THE SPREAD
Walter is the New York publisher of a sex magazine called The Spread. He sells about 100,000 copies an issue. This glossy, pornographic weekly provides him a platform to work out his fantasies while fulfilling the dubious needs of his readers. The way he sees it, Walter provides a service--he is in demand. He has sex with his secretary Virginia in the office, and services his wife at home. But Walter has become both a spokesman for the sexual revolution, and a victim of it. He has become trapped by his own creation. He begins to harass the readers who send in classified ads. He ignores an advertiser who may be selling dangerous goods. The times are getting ahead of Walter. And he is the last one to know it.
HORIZONTAL WOMAN
She has good thighs, good breasts, a striking if somewhat affected face -- she knows all of this because she has been told so by clients many times -- but she knows what they can never tell her: that her best feature is her compassion and she wears it like armor through all the streets... Elizabeth Moore is a social worker. Her supervisor, Oved, is trying to train her to be a dedicated investigator. After all, her job is to protect the city and reduce public assistance. But Elizabeth has another mission, to help her clients with their self-esteem. She is a caseworker who takes her caseloads very seriously indeed. The trouble is that so many people need her. But how can she explain to her boss that the kind of therapy she provides her clients can only be offered in bed?
Industry Reviews
"The Spread is pure black comedy, and a nasty criticism of the sleaze rag era of the 60s-70s, the other half of the biz that went along with the books: nudie mags and newspapers under the guise of adults news and entertainment."--David Hemmingson, Those Sexy Vintage Sleaze Books
"Mr. Malzberg writes with cold stylishness about hot subjects."--Detroit Free Press
"There is no one, with the possible exception of Philip K. Dick, whose works, each one of them, are so unpredictable or so outrageous and outraged."--Theodore Sturgeon, Galaxy magazine