Author: Luke Carmen

The seven stories that make up An Ordinary Ecstasy explore the lives of people whose days are marked by anxiety and tenderness and exaltation: the musician who rides the winding railway up into the mountains at dusk, the retiree walking the streets of his suburb at dawn, the lovers on the balcony of their hotel room watching surfers cut across the waves, the mates who travel north to Byron Bay in search of healing and revenge. In the panoramic reach of his sentences, the exuberance of his language, the flamboyant gestures and obsessions of his characters, Carman captures the scale of emotion as it grows in intensity, often comically, from the smallest and most ordinary things. “Carman’s prose blends literature and popular culture, punk and poetry, and transforms this rich seam of influence into his own contagious voice with an admirable disregard for the distinctions of high and low art.” – Sydney Morning Herald About the author Luke Carman’s debut work of fiction, An Elegant Young Man, won the 2014 NSW Premier’s New Writing Award and was shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal, the Steele Rudd Short Story Prize and the Readings New Writing Award. His essay collection, Intimate Antipathies, was published in June 2019. An Ordinary Ecstasy Author Luke Carman First published by Giramondo Publishing Reproduced by permission of Giramondo Publishing Intrigued to read the rest of the book? You can pre-order it here: https://giramondopublishing.com/books…