Michael Hemmingson wrote in the journal '' The Review of Contemporary Fiction '' that Hogg , Despite the book 's pornographic surface , respected authors have given it their endorsement . Norman Mailer , for instance , said " There is no question that '' Hogg '' by Samuel R. Delany is a serious book with literary merit . " J.G. Ballard , prolific speculative-fiction author and elder statesman of transgressive literature , also praised Delany 's work , citing the medium of pornography as being the " most political form of fiction . " Author Dennis Cooper said in his collection '' Smothered in Hugs : Essays , Interviews , Feedback , and Obituaries '' that " '' Hogg '' is tiresome and indulgent " and that the " pace is molasses-slow " . However , he also goes on to say that " the book is a highly charged object ... and that 's reason enough to recommend it . " In the Preface to a later edition of " Smothered in Hugs , " Cooper writes , " I now think Samuel Delany 's " Hogg " is a great novel , and I do n't know why I did n't realize that upon first reading . " Jeffrey A. Tucker , associate professor of English at the University of Rochester , comments in his critical study , '' A sense of wonder : Samuel R. Delany , race , identity and difference '' , that '' Hogg '' " gave expression to the author 's hostility toward a heterosexist society , an anger that had no socially constructive outlet prior to the modern Gay Rights movement . " The off-stage murder spree by Dennis " Denny " Harkner is described by radio reporter Edward Sawyer as " an afternoon and evening long rampage ... that threatens to outdo Starkweather , Speck , and Manson together . " Later in the novel it is revealed that the spree took place on June 27th , 1969 , more than a month before the Tate murders were perpetrated by the Manson Family on August 8th , 1969
Tate murders
Tate murders
Hogg (novel)