Hogg by Samuel Delany Normal Illinois, Black Ice Books, 1994. Mint copy in original plastic shrink wrap. 219 p. Long unpublished novel by noted Science Fiction author with a lot of Southern coprophilla characters, fried green tomatoes gone quite bad. Originally written in 1973, a number of publishers, including the Olympia Press, refused to even consider publishing it because of its content. According to Seth McVoy, author of the book Samuel Delany , "Hogg contains scenes that are not just sexually explicit, but that deal with people who engage in sexuality that is simply outside the awareness of nearly every person." (In 1973, however, Lancer Books did publish a companion work along somewhat similar but tamer lines titled Tides Of Lust. Since British authorities seized and burned the 1981 British edition of Tides of Lust, I would not recommend toting Hogg through customs at Heathrow.) As in his other works, Delany drew upon actual people and events to construct the various characters and plot lines in Hogg. For example, one of Delany's closest friends at summer camp was a boy who chewed his nails to beyond the quick and had the "nasty" habit of picking his nose and ingesting the resulting snot-two of the more modest traits of Hogg himself. ( this book is really not for those who admire Jane Austen or Barbara Courtland) DJ cover quotes Norman Mailer "..a serious book with literary merit", Stephan Brown (editor of Science Fiction eye) "No serious consideration of (Delany's work) would be complete without this book", and John O'Brain (Dalkey Archive Press) "..(Hogg is) distasteful, raw and upsetting". DJ also warned buyers that "Because it contains disturbing descriptions of violence and sexual situations, this book is not for sale to minors." Most of the initial and only printing of 500 hardback copies was quickly sold out and within a month or so of Hogg's release, many Gay bookstores rightly reported that it was no longer available from the distributor and was out of print. Primarily by word of mouth, Hogg quickly became a underground cult masterpiece, with copies of the original hardback edition extremely difficult or impossible to obtain. In 1996, Black Ice reissued Hogg as a trade paperback (2,500 copies). Of the original edition of 500 copies, over 100 were distributed to libraries (OCLC information) $225