Soaked

by Toby LeBlanc

One word describes Louisiana fifty years from now after climate change intensifes: 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, Toby LeBlanc’s people, do best.

“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

“In these nine brilliant short stories, the Cajuns of southern Louisiana have found their George Orwell. LeBlanc has created vivid, complex, unforgettable characters that come to life on the page. It is great writing, and while these tales are timely, they may well become, like Orwell’s 1984, timeless.”
—JOEL LAFAYETTE FLETCHER III
author of With Hawks and Angels

“LeBlanc plumbs the depths of human nature, questioning whether people can actually change and, if they can, what is lost or saved in the process. A call for people to wake up to the realities of climate change, but to also never forget how to dream, Soaked is a collection that sings out its accented regional voice to speak with readers everywhere.”
—JOSHUA MYERS
The Indiana Academy

Genres: Fiction

198 pages, Paperback

Published February 11, 2025

About the author

Toby LeBlanc has been working as a mental health therapist for the last twenty years, listening to the stories of others. His writing is most often based in Louisiana, where he was born and raised. In writing about this place, he seeks the mystique, the joie de vivre, and the struggles that define this corner of the world. Some of his short fiction can be found in Coffin Bell Journal, Barrelhouse Magazine, and Deep South Magazine. His novel, Dark Roux, was published by Unsolicited Press in 2022 and Soaked (short story collection) was published by Cornerstone Press in February 2025. He's been known to talk to trees and sneak extra seasoning into food.

Reviews

[Jim Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is often written that “place” can be an important character in fiction. In Soaked, Toby Leblanc shows us how an author can bearhug a place—place defined here as the fusion of landscape, weather, language, food, customs and the humans who trod through the milieu—and lovingly embrace it as it slowly dies. Across nine stories threaded with recurring characters, we are transported to a near-future dystopian Louisiana, where hurricanes have grown so monstrous the NOAA has created a new classification: Category 6. Year by year the land recedes, the younger generations move north and west, and the last of the old-school Cajuns at the furthest southern reaches choose to party and die rather than surrender to either the forces of climate or modernity. But while Soaked is a lament, it also plants seeds of hope, especially in the title story where the power of intergenerational cooperation and ingenuity and the combined wisdom of both old and new ways might just stem the tide. If you love eco-disaster speculative fiction—especially the inventiveness of Margaret Atwood or the deep humanity of Emily St. John Mandel—then this collection is highly recommended. Note: This review is based on an advance reader copy, official launch date is February 2025.

[Amys Bookshelf Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+ Stars

Toby LeBlanc writes intriguingly intense tales

In Soaked, the reader is brought into the dystopian future world of the state Louisiana, and its rich history, and a hurricane impact that brought most of it, and its culture underwater. I haven't read anything by this author before, and what a hidden gem collection. I enjoyed reading the work by this author so much, that I have now followed the author and look for more books to read. Hit with flooding from The Gulf of Mexico, much of the land sank underwater, or became waterlogged. This author, has a great imagination for what would happen and how people as individuals and a culture all of their own, react in a time where their world disappears in a flash. What riveting stories in this eclectic collection, and how each story shows individual traumas and strengths. LeBlanc writes in a way that shows the reader what could happen, and how it is devastating, especially when rebuilding is not in the cards, but to live with what is, and try to remember what was. Soaked was written in various stories, each with a gripping and incredible storyline, and its subplots. It checks the boxes for the destruction such an event could have, and the impact on its people. Climate change becomes a major issue in this book, and it shows the trauma within the various stories, and also some triumphs, or those who live with what is rather than what was. This is a 5+ star collection of grand work by a magnificent writer and storyteller. Soaked is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book also write a review.

[Alien · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will break your heart. It captures the tragedy of Louisiana thru the lens of relatable residents in a not-so-distant future. Wisely, this makes their stories personal and uncouples the problems of the state from today's political cloud. LeBlanc shows the reader that while the coastline is slowly being washed away, so too is one of the world's most unique cultures. He has made the story of Louisiana relatable to residents, refugees, and the curious. If "Black Mirror" ever sets an episode in Louisiana, they'd do well to consult these stories.

[Marie Zhuikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories shows a possible Louisiana in a future where hurricanes have demolished large swaths of the state and Cajun traditions are dying as the world modernizes. Although these losses are depressing, the characters find their own versions of happiness. Some characters and locations are interwoven into the other stories. My favorites were "Soaked," "Shelter in Place," and "Lite Enough." I noted a few minor proofreading/editing errors that distracted me from the narrative.

[Micah Jackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I brought this book on vacation meaning to read it over a weeks time. I ended up finishing the book before we even got to our final destination! This is a great read with brilliantly written short stories that capture your attention. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone not just those who are interested in Louisiana culture. Toby teleports you to a realistic not so distant future with practical realities that make these stories come to light.

[Brandy Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved these stories! Great writing that makes you feel
like you are there.

[Joseph Gremillion · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful, engaging storytelling at its very best.