Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short Stories

Transgressive fiction authors write stories some are afraid to tell. Stories with taboo subjects, unique voices, shocking images—nothing safe or dry. Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult Workshop, his official fan website, selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process. These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression. Some may say even a scar.

From Booklist

Despite its little-heralded status in literary circles, the counterculture genre known as transgressive fiction, wherein the author and/or protagonist bucks social conventions by violating one or more taboos, actually has a rather illustrious history. Classic novels such as Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, featuring the murderous Raskolnikov, for instance, can be categorized as transgressive fiction. In this collection of 20 contemporary short stories, lead editor Palahniuk makes certain each piece qualifies as an example of both first-rate craftsmanship and something that pushes the envelope of social acceptability. In Neil Krolicki’s opening tale, Live This Down, three humiliated high-school girls plot their suicides using a poison-gas recipe gleaned from the Internet. An animal-shelter technician in Chris Lewis Carter’s Charlie recognizes the tortured cat someone drops off as one he himself abused when it was a kitten. Matt Egan’s A Vodka Kind of Girl recounts the sad fate of a calorie-counting, bulimic woman. Anyone looking for boundary-breaking tales that also pack a haunting, powerful punch will find hours of entertainment here. --Carl Hays

About the Author

Chuck Palahniuk’s thirteen novels are the best-selling Fight Club, which was made into a film by David Fincher, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, Choke, which was made into a film by Clark Gregg, Lullaby, Diary, Haunted, Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, Damned, and Doomed. He is also the author of Fugitives and Refugees, a nonfiction profile of Portland, Oregon, published as part of the Crown Journeys series, and the nonfiction collection Stranger Than Fiction. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.Richard Thomas is the author of three books?Transubstantiate, Herniated Roots, and Staring into the Abyss. His over 100 publications include Cemetery Dance, PANK, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Arcadia, Pear Noir!, Chiral Mad 2, and Shivers VI (with Stephen King and Peter Straub). He is also the editor of two anthologies out in 2014: The New Black (Dark House Press) and The Lineup: 25 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press). In his spare time he writes for The Nervous Breakdown, LitReactor, and is editor in chief at Dark House Press. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com.Dennis Widmyer is the cofounder of ChuckPalahniuk.net, the official website of Chuck Palahniuk, as well as LitReactor.com, an online magazine, workshop, and educational program. He is also a Los Angeles?based filmmaker with three feature films to his name and a number of shorts, videos, and festival bumpers. For more information visit www.denniswidmyer.com.

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