www.hardcasecrime.com

By Alex Dalenberg

May 26, 2013

Here’s a group in New York City that is probably doing more for the cause of pulp fiction than this lowly blog ever will. Behold, The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, whose motto is “Making Reading Sexy”.

Fair warning, the link contains plenty of nudity, it’s tasteful, but probably NSFW.

The society’s stated mission:

We’re a group of friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, and complete strangers, who love good books and sunny days and enjoying both as nearly in the altogether as the law allows. Happily, in New York City, the law allows toplessness by both men and women. So that’s the way we do our al fresco reading. If you’re in New York and the weather’s good, won’t you join us sometime…?

Not sure what I can add to this other than the fact that the group reads a lot of Hard Case Crime novels. Their website says the folks at Hard Case have even given them some free promotional copies. Not surprising, since this is probably exactly the kind of exposure (pun intended) that the company is looking for.

This came to my attention in The New York Daily News. The group’s founder, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons told reporter Alexander Nazaryan:

“A friend and I decided to start a group to take advantage of the legal rights we already had but weren’t using,” A.A. says, noting that she wanted to enjoy the same freedom as men who freely lounge on park grass with no thought of exposing their chests, whether they be pale, flabby, hirsute, tattooed or some grotesque combination of all of the above.

The message seems to be getting across. According to The New York Times, the entire city police force recently received a reminder that they are not to detain or cite women for toplessness.