By ERIC THOMAS (Olympia Press; 1975/2009)
In the so-called fuck book market of the 1970s great fiction was in scant evidence, but wild and outrageous tales were fairly prevalent. Take Eric Thomas’ CUSTOM MADE SLAVES, initially published as part of Eros Publishing’s aptly named Bizarre line of S&M themed erotica, which has little to offer from a literary standpoint but is plenty wild.
It begins with a young masochist named Roberta being sold into white slavery by the demented Dr. Bronski. Flashbacks fill us in on how Roberta, initially a gay teen named Robert, was lured into Bronski’s evil clutches by a duplicitous boyfriend. Bronski kidnapped Robert and turned him into Roberta, in the process giving him women’s breasts and outfitting a contraption over his penis that turned it into a misshapen Franken-phallus.
But the fun is only just beginning, as Roberta is sold to a sadistic woman who requests some further modifications. Dr. Bronski complies, giving Robert an extra pair of breasts and grafting two new penises (one of them a different color) onto his crotch. This renders Roberta far hornier than he was before, especially since he’s given a super aphrodisiac. Appropriately, then, the foremost torture doled out by Roberta’s new owner is the withholding of gratification—i.e. Roberta’s three penises are enthusiastically masturbated by his captors to the point of orgasm and then abruptly left alone. To enhance the torment electrified armor plates are fitted over Roberta’s nether regions that prevent him from getting off on his own. He’s allowed satisfaction only by being violently whipped by a bevy of depraved triplets, who inform Roberta that “it is our work to make you always very unhappy.” By this point, of course, Roberta has become a committed masochist, with severe pain being the only way his severely deformed middle penis can reach orgasm.
Not to worry, though, because a happy ending is in store. After escaping his sadistic owner’s chateau Roberta takes up with a hermaphrodite who whips and abuses him to his heart’s content, but in a loving manner with “no shade of cruelty.”
Lots of provocative issues are brought up in this novel, but outside some rudimentary musings on the allure of masochism none of those issues are explored in any depth. For that you’ll have to turn to the likes of Jean-Marie Stine’s SEASON OF THE WITCH or Michael Blumlein’s X,Y, as despite its bizarre subject matter CUSTOM MADE SLAVES never advances much beyond the perimeters of standard porn lit.