News & Features » July 2013 » “Luxury” by Louise Wareham Leonard
“Luxury” by Louise Wareham Leonard
Thursdaze (because the weekend won’t come fast enough) features original flash fiction modeled after our Drug Chronicles Series. Each story is an original one, and each encapsulates the author’s fictional experience with drugs. Our print series has anthologized authors writing about marijuana, cocaine, speed, and heroin, but contributors to the web series can focus on any drug, real or imagined, controlled or prescribed, illegal or soon-to-be legalized. Submissions to Thursdaze will be judged on an author’s ability to stylistically emulate his or her substance of choice. Submissions are also limited to 750 words, so try to focus. (They have a pill for that.)
This week, Louise Wareham Leonard, author of Since You Ask, gives us an encounter with an abundance of luxurious food.
Luxury
by Louise Wareham Leonard
Luxury
And in all the feeding of fine foods, gorgonzola-crusted
filet mignon, Scottish wild salmon, Cornish hen,
consommé and oyster, beef tartare and crabmeat, lobster
in a rose champagne noir, thinly pounded yellowfin tuna
In the elderflower ice-cream, the cardamom rulee,
valrhona chocolate tart, coconut and pomegranate sorbet
In the steak aux poivre and pommes frites, the striped
bass, the arctic char and steak tartare, the potato
mousseline, the moule frites, the bouillabaisse and cote de
boeuf roli
In all of these and in the rivers of milk, the honeyed light,
the iced champagne and brittle martini, water of coconut
and of cucumber
In all of this I began to starve.
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LOUISE WAREHAM LEONARD was born in New Zealand and grew up in New York City. Akashic Books published her first novel Since You Ask in 2004. Her second novel was published by Victoria University Press. She reads poetry for Tin House, edits and mentors via blackfoxedit.com, and lives in upstate New York. “Luxury” is an excerpt from a new work called 52 Men.
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Do you have a story you’d like us to consider for online publication in the Thursdaze flash fiction series? Here are the submission terms and guidelines:
—We are not offering payment, and are asking for first digital rights. The rights to the story revert to the author immediately upon publication.
—Your submission should never have been published elsewhere.
—Your story should feature a drug, any drug, and your character’s experience with it. We’ll consider everything from caffeine to opium, and look forward to stories ranging from casual use to addiction to recovery. Stylistically, we’ll respond most favorable to stories that capture the mood and rhythm of your drug of choice.
—Include your drug of choice next to your byline.
—Your story should not exceed 750 words.
—E-mail your submission to info@akashicbooks.com, and include THURSDAZE in the subject line. Please paste the story into the body of the email, and also attach it as a PDF file.
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About the Drug Chronicles Series: Inspired by the ongoing international success of the city-based Akashic Noir Series, Akashic created the Drug Chronicles Series. The anthologies in the series feature original short stories from acclaimed authors, each of whom focuses on their fictional experience with the title drug. Current releases in the series include The Speed Chronicles (Sherman Alexie, William T. Vollmann, Megan Abbott, James Franco, Beth Lisick, Tao Lin, etc.), The Cocaine Chronicles (Lee Child, Laura Lippman, etc.), The Heroin Chronicles (Eric Bogosian, Jerry Stahl, Lydia Lunch, etc.), and The Marijuana Chronicles (Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child, Linda Yablonsky, etc.).
For a limited time, you can order the complete set of books in the Drug Chronicles series for only $30. Please click here for more information.
Posted: Jul 18, 2013
Category: Original Fiction, Thursdaze | Tags: Louise Wareham, Louise Wareham Leonard, Luxury, Since You Ask, Thursdaze