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  Scent of Wild Marjoram (1996)
Posted by: Frenuyum - 12-02-2025, 06:08 PM - Replies (1)

   


"Scent of Wild Marjoram" is the title of a romance novel by
Topaz Hauyn, available as an eBook, about a woman named Jana who revisits her past while on a hiking trip. The title also likely refers to the distinct, aromatic scent of wild marjoram, a plant related to oregano, which has a warm, spicy fragrance reminiscent of camphor, thyme, and cardamom.

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  A Boy's Absence (First published in 1919)
Posted by: Frenuyum - 12-02-2025, 05:57 PM - Replies (1)

   


A meditative, lyrical and emotional poem of twenty chapters.

A schoolmaster takes a long walk in the evening on the shores of a lake thinking of one of his students. The author noticeably misses the young boy – he longs to feel his presence, talk to him, watch him play carefree with his peers.

The author’s thoughts then drift off to more poetic images of beauty and purity, ancient rulers, and ultimately his own youth. The schoolmaster seeks to be an inspiration for the boy, share with him his knowledge and passion for learning, deeply instill in him a love of nature.

The author regrets that the boy is only a temporal concept of beauty embodied in a graceful youth, which is deemed to wither with time, but he finds solace in the fact that this ultimate beauty is immortal and thus is secure. He also fears for the boy’s future, considering the latest political events and the shocking aftermath of the WWI, and wishes his young friend all the best in life, thanking him for the innocent affection he so kindly bestowed on the aging schoolmaster. 
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  Nobody's Girl (2025)
Posted by: Frenuyum - 12-02-2025, 05:54 PM - Replies (1)

   



The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words—until now. 

In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody’s Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity. 

Here, Giuffre offers an unsparing and definitive account of her time with Epstein and Maxwell, who trafficked her and others to numerous prominent men. She also details the molestation she suffered as a child, as well as her daring escape from Epstein and Maxwell’s grasp at nineteen. Giuffre remade her life from scratch and summoned the courage to not only hold her abusers to account but also advocate for other victims. The pages of  Nobody’s Girl preserve her voice—and her legacy—forever. 

Nobody’s Girl is an astonishing affirmation of Giuffre’s unshakable will — first, to claw her way out of victimhood, and then to shine light on wrongdoing and fight for a safer, fairer world. Equal parts intimate and fierce, it is a remarkable narrative of fortitude in the face of depravity and despair. 
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  Hallbeck, Nils - Oas
Posted by: Frenuyum - 12-02-2025, 04:59 PM - Replies (1)

   


Nils Hallbeck var född i Hörby i Skåne och hade en pappa som var rektor vid realskolan där. Följdriktigt utbildade sig därför Hallbeck till lärare, en roll som ofta hans berättar-jag också fick. I tjugoårsåldern utvecklade Hallbeck sin homosexuella identitet och han började snart engagera sig i samhällets homosexdebatt. Grabb på glid som publicerades året efter den uppmärksammade Kinsey-rapporten, skildrar på ett för den tiden ovanligt öppet sätt en ung killes sökande efter sin identitet. Graden av socialrealism (eller snusk, om man så vill) blev för mycket för förlaget Natur och Kultur som inte ville ge ut fler av Hallbecks böcker. En som istället fick höra talas om Grabb på glid var Curth Hson och på hans förlag fick Hallbeck en stor roll.


När Hallbeck skrev om de homosexuellas situation valde han att skriva under pseudonymen Jan Hogan. Olyckligtvis avslöjades hans identitet redan med första boken Brinnande blomma av DN´s recensent Torsten Jonsson som såg stilistiska likheter med Grabb på glid. Flera böcker i Hogans namn kom likväl ut, både romaner och diktsamlingar. Diktsamlingarna gavs ut på Foibos förlag (Hallbecks eget?) och trycktes ofta bara i ett par hundra exemplar. I dessa dikter kunde Hallbeck vara mycket personlig och mer vågad än situationen tillät honom på Hsons förlag. Romanerna på Hsons förlag sålde däremot bra, det verkade finnas ett uppdämt behov av böcker som behandlade homosexualiteten. Någon renodlad pornografi var det inte tal om vid denna tidpunkten, syftet var att föra fram ett bredare budskap mot moralen och hyckleriet. Då hade man inte råd med sådana skandaler som drabbade t.ex. Jag var en kärlekskonstens mästare 1950 och Min kärlek var till salu 1952.
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  Hallbeck, Nils & Reid, Anthony
Posted by: Frenuyum - 12-02-2025, 04:54 PM - Replies (1)

   


Anthony Reid translated all ten of Hallbeck's volumes of poetry, although I'm not aware that any of these were commercially published. 

The scans of Oasis were made from what I assume is Reid's own typescript; the hand-written cover is shown above. No date appears, but from the appearance and binding I hazard that it might have been produced in the late 70s or early 80s. That is only conjecture, and I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has more knowledge of the subject.


There are 34 poems in the collection, all of which are either about or addressed to various boys encountered at an oasis. The boys look after the needs of both the camels and their drivers, as is often made clear. Love and lust, longing and the bitterness of parting are all here.

For presentation here I uploaded he full set of scans as well as the PDF made from those. As with the original Swedish text I stopped short of providing an ebook simply because the nature of the physical object doesn't lend itself to those formats. The images can be viewed in a photo editor such as Irfanview or on your computer's bundled photo viewer, and PDFs - for me anyway - work best by setting my browser to the default PDF viewer.

Pages: 40 (typescript)
File size: 8.5 Mb (images); 903 Kb (PDF) 
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