As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my first experiences being exposed to gay kink was my first purchase of Bound & Gagged magazine. But even before that, I discovered Zach.
What was Zach? At the time, it was a very small, basically homemade “magazine” of a single model in bondage and nude positions. I put magazine in quotes because it was so homespun, it was really about 12 xeroxed pages literally stapled together.
I found it at an alternative bookstore in Los Angeles called Amok books (it’s no longer there, although it still exists as a website). This store specialized in very underground, counter-culture books. Topics would include cultivating your own drugs, weapons, revenge, trepanation, UFOs, hypnosis and mind control… the list went on and on. This was no Barnes & Noble, that’s for sure. I wasn’t really into most of it, but I did find many of the titles interesting, particularity the true life crime.
But anything counter culture was welcomed, so they did carry some gay titles. Probably more for shock value–it was that kind of store–but that was fine with me, because that’s when I saw Zach.
I was actually quite nervous to buy it. I was afraid I’d look like a pervert. But then I thought about what kind of store I was in in the first place, and decided to go for it. The guy behind the counter just rang it up as if I were buying milk at the grocery store… didn’t even blink an eye or question me, much to my relief. I remember being so excited by this purchase, that as soon as I got in the car, I had to open it up and jerk off a quick one then and there in the car. And I generally wasn’t that brazen about that sort of thing at the time, so that was quite a memory.
I’ve scanned a few pages of it below, and the cover is the header image of this post.
As you can see now, it was a relatively early work of Castro. I didn’t really know who he was at the time, but I obviously became quite a fan, and he lead me to other gay bondage books and magazines, and made my ultimate purchase of Bound & Gagged a bit easier to do (although that was still a bit nerve wreaking for me, since that one was more explicit about the kink on the cover and the title, while Zack was admittedly a bit more subtle about it–at least, to me at that tender age).
Almost as hot as the pics were some of the ads. You can see the page for Tom of Finland. There was also a full page ad for a fetish movie called, “8 Guys in Gasmasks: The Movie”, of which the title tells you all. But I do remember the pics included a guy in a football jersey bound up with a gasmask on–the football jersey being an inkling to me that fetishes can come in many shapes and sizes.
Part of me wonders if it’s valuable in any way. If anyone does have more knowledge about it, please let me know!
