This useful design can be found in Typo 3.

TYPO 3 is now available! For the third issue of this inimitable publication, I contributed a parody of Oscar Wilde (“Bosie’s Translation”), an article on the design of single-serve salt packets, a design for a Hawaiian Ouija board, and a translation of a letter by Aloysius Bertrand, as well as examples from my collection of antique calling cards.

My estimable fellow contributors are Tim Newton Anderson, Tom Barrett, André Breton, Jahan Cader, Norman Conquest, Farewell Debut, R J Dent, Germaine Dulac, Eckhard Gerdes, Boris Glikman, Vasilisk Gnedov, Amy Kurman, Edward Lee, Emilia Loseva, Gabriel Pomerand, R. Prost, De Villo Sloan, Robert R. Thurman, and Nico Vassilakis.

It’s edited by Norman Conquest, published by Black Scat Books, and available on Amazon.

A selection of original artwork from my comic book Shorten the Classics will be on display throughout August, at the Elting Memorial Library in New Paltz, NY. I’ll also give a reading there on Wednesday, August 9, at 7 pm; I’ll be joined by another alumnus of the NYC performance scene, Tom Keener. The library is at 93 Main St., and more info is available here.

ADDENDUM: And here’s a photo of the exhibit, thanks to Mamie Caton.

I’ll perform some historical musical oddities, drawn from my upcoming book Music from Elsewhere, at the symposium at Lily Dale, NY, July 27-29. The conference is organized by Shannon Taggart, and includes presentations on art, the paranormal, and the history of Spiritualism by Phil Ford, J. F. Martel, Amy Hale, Emily Hanger, Charles and Penelope Emmons, Allison C. Meier, Michele Takei, Michael W. Home, Steven Intermill, Maria Molteni, Gillian Matini, and Vivienne Roberts. Shannon will also talk about her book of photographs of Lily Dale, Séance, which I urge you to buy and admire.

I’ll be appearing on the 28th; the official description is:

Music from Elsewhere (Strange Attractor Press 2024) collects music attributed to non-human inspiration—tunes from fairies, trolls, trows, angels, spirits, and aliens—as well as examples of musical ciphers, imaginary music, and speculative music: categories that often combine and overlap in unpredictable ways. In this presentation, composer/performer Doug Skinner plays some of the pieces from his archive and tells the stories behind them, including channeled music by the Shaker community, the Fox sisters, and the “musical medium” Rosemary Brown.

And you can find more info on Shannon’s website.

POSTSCRIPT: For the curious, these are the pieces I performed:

“The Lullaby of the Fairy-Woman” (a fairy lullaby from the MacLeod clan on the Isle of Skye)
“Regina Cæli Lætare” (Gregorian chant attributed to angels)
“L’Ange et l’enfant” (a song by Chrétien Urhan, dictated by a discarnate voice, 1835)
“Anya Ray” (a song in the alien language Solexmar, channeled by Bernard Byron, 1962)
“Port na bPucai” (an Irish tune attributed to spirits, thought now to be whale song)
Music from An Adventure (a scrap of music heard in a time slip by Eleanor Jourdain, 1902)
“Mother Ann’s Song” (a Shaker song channeled by “O. W.,” 1844)
“From the Moon” (a Shaker song channeled by “one of the sisters in Groveland,” 1838)
“Disappointment” (a piano piece by Rosemary Brown, channeling Robert Schumann, 1980)
“The Haunted Ground” (a song by the Fox sisters, received by table rapping, 1851)

ANOTHER POSTSCRIPT: And here we are…

A Concise Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality is now out from Black Scat Books and available on Amazon! I was one of many scholars who contributed to this essential reference work. Here’s Black Scat’s description:

First came the groundbreaking Le Scat Noir Encyclopaedia in 2017. Three years later we launched the pataphysical classic Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie et Dictionnaire de la Pataphysique, des arts et du savoir humain: Volume Deux (in English of course). Today we’re pleased to announce a handy reference destined to become a bestseller among scholars and sex fiends: A Concise Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality — a conveniently sized paperback – perfect for beach orgies or boring church sermons. It’s a volume you’ll want to keep within reach in the bedroom or bath. And it’s guaranteed to answer all your questions. (If not, it’s packed with illustrations to ogle and drool over.)

The Encyclopedia features this distinguished panel of 24 experts of various sexual proclivities: Tim Anderson, Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, Cathy Bryant, Lenny Cavallaro, Norman Conquest, Rémy Dambron, R J Dent, Eckhard Gerdes, Jesse Glass, Malcolm Green, Rhys Hughes, Victor Hugo, Amy Kurman, Michael Leigh, David Moscovich, Opal Louis Nations, Peter Payack, Derek Pell, Sourav Roy, Jessica Ross-Dreher, Paul Rosheim, Doug Skinner, and Tom Whalen.

That remarkable Welsh writer, Rhys Hughes, edited this delightful anthology, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: light verse about life and other heavy things. I’m one of 39 contributors, with seven fables in verse. It’s published by Gibbon Moon Books, and can be found on Amazon.

The Man Who Ate His House is now available from Black Scat Books and available on Amazon!

For this curious little volume, Derek Pell and I selected plots from the cautionary writer’s manual 101 Plots Used and Abused (James N. Young, 1945), modified and combined them in various ways, and fed them to ChatGPT. The sixteen stories that resulted are funny, surprising, and not quite human. A.I. might never replace human literature, but we’re proud of our robot pal’s efforts.

A few reactions:

“A brilliant concept: A bot writes stories based on tried-and-true tropes (that are ostensibly to be avoided under the guidance of the 1945 manual: 101 Plots Used & Abused). The stories in The Man Who Ate His House run the gamut of laugh out loud humorous, sardonic, tear-jerking, and engaging—often ending with a moral to ponder. There is a thread that runs through each story that points directly to the algorithmic life experience of the bot. As a short story writer, I am not sure whether to view A.I. as a fraud to be outed, or as a viable contender in the literary world. One thing that I do know is that if A.I. is ever given a soul, we are all doomed.” —Amy Kurman

“These delightful entertainments are funny, smart, and slick.” —D. Harlan Wilson

“You’ve heard about A.I., but have you ever read sixteen A.I. generated stories? The result will surprise and delight.” —Adrienne Auvray

“This book is a lifejacket for those who fear artificial intelligence.”—Paul Rosheim

“A tour de force of inanity.” —Tom Whalen

Some fairly lush piano music, based on the major sixth chord (or minor seventh chord) in various inversions. According to the composer and music historian Alec Wilder, the major sixth chord has a “compelling power,” so here’s a string of them.

Corinne Taunay holds up her striking portrait of Alphonse Allais, from my translation of Let’s Not Hit Each Other.