<p>Carla is a beautiful girl. She was plucked from the obscurity of a Polish slum to be the wife of a wealthy man&mdash;a man who seemingly gives her everything a wife could want. Except the one thing that she needs most: the pleasure she burns for while he snores beside her, the passion that only a lover can give.<br />
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But adultery seems impossible until, suddenly, it happens. When she seduces a filling-station attendant, ruining her clothes in the grease of a mechanic&rsquo;s floor, she starts to spin out of control. He is the first but not the last, as Carla learns that infidelity is no work at all.</p><p><strong><em>From the author...</em></strong></p><p>Carla was my first published novel. In the summer of 1958 I came home from a vacation in Mexico to a note from my agent: Did I know what a sex novel was? Could I write one? We both knew I could write a book, I&rsquo;d sent him one then under consideration at Gold Medal, and now I sat down and wrote a portion and outline of a book to be set in my hometown of Buffalo, where I was spending what remained of the summer before going back to college in the fall.<br />
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Midway Tower Books, a new publisher founded by Harry Shorten of Archie Comics, lapped up Carla, so to speak. I met Harry some months later, and all he wanted to talk about was the scene in the grease put at the gas station. I guess it really worked for him.<br />
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One other thing perhaps worth noting. After my portion and outline had been okayed, I completed the book. Then my agent let me know that it was a little too short. Could I please write another chapter to be inserted anywhere in the book?<br />
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That was a poser, as the plot&mdash;such as it was&mdash;didn&rsquo;t have a lot of leftover space in it. But I figured out what to write, and sent along a chapter with the notation that it could indeed be inserted anywhere in the book. My good buddy Don Westlake, who also labored some in the Shorten vineyard, thought this was a remarkable tour de force, but I&rsquo;m not so sure. I mean, what else was I supposed to do?<br />
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You can probably spot the chapter in question.<br />
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As I said, Carla was my first published book, and that&rsquo;s reason enough for me to be pleased by its renewed availability. It may even be reason enough for you to read it. I&rsquo;d hope, though, that it&rsquo;s not your very first exposure to my work.<br />
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Still, if it is, there&rsquo;s a bright side. From here on, they get better.</p>