Porn King

The Autobiography of John C. Holmes

By: Laurie Holmes, John Holmes

Narrated by: Don Sobczak

Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Autobiography of the King of Porn In the world of adult cinema, one name stands out above all others: John Holmes. For nearly 20 years, from 1967 to 1987, Holmes reigned as the undisputed king of X-rated films, having appeared in a record 2,200 plus productions, from the landmark Johnny Wadd movies (one of which became the first adult motion picture to gross over $1 million) to the legendary Insatiable with Marilyn Chambers. To a legion of fans world-wide, he was known as "Mr. Big." To industry insiders, he was "Mr. Nice Guy." Yet for all of his fame and notoriety, Holmes remained an intensely private person and a mystery man. - that is, until now.

In a startlingly frank autobiography, Porn King was written in large part prior to his death (with new material added by his widow, Laurie). Holmes tells the story of his incredible life. This is not a typical celebrity story, filled with bright lights and glamour, giant sound stages and movie moguls. It is, instead, a rare portrait of a young man drawn into an unknown Hollywood, a secret, forbidden Hollywood, and the parallels between his astounding career and the sexual revolution in American films. Holmes knew his subject better than anyone. Holmes candidly tells of a lucrative but often harrowing "other" life as a male prostitute to the rich and famous, a shattering fall into drugs and his side of the grisly Wonderland Murders and his desperate cross-country right afterwards.

From start to finish, in this newly revised edition, complete with never-before-seen candid photos of Holmes in his private life, Porn King is a sizzling, sensuous, fast-paced story laced with controversy. If ever there was an untold story, Porn King is it.

©2012 Laurie Holmes (P)2014 BearManor Media

Very Interesting Look Into His Wild Life

What did you love best about Porn King?

It was a very interesting look into the life of an adult movie star. Filled with drugs, sex and lots of violence and drama, this book takes you through the highs (no pun intended) and lows of a well-known adult film star.

A Story of 70s & 80s Porn

The book was biased of course but short and interesting. Good introduction to anyone curious about the early adult film industry and the Wonderland incident. Would’ve liked Ms. Holmes to read her chapter or any female narrator at the end. Mr. Sobczak did a good job as John Holmes..

Meh

I mean, it's an interesting story, but you could probably pick it up by reading a Wikipedia article.

good listen

worth the credit. I didn't know much about John Holmes but I figured he had an interesting life and I guess that would be a understatement!

The story about John Holmes was a surprisingly interesting story.

Just a very interesting Bio and was interesting about his personal life. How he went to great heights and how it fell . Very good story about an old legend.

He would have made the excellent fiction writer.

It is hard to discern what is truth and what is embellishment when it comes to the life, life and times and death of the Golden age king of adult Cinema. Holmes had an idiosyncrasy of not always telling the truth, and even listening to his account discussing about how he got into the industry as well as getting involved with the infamous Wonderland gang, there are inconsistencies with his stories and his real life of what really happened from his childhood, from getting into the industry, and ultimately dying of the dreaded disease that is HIV AIDS. He grew up being the youngest Of four children with two abusive fathers one having a stepchild that he decided to care even more for than the children of the wife he had married. Got into the industry when a poker player that dabbled in adult photography noticed the size of his asset in the bathroom, pitched them into taking nude photographs, and meeting. meeting Bob Chinn and Alain Patrick in which he drops his pants and showing off his large asset, being his ticket into the industry and becoming the king of the Golden age, to burning out and crashing on having an escalated cocaine addiction that interfered with his performance. For obvious reasons, especially reasons that would otherwise incriminate him in the infamous wonderland murders he likely omits information from his life even the fact that he never went to college because he never finished high school because he had dropped out before shipping off to Germany with the US army to get away from his abusive stepfather. other than that, this was good. listening to the voice artist doing the reading no matter if it's true or not.

Sucked

Hugely disappointed. I thought the life of John C. Holmes would have been at least mildly interesting...it wasn't. I even held out until the 4th hour of the story until I just couldn't listen anymore and the book was only 5 hours long. I've listened too many books on Audible and this one I would have to rank at dead last. Don't bother with this drivel.

nothing i didnt already know.

this must have been written by someone who didnt bother doing research. only read papers and other peoples articles about Holmes. no new insights!

very long.drawn out and.boring .

the book really was.not at.all captivating ...given that this man defined.and.shaped.open in his era . if you didn't.know.who he.was....this story could.be about anyone and.would.be.equally as interesting