ALIAS EVAN HUNTER

I just finished reading Ken Bruen's A White Arrest.  One of the major characters, Detective Sergeant Tom Brant, has at least one admirable trait:  he is a major fan of Evan Hunter/Ed McBain's writing.  The only books Brant owns were written by Hunter, with separate shelves for the 87th Precinct mysteries and for the Matthew Hope mysteries, as well as a shelf for books published under the Evan Hunter name.  This got me thinking about how many books Hunter wrote and how many names he wrote them under.  He was born Salvatore A. Lombino and published some stories as "S. A. Lombino".  He legally adopted his first major pen name "Evan Hunter".  He was also "Richard Marston", "Ed McBain", "Hunt Collins", "Curt Cannon", "Ezra Hannon", and "John Abbott".  If my memory serves, he was also "D. A. Addams" and "Ted Taine", although I may have gotten those names wrong.  [Despite one reference, he was not "Hodge Evans" [or "Evens"]; that appears to have been Dudley Dean McGaughy ["Dean Owen"].)

     One pen name that had been hidden until recently was "Dean Hudson", the name he used for over eighty soft-core paperbacks in the 60s and 70s.  According to Earl Kemp, the editor of those paperbacks, it came about because Hunter's then-wife had a tight control on his finances and he needed cash she couldn't know about to finance some of his baser habits.  The agreement was that "Dean Hudson" would deliver a book a month for a flat fee of $1000.00 cash.  Kemp said that many of the books Hunter wrote himself and some appeared to be written by his writing students, but that Hunter was the author of record for the "Dean Hudson" books.  (One bookseller has stated that the pen name was also used by William Knowles, better known as "Clyde Allison", but I haven't seen anything to verify that claim.)

     It should be understood that these softcore lines of that time were pretty mild; most of today's women's romance books are more graphic.  The formula was simple:  any type of plot (logical or not) with sex scenes every so-many pages.  Metaphors for sex and body parts were preferred, and no really bad words.   These books proved to be great training grounds for new writers, among them Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, John Jakes, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Harlan Ellison, and Hal Dresner -- all hidden under pseudonyms.

     One problem with identifying the "Dean Hudson" books is the publisher's habit of retitling when the books were reprinted.   Another problem throughout the field was plagerism; books were often lifted by other publishers and rewritten as new titles under new names.  Writers also often played games with each other, inserting in-jokes and references into the books.  It all gets pretty confusing.  Adding to the confusion are those booksellers prone to listing titles and authors wrongly.

     Anyway, yesterday I took a look through Abebooks and eBay to see what "Dean Hudson" books were for sale.  I came up with seventy-four, some of which may be the same book under a different title, or a book wrongly listed as by "Dean Hudson".  Here they are:

• Alumnus of Sin
• The Art Sinner
• Bedroom Champ
• The Come Out
• The Delltown Sinners
• Dream Lover
• Flesh Fiesta
• Flesh Sisters
• Fleshpot
• Glass Mistress
• Happy Town
• Hasbeen
• Her Shame in Lights
• Honeysuckle Rose
• House of 7 Shames
• Jet Set Stud
• Las Vegas Lust
• Lover's Exile
• Lust Legacy
• Lust Lei
• Lust Lost
• Lust Son
• The Man from O.R.G.Y. (No relation to the bestselling Ted Mark series published by Lancer Books)
• Million Dollar Mistress
• The Muckrakers
• Next Stop, Sinland
• Nightmare Clinic
• Office Party
• Orgy Man
• Orgy Scouts
• Other Brother
• Passion Adonis
• Passion Daisy
• Passion Floor
• Passion Legacy
• Passion Man (also published as Carnal Candidate)
• Passion Prodigal
• Passion Suburb
• Psychopast
• Quest for Ecstasy
• Randy
• Roadhouse Wanton
• The Robot Lovers
• The Seduction Game
• Sex Town
• Sextus
• Shame Camp
• Shame Lane
• Shame Stage
• The Shame Takers
• Showcase for Sin
• Silver Shames
• Sin Cats
• Sin Family
• Sin Gallery
• Sin Grifter
• Sin Hungry
• Sin on Salary
• Sin Queen
• Sin Search
• Sin Sheet
• The Sin Swappers
• Sinkeeper
• Sinner, Come Home
• Sinner's Shroud
• Sinsanity
• Sinville
• Skin Queen
• Tropic Lust
• Twisted Tulips
• The Virgin of Calabara
• Wall Street Wanton
• West End Wanton
• Yesterday's Man

     A very incomplete list, I'm afraid.  At a later date, I'll try to add the specific publisher's line and number and year of publication.  In the meantime, any information you have on titles, alternate titles and background information would be greatly appreciated.