Elaine Williams (November 10, 1933 - December 19, 1961) was an American

lesbian pulp fiction Lesbian pulp fiction is a genre of lesbian literature that refers to any mid-20th century paperback novel or pulp magazine with overtly lesbian themes and content. Lesbian pulp fiction was published in the 1950s and 1960s by many of the same pap ...

author and editor of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She wrote under a pseudonym, largely either as Sloan Britton or Sloane Britain.

Personal life

Elaine Williams was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of Louis Williams and Maude Saxe Williams. Fellow pulp author Gilbert Fox said of Williams: "Her family refused to accept the fact that she was a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

Career

Cover of These Curious Pleasures by Sloane Britain - Illustration by Paul Rader - 1961

Williams became one of the first editors at

Midwood Books 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 illustrat ...

in 1959. Along with editing for Midwood, Williams was asked to author her own lesbian pulp books. At the same time, Williams began writing her own paperback lesbian pulps under a collection of pseudonyms following a similar pattern: Sloan Britain, Sloane Britain, Sloane Britton, Sloan Britton, and possibly other variations. She published her first two novels in 1959: ''First Person-Third Sex'' and ''The Needle''. These books were published by Newsstand Library and

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

, respectively. Both books contained lesbian or

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

themes, thus placing Williams' work in the canon of

of the 50s and 60s. Further, Williams' early work contained positive portrayals of lesbian relationships, making her one of the pro-lesbian pulp authors. Literary scholar Yvonne Keller named Williams as one of a small group of writers whose work formed the subgenre of "pro-lesbian" pulp fiction; others include

Ann Bannon Ann Weldy (born September 15, 1932), better known by her pen name Ann Bannon, is an American author who, from 1957 to 1962, wrote five lesbian pulp fiction novels known as ''The Beebo Brinker Chronicles''. The books' enduring popularity and imp ...

, Paula Christian,

Joan Ellis Julie Ellis (February 21, 1919 – February 15, 2006) was an early lesbian pulp fiction author of the 1960s, writing pro-lesbian romance and erotica under varied pseudonyms for Midwood-Tower Publications. She changed her writing pseudonyms and leg ...

, March Hastings, Marjorie Lee, Della Martin, Rea Michaels,

Claire Morgan Claire Morgan (born 1980 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish artist. She lives and works in the North East of England. Biography Morgan was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She studied at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyn ...

Vin Packer Marijane Agnes Meaker (May 27, 1927 – November 21, 2022) was an American writer who, along with Tereska Torres, was credited with launching the lesbian pulp fiction genre, the only accessible novels on that theme in the 1950s. Under the name ...

Randy Salem Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolph, and Miranda, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them. '' Randi'' is approximat ...

, Artemis Smith, Valerie Taylor, Tereska Torres, and

Shirley Verel Shirley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë * ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film * ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American biographical film about Shirley Jackson * ''Shirley'' ( ...

. Her 1961 novel ''These Curious Pleasures'' revolves around a main character named Sloane Britain. It is thought that the plot is somewhat autobiographical of Williams, or at least depicts a lesbian relationship which Williams dreamed of. Also in this book is a character named Harry “Happy” Broadman, who is curiously similar to Midwood Books co-founder and publisher

Harry Shorten Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the Comic strip syndication, syndicated gag cartoon ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Arch ...

. Both in real life and fiction, Shorten has been said to have been an unpredictable and at times aggressive man. Williams' inclusion of this character might clue readers into what it was like as one of the first editors and writers at Midwood. Williams published eight other lesbian pulp novels in her career, plus two posthumous short novels published as Midwood Doubles. She was and still is praised for her realistic and sympathetic portrayals of lesbian and bisexual characters, but her later novels are notably more cynical, with dismal endings.

Death

Williams died by her own hand on December 19, 1961. She is buried in artford, CT

Works

* ''First Person-Third Sex,'' 1959 * ''The Needle,'' 1959 * ''Meet Marilyn,'' 1960 * ''Unnatural,'' 1960 * ''Insatiable,'' 1960 * ''These Curious Pleasures,'' 1961 * ''That Other Hunger,'' 1961 * ''Strumpet's Jungle,'' 1962 * ''Woman Doctor,'' 1962 * ''Ladder of Flesh,'' 1962 * ''The Delicate Vice,'' 1963 * ''Finders Keepers,'' 1965 * ''Summer of Sin'' * ''Peep Booth''

References

External links

Sally Taft Duplaix Collection
at the

Mortimer Rare Book Collection The Mortimer Rare Book Collection (MRBC) is the rare books collection of Smith College. Along with the Sophia Smith Collection and College Archives (Smith College), Smith College Archives, it makes up Smith College Special Collections. The colle ...

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Elaine American lesbian writers Writers from Queens, New York 1932 births 1963 deaths American editors Pulp fiction writers 20th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American women novelists American LGBTQ novelists