Nikki R Leigh

This collection, told in twelve stories, encompasses tales situated in a variety of culinary-related worlds. The themes run the gamut of horror, and underlying tones are anti-capitalist, transgressive at times, comedically unsettling at others, and unapologetically queer. An ode to food and other culinary-related settings, this collection plays with the horror recipe to produce stories that run between deeply unsettling to quiet to sometimes campy and bizarre. This manuscript includes stories about: a famous chef with a maniacal obsession with recreating memories out of signature dishes, a drug-induced demonic reality TV show that puts contestants through the ringer, blood farms, fungal wormholes, corrupt canneries, and monstrous gods who season their soups with human suffering, among others. Inside you'll find unhinged chefs, untapped food sources in the deepest, darkest corners of the earth and in space. You'll heat things up with tales of greed, of love, of systematic transgressions. Of mystery and gods and the perils of media. Of exploration and family and dishes best served cold. I hope you like the taste of iron. Open wide, and don't forget to chew.

To make, to break, to transform. These three lessons are at the heart of each of the stories in Nikki R. Leigh's Lessons in Demoralization. Framed loosely by the notion that we learn what to do, and especially what not to do by the stories told around us, this collection presents twenty-two horror stories that run the gamut of dark, emotional horror, and light-hearted, sometimes comedic horror. A woman's strength is put to the test to save her wife when an evil stranger uses her in a diabolical plot. A woman processes the grief of her long-dead brother through a monstrous encounter with her childhood stuffed animal. Learn the difficulties of cultivating a long-term relationship explored through caring for a carnivorous plant. See how Dr. Jekyll runs a syndicated children's science show by day, while concocting terrible experiments at night. Watch as weredogs living together in an apartment complex find their match in the neighborhood busybody. Witness twins test their bravery when faced with a void to another dimension that festers in their room. These are just some of the lessons that will be taught in this collection. Follow the narratives of diverse characters experiencing the worst days of their lives in Lessons in Demoralization.