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Black Opium

Ecstasy of the Forbidden
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Black Opium by Claude Farrere weaves a tale of intoxicating romance, set against the backdrop of a world captivated by forbidden desires. The story explores the allure of opium and its impact on the lives of those ensnared by its seductive embrace, offering a rich portrayal of passion and the complexities of human relationships in an exotic, mysterious setting.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this novel if you love exploring exotic settings entwined with romance and intrigue. Set against the backdrop of the opium trade, it delves into the complexities of human emotions while offering insights into cross-cultural encounters, making it a captivating read for those interested in historical narratives infused with passion.

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Black Opium

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Interest in heroin is surging back after years of dormancy. Why? Supply and demand! Drug cartels have increased the supply of heroin, so that it is cheaper and purer than ever before. Secondly, the Federal government's recent crackdown on popular prescription opiates like OxcyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin means they are increasingly hard and costly to obtain on the black market. A recent study reveals that people who had recently abused prescription opiates are 19 times more likely to try heroin.

Fueled by a boom in supply and a decline in cost, heroin use is up around the nation and spreading to segments of the population once considered unlikely users. Cool people are doing it! Remember the old slogan: "Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll"? Heroin has a sexy sideβ€”very sexy. Black Opium: Ecstasy of the Forbidden brings heroin's sexy visions to life.

The world of black opium is a forbidden world where human bodies find themselves possessed and driven by desires which consume them in the flames of hot-blooded ecstasy. Black Opium describes every aspect of an opium smoker's life in lurid detail.

Often compared to James Joyce's Dubliners, Farrere's Black Opium consists of seventeen compelling tales delineating six periods in the history and use of opium. This edition of Black Opium is a reissue of And/Or Press' 1974 Fitz Hugh Ludlow edition, which features salacious illustrations by Alexander King, and the addition of a foreword by Dr. Moraes.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781579512163

Publisher: Ronin Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 31 March 2016

Country: United States

Imprint: Ronin Publishing

Illustration: B&W illustrations throughout

Contributors:

  • Preface by Pierre Louys
  • Introduction by Michael Horowitz
  • Translated by Samuel Putnam
  • Illustrated by Alexander King

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 139.0mm

Height: 215.0mm

Weight: 255g

Pages: 200

About the Author

Claude Farrere, a pseudonym of Frederic-Charles Bargone (18761957), was the author of several sensational novels set in exotic locations like Istanbul, Saigon, and Nagasaki. Known as a "grand connoisseur" of opium smoking who sometimes puffed down twenty to thirty pipes in a session, Farrere introduced his contemporary French literati, artists, and musicians to the pleasures of fume d'opium. Farrere, a large man, is reputed to have smoked his own weight in opium during his life. He enjoyed "pipes" until his death at ninety years old.

Pierre Lous, (18701925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes. He is known as seeking to express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection.

Michael Horowitz is Timothy Leary's archivist and actress Winona Ryder's father. (Tim is Ryder's God-father). He founded the Fitz Hugh Ludlow Memorial Library,the largest library of drug literature. It is rumored that Horowitz and actor Leonardo DiCaprio are planning a "biopic" - biographical movie - about Leary to be written by Craig Lucas.

Francis Moraes, PhD, a research physicist and chemist, was a physics professor at Portland State University in Portland,Oregon where he studied the heroin subculture. He is author of Heroin User's Handbook, and Little Book of Heroin and was a philosophy professor at University of Oregon.

Alexander King was a story illustrator, figure painter and author with an eye-brow raising lifestyle. Time magazine described him as "an ex-illustrator, ex-cartoonist, ex-adman, ex-editor, ex-playwright, ex-dope addict. For a quarter-century he was an ex-painter, and by his own bizarre account qualifies as an ex-midwife. He is also an ex-husband to three wives and an ex-Viennese of sufficient age (60) to remember mutton-chopped Emperor Franz Joseph. When doctors told him a few years ago that he might soon be an ex-patient (two strokes, serious kidney disease, peptic ulcer, high blood pressure), he sat down to tell gay stories of the life of all these earlier Kings."

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