Broken on the Wheel of Sex

by Jack Ketchum, Cortney Skinner (Illustrator)

This edition of Jack Ketchum's "Broken On The Wheel of Sex: The Jerzy Livingston Years" is the most complete edition of the "Stroup" stories ever collected together. These stories, written from 1976 to 1981, and appearing in various men's magazines and other outlets, offer Ketchum readers a look into this author's formulative years. This is where Jack Ketchum honed his writing craft that has become so well known with his novels The Girl Next Door, The Crossing, Off Season and The Lost. Collected here is his character simply known as the "Stroup" stories written under the pseudonym Jerzy Livingston, which are rare and difficult to locate almost thirty years after the original publications gave them life. "I've called these the Jerzy Livingston years because over half of them were written under that name and the rest under my real one. Somehow Jerzy seems more appropriate for this collection. My adoption of that particular pseudonym was both a joke - a play on words -and a nod to a very good writer, which I hoped some day to be." - Jack Ketchum, from the author's introduction. Also includes Afterwords for each story by the author.

Genres: Horror, Splatterpunk, Audiobook

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Dallas William Mayr, better known by his pen name Jack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. His novels included Off Season, Offspring, and Red, which were adapted to film. In 2011, Ketchum received the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award for outstanding contribution to the horror genre.

A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: "[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing." He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters.

Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became his mentor.

Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial Off Season), including acting as agent for novelist Henry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency.

His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity.

Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

With two or three exceptions, the stories in BROKEN ON THE WHEEL OF SEX can be grouped into three categories. The first category is stories about Stroup, a vile excuse for a human being who spends most of his page-time mistreating women in one way or another. The second category is stories about the sexual escapades of a young writer living in Greece. The third category is a trio of personal essays about the seedy underbelly of New York City (porno theaters, S&M clubs, etc.). There's also a detective story revolving around a missing jogger, a comedy of errors about a romantic relationship built on a foundation of lies, and a Christmas tale about a woman who hits up a random stranger for phone sex.
The only common thread linking these stories is that they all revolve around themes of casual sex. The author explains that this is because he wrote most of these stories in the late '70's, as the Free Love movement was dying out due to the AIDS scare. I'm sure the fact that many of these stories were originally published in skin mags also had something to do with it.
Yes, these stories are graphic, but not in a sexy way. Mostly, they're just disturbing. Ketchum's Stroup character, for example, would probably get along quite well with the protagonist in Irving Welsh's FILTH. The Stroup stories are entertaining and darkly comedic, but only if you're the kind of person who likes getting in touch with your inner Mr. Hyde. Some of these stories served as launch pads for bigger, more ambitious projects. One of the Stroup stories later became integrated into Ketchum's novel, LADIES' NIGHT. And a couple of the Greek stories eventually served as the inspiration for SHE WAKES.
All in all, a decent collection, but one I'd be unlikely to recommend to anyone.

[Mike Kazmierczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as high quality or gripping as other novels or collections by Ketchum, this book was still entertaining. It collects stories that Ketchum wrote mostly from 1976 to 1981 while he was doing other stuff. The stories were sold mostly to men's magazines like Swank, Genesis and High Society, amongst others. Knowing this provides a much more logical reason for the title of the collection. It also helped to explain when my mother-in-law gave me a raised eyebrow upon seeing the title. While each story did include sexual elements, there really was not as much sex as you would expect. It was really pretty amazing to consider that these stories were published in some hardcore men's magazines. For the most part, almost none of them would end up in any men's magazines in today's society. Things have definitely changed in the last thirty years. To that end, it was also pretty cool to receive an insight into what the 70s and 80s were like to a young man in New York City. And then there are the stories. Many include Stroup, a man that you want to like but who was also pretty much a jerk. It was still entertaining to watch his life unfold in small chapters. All those elements combine to make the book an interesting and enjoyable read. I've listed off some of my favorite stories below.

"Skin Game" - Stroup invents a board game in order to get lucky but doesn't quite expect the results he gets.
"The Christmas Caller" - An obscene phone call sparks a relationship.
"East Side Story" - A relationship based on one lies reveals another.
"Sheep Meadow Story" - The same story from the novel TRIAGE but still just as hard boiled and gripping.

[Joe Stamber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read several of Jack Ketchum's novels and loved them (if that's the right word to attribute to the carnage he writes) and generally feel that anything that has left his pen is worth a look. Broken on the Wheel of Sex is a collection of short stories, most of which were published in magazines early in his career. To be honest, I tend to steer clear of short stories as I rarely enjoy them, probably because I prefer to immerse myself in something longer. As with most collections, the quality here varies, but nothing really stood out for me and I found some of it repetitive. I'll certainly be continuing my quest to read the rest of his novels, but Broken on the Wheel of Sex wasn't really for me.

[J K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious, filthy and erotic..mostly...Ketchum's writing style is direct and snarky and dark, and I even enjoyed hanging out with the sleazy Stroup, who is slightly less of an asshat when you're seeing it from the inside of his skull.

[Klaus Kinion · Rating 3 out of 5]

BROKEN ON THE WHEEL OF SEX is an interesting time-capsule of Ketchum's writings from various adult magazines circa 1976-1981. In that old cliché about buying porno-mags "to read the articles", these were those articles.

