A quote from a pulp writer

Robert E. Howard wrote some glorious pulp stories. Here is a quote from one of them that touches on our interest, but please note that most of his stories lacked the slightest mention of spanking.

From "Red Nails":

"You sulky slut!" she said between her teeth. "I'm going to strip you stark naked and tie you across that couch and whip you until you tell me what you were doing here, and who sent you!"

Yasala made no verbal protest, nor did she offer any resistance, as Valeria carried out the first part of her thereat with a fury that her captive's obstinacy only sharpened. Then for a space there was no sound in the chamber except the whistle and crackle of hard-woven silken cords on naked flesh. Yasala could not move her fast-bound hands or feet. Her body writhed and quivered under the chastisement, her head swayed from side to side in rhythm with the blows. Her teeth were sunk into her lower lip and a trickle of blood began as the punishment continued. But she did not cry out.

The pliant cords made no great sound as they encountered the quivering body of the captive; only a sharp crackling snap, but each cord left a red streak across Yasala's dark flesh. Valeria inflicted the punishment with all the strength of her war-hardened arm, with all the mercilessness acquired during a life where pain and torment were daily happenings, and with all the cynical ingenuity which only a woman displays toward a woman. Yasala suffered more, physically and mentally, than she would have suffered under a lash wielded by a man, however strong.

It was the application of this feminine cynicism which at last tamed Yasala.

A low whimper escaped from her lips, and Valeria paused, arm lifted, and raked back a damp yellow lock. "Well, are you going to talk?" she demanded. "I can keep this up all night, if necessary."

"Mercy!" whispered the woman. "I will tell."

Valeria cut the cords from her wrists and ankles, and pulled her to her feet. Yasala sank down on the couch, half reclining on one bare hip, supporting herself on her arm, and writhing at the contact of her smarting flesh with the couch. She was trembling in every limb.
----

Which was a wonderful scene to stumble in the middle of a book.

Goodgulf

Nicely done! I expect 'sulky slut' was probably considered pretty racey language for the time. F/F scenarios are some of my favourites, even when they're camped up to the max - for some reason, this put me in mind of the whipping scene in the movie Flash Gordon.

It's always a pleasure to come across a spanking scene in an otherwise 'vanilla' book - and there seems to be no shortage of them. Certainly I found several in my parents' novels when I was growing up - and guiltily pored over them again and again, always being careful not to bend the spine too much at that section .

Few people could overwrite better than Robert E Howard could overwrite!

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I think Edgar Rice Burroughs would have given Howard a run for his money when it came to overwriting Rachel. The term wordsmith really applied to Burroughs, because he used to genuinely batter poor defenceless words into submission.

Little-known fact - Robert E Howard is credited with writing one actual spanking story. It was entitled 'HIgh-Hat' (I think) and was published in his college magazine.

Interesting character Howard. He wrote a huge amount in the short time he had before he killed himself following the death of his mother.

That was magnificent!
It should be part of every writer's education of how to write a scene which is so entertaining that you have to keep reading (naked female body writhing under a merciless lash notwithstanding) whilst having adjectives turned up to 11.

Surprisingly true given that so many of his stories involved naked women bound, helpless and at the mercy of sadistic monsters. I've long been a big fan of REH's work and of course that part of Red Nails certainly caught my eye when I first read it. There are, however, a few scenes that allude to spanking (or more exactly whipping) such as this one from Hawks Over Shem :

The softly lit room was empty, but somewhere sounded the scream of a woman in pain. Then came a peal of musical laughter, also feminine, indescribably vindictive and malicious.
Conan jerked his head to catch the direction of the sounds. Then he began examining the drapes behind the arches to see which of them concealed doors.

Zeriti straightened up from her task and dropped the heavy whip. The naked figure bound to the divan was crossed by red weals from neck to ankles. This, however, was but a prelude to a more ghastly fate.

----

(And later in the story, as Conan and the rescued damsel are making good their escape on a couple of stolen horses)

The Cimmerian chuckled and slapped the bag of loot from Zeriti's house, so that the coins and ornaments jingled. "I shall do as well in the North. Come on there, beat some speed out of that nag!"
"But I'm still sore where she beat me-"
"If you don't hurry, I'll see that you get even sorer. Do you want Mazdak's Hyrkanians to catch us before we've even had breakfast?"

If I'm not mistaken there are spanking scenes in several Conan novels, usually involving saucy tavern wenches. For overwrought spanking scene descriptions however, no one can touch the late, great Paul Little. There is a book entitled "The Peculiar Passions of Lady Meg" (it was published under other names too) that contains a birching-in-the-courtyard scene that runs for 100 pages.