paperback collections of the There Oughta Be a Law! strips and an unnumbered book series in the same style as Beacon Books. With the 1958 release of Midwood 007 — Love Nest, by Robert Silverberg, writing as "Loren Beauchamp" — began the emergence of authors and artists recognized later as appurtenant to Midwood. Shorten quickly began soliciting manuscripts from the Scott Meredith Literary Agency (which also provided manuscripts for fellow pulp publisher Nightstand Books). Only five people wrote most of the first 40 issues of the Midwood numbered series: Lawrence Block ("Sheldon Lord"), Robert Silverberg ("Loren Beauchamp"), Donald E. Westlake ("Alan Marshall""), Orrie Hitt, and Hal Dresner ("Don Holliday"). This group stabilized Midwood until Shorten was able to put together a stable of recurring writers, such as Sally Singer, Gilbert Fox, Julie Ellis, John Plunkett, and Elaine Williams. Although nobody at Midwood knew it at the time, several writers were providing books for both Midwood and Nightstand, but under different pen names. For example, "Loren Beauchamp" (Robert Silverberg) become "Don Elliott" a year later at Nightstand, "Sheldon Lord" (Lawrence Block) became "Andrew Shaw." Some writers wrote under the same name for both publishers. Shorten obtained his cover illustrations from the Art Balcourt Service, the same agency that provided covers for Beacon. Artists such as Nappi, Rader, and Robert Maguire were significant to the company's success. The covers sold the books: Midwood's novels were not great literature, but were generally very entertaining. Many pages contained sex scenes, described as pornographic, full of insinuations and veiled references. Although romances and melodramas were of more interest to women, the target audience of companies like Midwood and Beacon was men. This was apparent from their covers. In 1964, Midwood merged with Tower Publications to form two subsidiaries: Midwood-Tower and Tower Comics. Shorten went on to be editor-in-chief of Tower Comics. By 1965, Midwood's headquarters were at 185 Madison Avenue (alongside fellow pulp publisher Lancer Books). Popularity among lesbians Pulp titles with strong connotations of lesbians were very popular; the authors were frequently men using female pen names, such as "Barbara Brooks," "Jill Emerson," and "Kimberly Kemp;" while the target audience was male readers, an unexpected second small audience base was lesbians themselves, with these books often reviewed in early lesbian and gay publications such as One Magazine and The Ladder by Barbara Grier, under her pseudonym "Gene Damon." Julie Ellis, though not lesbian herself (unlike Singer and Williams), bucked her bosses by insisting on putting happy endings for the lesbian lovers in her lesbian pulp fiction, a brave act for which she received much appreciative fan mail from emerging lesbian social and activist groups during Ellis's Midwood-Tower authorship period (1962-1968). Authors Lawrence Block, writing as "Sheldon Lord" Hal Dresner, writing as "Don Holliday" Julie Ellis, writing as "Joan Ellis," "Susan Richards," and similar pseudonyms Gilbert Fox, writing as "Dallas Mayo" and "Kimberly Kemp" for his lesbian novels and "Paul Russo" for his heterosexual books Richard E. Geis, writing as "Peggy Swenson" Jay Greene Orrie Hitt Al James Stuart James William Johnston William Knoles, writing as "Clyde Allison" Barry N. Malzberg, writing as "Mel Johnson". Pat Perdue, writing as "Randy Salem" John Plunkett, writing as "Jason Sloane Hytes" Robert Silverberg, writing as "Loren Beauchamp" Sally Singer, writing as "March Hastings" Donald E. Westlake, writing as "Alan Marshall" Elaine Williams, writing as "Sloane Britain" and similar pseudonyms. Some have stated she committed suicide in 1963 as a result of the social stigma she suffered as a lesbian. Other sources indicate that the car she was in skidded on snow and hit a tree head-on, killing Williams and gravely injuring her husband at the time.Pricing Codes Beginning with book 395, Midwood introduced a pricing code as the prefix to the book series number. Midwood books codes were the 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 38. Tower books codes were the 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47. 32 = $.50 33 = $.60 34 = $.75 35 = $.95 37 = $1.25 38 = $1.75 42 = $.50 43 = $.60 44 = $.75 45 = $.95 46 = $ 47 = $1.25 Selected titles source: Midwood series 1-394 Midwood 1: There Oughta Be A Law! by Harry Shorten & Al Fagaly Midwood 2: Midwood 3: Midwood 4: There Oughta Be A Law! by Harry Shorten & Al Fagaly Midwood 5: I Take What I Want by Hal Ellson Midwood 6: Call Me Mistress by Tomlin Rede 1958 Midwood 7: Love Nest, by Loren Beauchamp — the first numbered titled in the Midwood series 1958 Midwood 8: Carla, by Sheldon Lord 1959 Midwood 9: A Strange Kind of Love, by Sheldon Lord Midwood 10: Affair With Lucy by Orrie Hitt Midwood 11: Immoral Wife by Gordon Mitchell Midwood 12: Girl Of The Streets by Orrie Hitt Midwood 13: Hired Lover by Fred Martin 1959 Midwood 14: Born to Be Bad, by Sheldon Lord 1959 Midwood 15: All My Lovers, by Alan Marshall — later reprinted as Midwood 129 (1960) Midwood 16: Summer Romance by Orrie Hitt 1959 Midwood 17: Backstage Love (Vol. I of the Phil Crawford trilogy), by Alan Marshall — later reprinted as Midwood 149: Apprentice Virgin (1962) Midwood 18: Connie by Loren Beauchamp Midwood 19: Only The Bed by Don Holiday 1959 Midwood 20: Man Hungry, by Alan Marshall — later reprint.... 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  • The Girl from Berlin synopsis, comments

    The Girl from Berlin

    Ellie Midwood

    Winner of the International Book Award contest Readers' Favorite in the Historical Fiction category (2016)This is a story of Annalise Meissner, a young German Jew with long time ag...

  • Sophie Scholl and the White Rose synopsis, comments

    Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

    Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn

    A SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION TO COMMEMORATE 80 YEARS SINCE THE EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS OF 1943Sophie Scholl and the White Rose tells the gripping true story of five Munich university...