Introduction
No one was more surprised at the runaway success of "Tricks and Kicks" at its first printing in London than its young Irish author, Steve Reilly. But when the London Metropolitan Censor forthwith banned his first novel, he left London for the Canary Islands to continue his writing career. Also prohibited in Paris, "Tricks for Kicks" went on to an "underground" success much like "Lolita's" or "Candy's" -except that it far outstrips these books in unabashed sex description in every way.
The problem of the sexual involvment between an older man and a precociously-ripened young beauty has never been so bluntly explored in every aspect of its physical phases.
The well known analyst, Dr. S. Scymanski, also discusses this problem in his "Modern Case Histories" as follows:
"My patient asked me, 'How can I remain sexually unaroused by present day young girls wearing their mini-skirts and swinging their rearends and breasts hell-bent to lead us into tempta tion ?'
"Add to these unmarried bachelors, widowers and a host of other older men who are in need of a sexual outlet for one reason or another and you will understand why we hear of young girls making fools of 'sugar-daddies'. There is no doubt that many men have to cope with this problem -a problem which present-day society largely ignores. In their despair they have come for psycoanalytic treatment since this is supposed to solve sex problems. The relationships which ordinarily serve to release pent-up sexual tension are not of much help to this group. The average married man may be stimulated by a display of lush female bodies during the day and then go home to have intercourse with his wife. But the unattached man can only resort to homosexuality or illicit sex, and this frequently brings him to disaster.
"There is the story about the older man who was showering all sorts of expensive gifts on a young girl. She thanked him but told him that her heart was already given to someone else. 'Don't worry about that my dear,' he replied. 'I wasn't hoping to score that high. ' "
The sex gap between generations and the perversions it can lead to is further dramatically shown in "Tricks and Kicks". The reader would do well to ponder the lesson it teaches and the sexual pitfalls it discloses so graphically.
Continental Classics presents this story in its complete and original unexpurgated version. Restriction is recommended to graduate students of abnormal psychology and the mature adult reader.
Herbert Ross, M. A. New York City March, 1968
Archive Note: The truly amazing number of misspellings in the original pocketbook are faithfully reproduced in this text. No attempt whatsoever has been made to correct the misspelled or misused words.