For Ketchum completionists, this is a great collection, with what might be the occasional seeds of his later works. But ultimately these stories, which were no-doubt highly salacious in the 70's, can feel tame by today's standards.

[David Veith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all short stories, some good some not so good. A bit were more or less the same story lol, but well written and descriptive.

[Cambria · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of bad stories. Main theme-misogynist with no redeemable qualities.

[Julian White · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of shorts from 1976 - 81* written for 'gentlemen's magazines, so mostly around ten pages long. A curious historical piece - just before AIDS... Several feature Stroup (anagram), several others were written and set on a Greek Island but most are set in and around New York.

Not an obvious choice for this imprint...

*Plus one written for this collection (which is dated 2004 though the book's copyright is 2003)

[Steve Howells · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early Jack Ketchum short story collection. I was not a big fan of most of these stories.

Allot of them were kind of weak and boring.

[Valy · Rating 2 out of 5]

vergessen das als gelesen zu markieren

[Chris Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

in-between the photos of yesterday's porn, this is the words used to fill up the rest of the space in the magazine.

[Deyth Banger · Rating 4 out of 5]

"September 23, 2017 – page 116
38.67% "What the fuck am I reading?


this is the question which plays in my head over and over...


This book hasn't got one murder... kill... crime... it's like a life of a sex addict."
September 23, 2017 – page 108
36.0% "What Tha Fack am I READING.. ."
September 22, 2017 – page 101
33.67%
September 20, 2017 – page 89
29.67%
September 20, 2017 – page 81
27.0% "After All this guy has a point."
September 20, 2017 – page 73
24.33%
September 20, 2017 – page 69
23.0% "I got enough about Stroup.. . It's getting little boring."
August 14, 2017 – page 69
23.0% """Wonder what it would be like, though," Stroup said, "to smear a woman up with fish."
"Disgusting. That's what."
"Yeah. Stink like hell, wouldn't you."
"Like death itself."
"Yeah. What about lobster?"

As Bad As Hell"
August 14, 2017 – page 69
23.0% ""It was wonderful," she said and kissed me. Our first kiss.
It tasted like lies""
August 14, 2017 – page 69
23.0% ""thatch" - Nice Word"
August 14, 2017 – page 69
23.0%
July 3, 2017 – page 61
20.33%
July 1, 2017 – page 59
19.67%
June 21, 2017 – page 54
18.0%
June 20, 2017 – page 50
16.67%
June 20, 2017 – page 45
15.0%
June 6, 2017 – page 42
14.0% "Stroup is the main character in the novel by Jack Ketchum."
April 9, 2017 – page 39
13.0% "Don't be knowledge sucker.. . too much in the end you lose everything."
April 6, 2017 – page 38
12.67% "These are good stuff!"
April 5, 2017 – page 27
9.0%
April 5, 2017 – page 17
5.67% "Oh, oh wow.. wow...

If you start reading this book you ain't gonna want to put it down."
April 4, 2017 – page 9
3.0%
April 4, 2017 – Started Reading"


Afterword: If you ask me about this book not my thing... so much sex so much pronography that this here world which Jack Ketchum has created nothing else does happen. Under happening... I mean there isn't a lot of scenes... probably different character names but still some naughty things.

Stroup was in this book so much times that one moment I got bored from this scumbag..

- He does that
- He fucks like that
- He is that
- He is violent
- He is bad
- He is nice


...

Ohh come on is this something around horror or crime or some kinda piece full of shit. Because I got dissapointed from Jack... 4 out of 5 stars I think for this whole story is tooo much... but whatever I gonna give that rate.

[Douglas Castagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the casual fan, more for true Jack Ketchum fans. One can easily see, however, that despite the subject matter, he was a talented writer even back then. Most of the stories were written for, as he calls them, stroke magazines, so the plots are self explanatory. There are also some early essays and a later Stroup story that was used in Triage. Some were titillation, but mostly they just help show the evolution of a great writer when, sadly, the subject matter of what he wrote, was not so great.

[Jeremy Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of desperation, degredation and the death of Disco at the tail end of 1970s New York, recorded, genital warts and all, with unflinching and shamelessly nostalgic reverie by horror hack Ketchum in the days when he paid his rent with cheques from "gentlemen's quarterlies" such as "Swank". Nice and sleazy.

[Randy Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stroup is one of the most deep, entertaining, developed, and true time piece characters I've ever read in short story! These collection of stories proves why Ketchum is the master of his craft! Good work!!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A window in to the formative experiences of one of horror's most shocking writers. Brilliant; the story 'The Liar' is excellent, and stimulating in every sense.

[Djj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read two Ketchum novels, one of them the most disturbing book I've ever read (girl next door). this collection of Ketchum's short stories and articles, mostly from the 70s, gives some insight into how he honed his craft....writing stories and articles for swank magazine, a notorious skin mag. but in those days, most of these magazines had legitimate short fiction departments, and swank even had yearly fiction awards. from that pov, at least, these stories are fascinating.

indeed most of them are somewhat subversive...while many are overtly misogynist, the main male characters are deliberately awful human beings. Ketchum seems to be criticising the entire raison d'etre for the very magazines from which he made his living.

no idea what Ketchum was like personally, but his introduction to the book would indicate he was very aware of what he was doing and why.

so, like the other Ketchum books I've read, i can't say I "enjoyed" this book, but I did appreciate the writing and the time capsule aspect.