Your Fifty Shades of Grey Story for the Week

By Dennis Abrams

Fifty Shades of Grey: It’s been the inspiration for countless (and still counting) spoofs (among them Chelsea Handler’s upcoming 50 Shades of Chartreuse: This Time It’s Personal from her own A Chelsea Handler Book/Borderline Amazing imprint of Grand Central Publishing), spinoffs, classical record albums, and multiple stories here at Publishing Perspectives. And now, just in time for the holidays comes a new spin-off, a new story for us that nobody could have seen coming: Fifty Shades of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook.

Yes, a Fifty Shades cookbook. Written by FL Fowler (an obvious nom de plume if ever there was one), the book traces the adventures of one Miss Chicken, a young, free-range bird, from “raw innocence to golden brown ecstasy,” who, just like Anastasia Steele, finds herself at the mercy of a dominating man, albeit a wealthy, sexy, and very very hungry chef.

As Mr. Fowler wrote in an email to People magazine, “You start with a overbearing cook and a pigheaded chicken, but by the end they’re spanking and tying each up like soul mates.” He went on to say, “Like so many others, Fifty Shades of Grey resonated with me. It evoked something I’d never been able to express. Then one day as I was tying up the ankles of a chicken for roasting, I realized why some of the scenes in the book were so strikingly familiar. It turns out I’ve been practicing BDSM for years — but with poultry.”

Among the recipes in the book: “Chicken with a Lardon,” “Mustard Spanked Chicken,” and “Dripping Thighs.” Published by Clarkson Potter, it will be released (or unleashed) on the public on November 13.