Run for Cover/Race with Lust by Roger Normandie (Key Publications, 1956-7)

1957 was a busy year for Orrie Hitt (as were 1958-1962).  Not only did he publish nearly a dozen titles with Beacon, he released five hardcover novels that year with the short-lived and mysterious Key Publications, that put out a number of “risque” novels in cloth priced at $2-2.50 (ah the days when a hardcover cost that much!!!) — hell, that was like $20-25 today, what a typical hardcover will set you back nowadays.

But the five books Hitt did with Key were all under two pseudonyms names: three as Roger Normandie (Run for Cover, The Lion’s Den, The Web of Evil)  and two as Charles Verne (Mr. Hot Rod and The Wheel of Passion).  Why did he use these nom de plumes and not his own, when he didn’t have a problem putting his real name on “sleaze” and “sex” books ? (Although many a folk thought “Orrie Hitt” was a pen name, because it sounds like one. Who the hell is named Orrie?)

Previously, I speculated that perhaps he was under an exclusive contract with Beacon, which is not unusual to keep prolific writers from publishing competing books with other companies; from 1954-1959, ol’ Orrie published almost exclusively with Beacon Books, aside from these five hardbacks; and there was another 1957 title in cloth, Devil in the Flesh, with Valentine Books. From 1959 on, he published numerous books with Midwood, Kozy, Novel Books, Lancer/Domino, Chariot, and New Chariot Library, with one shots from Saber, Ember, and Gaslight.

Having now read one of the Key Normandies, Run for Cover, I am wondering if the assumed name was for protection.  This racy novel — reprinted in paperback by Kozy as Race with Lust — is far more explicit sexually than any of his other books.  S/M, rape, torture, blackmail and promiscuity are dealt with in greater detail than the usual Hitt novel, pretty bold in 1957 when in the early 1960s book much more tame were in court on obscenity charges.

A hardcover gave a book more validity as literature than a cheap paperback, although Lady Chatterly’s Lover, Lolita and Tropic of Cancer were in the courts at the time, Ulysses before that.

Maybe Hitt was under an exclusive deal with his real name, but it’s possible Key approached him and said, “We’ll let you push the legal envelope and piss off the censors and government, but for your own protection, use a pseudonym, otherwise you might get arrested.”

Perhaps why there is no address listed for Key Publications.  Since Kozy reprinted most of these, I wonder if there was a connection in ownership.  Hitt’s Kozys were also a tad more explicit than his Beacons.

I started with this one because it appears to be the first of the five Key novels published — the title page states “1956” but the copyright page has “1957.”