A literary, comic tour de force from San Francisco journalist Bob Armstrong on his rise and fall as a middle-aged, highly-educated, NPR-listening pimp

From the world’s most literary ex-pimp comes the wild ride of his band of sexual outlaws through San Francisco’s nightworld. Bob Armstrong, aka Vanilla Slim, leapt into the darkest corner of the sex industry after living in journalism’s sewer; he was a struggling freelancer and editor of a sex magazine. A sensible and articulate white man far removed from the crime-ridden world he would enter, Armstrong was an unlikely pimp, to be sure. Yet, seeking a taste of danger, he started a prostitution outfit called the Zen Escort Service, charging $500 for a go with one of his girls. His adventures, recounted here in lively and powerful prose, ended with a prison stint.

The pimping game has never been portrayed with such style and insight as in VANILLA SLIM, and the mistress of America—San Francisco—has never been undressed quite like this. Armstrong takes readers along as he arranges dates, drives his dolls through the city streets, and waits for them nearby while snorting speed and reading THE NEW REPUBLIC. He strives to understand the women who work for him and the men who call in search of company. And he shows how the streets of San Francisco serve as a fitting playground for an aging libertine to go on a tear.

"In the classic tradition, American writers support themselves by driving a cab, working on newspapers or in advertising, or teaching. Not this literary fellow. He set himself up in a cozy little business as a white pimp, handling the nitty-gritty for a group of special service young women…. He tells his story with wit, charm, elegance, and of course a bit of rue concerning his period in jail. This book may be Armstrong’s farewell to the sex trade, but it surely inaugurates a literary career." –Herbert Gold, author of BOHEMIA