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Teaser Trailer for Soaked
Created by Sean Woolford
"A fully imagined and always surprising take on life along the Gulf of Mexico fifty years and many disasters from now. Yet people-and the old spirit of Louisiana-endure." —MIKE TIDWELL, author of Bayou Farewell, writing about Soaked: Stories
One word describes Louisiana fifty years from now after climate change intensifies: Soaked. A nearly silent Cajun man is the last speaker of Louisiana French but doesn't know what he is saying. A Vietnamese woman recovering from the trauma of war looks for home in a hurricane. A farmer gambles his inherited land on the best marijuana Louisiana has ever known. Laughing in the face of oblivion, lending a hand to the hopeless, adapting in spite of tragedy, and enduring when everything else is gone, is what the people of Louisiana, do best.
Dark Roux is the story of a family simmering on the verge of burning to ruin. The delicate nature of this sauce depicts how Cajun culture survives Americanization along parade routes and swamps in South Louisiana. The Mouton family approaches Mardi Gras 1999 expecting traditional joy and release. But teenage struggles with sexual orientation and independence, the ambiguity of young love complicated by the racism of the South, motherhood leaving little room to love one's self, and blind ambition as a way to deal with the past, all plague the family. The lines tying them together become taut, threatening to fail and toss them into the hurricane of the future.
If the dead end moves not once, but twice, shouldn’t
that make it twice the party?
Chuck, p. 10 Soaked
Contests and Publications
Kallisto Gaia Press, Joshua Tree Novel Prize~Finalist
Dark Roux, Unsolicited Press, 2022
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Hidden River Arts, Hawk Mountain Short Story Collection ~ Longlisted
Faulkner Wisdom-Words Competition ~ Finalist
Black Lawrence Press, The Hudson Prize ~ Semi-Finalist
Texas Review Press, George Garrett Fiction Prize ~ Finalist
Leapfrog Press, Fiction Prize ~ Longlisted
The Writing District, Monthly Winner
Barrelhouse Magazine, Special Villains Issue
Coffin Bell Journal, Issue 1.3
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Listen to the Playlist
Unsolicited Press challenged us authors to create a playlist for our books. Check out the Dark Roux playlist
Click below to see why these five books say a lot about this special corner of the world
Check out my 5 picks for best books about South Louisiana culture
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The Next Era
Dark Roux, and really this entire writing life, was birthed on New Year's Eve 2013. While out having drinks with friends we talked about...
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