This translation of Alfred Jarry’s early text, “Explanatory Memorandum on the Terrible Accident of February 30, 1891,” can be found in TYPO 13.

[Read more →]

From a listing for the Good Press bookstore in Glasgow, here’s a photo of Music From Elsewhere. Apparently Scots are painting their nails to match the ink: And here’s the book displayed in After 8 Books in Paris, on the rue Jarry. As a staunch ‘pataphysician, I am, of course, delighted. (Thanks to Sarah Walker […]

[Read more →]

TYPO 13 is now available from Black Scat Books! For this one, I contributed translations of a story by Tristan Bernard (“The Collector”), an essay by Gabriel de Lautrec (“Latin Symbolism”), and two short pieces by Alfred Jarry (“Explanatory Memorandum on the Terrible Accident of February 30, 1891” and “The Fiancé in Spite of Himself”), […]

[Read more →]

Here’s another story from my 2023 collection The Potato Farm. Nevil reads a detective novel, amid trouble at work and his growing curiosity about its elusive author. There are 13 chapters of 250 words apiece; here’s the first one. NEVIL READS A NOVEL CHAPTER ONE Nevil settles into his armchair, setting the glass on the […]

[Read more →]

This affecting tale of roommate conflict can be found in TYPO 12. Don’t worry; it has a happy ending.

[Read more →]

This lipogrammatic crossword appears in TYPO 12. It excludes the letter E from all of the words and clues. The photo is of that master lipogrammist Georges Perec. The solution can be consulted after the break.

[Read more →]

From TYPO 12, here’s a reader survey for an imaginary novel. This is only the first page; there are 100 questions.

[Read more →]

From TYPO 11 comes this tale of the Bach family, in which Johann Sebastian kicks out his many children so there will be enough roast duck for himself. They have to find musical positions themselves, which isn’t easy in a field with so many Bachs.

[Read more →]

TYPO 12 is now available from Black Scat Books! For this one, I contributed a short story (“The Flotation Device”), a “Reader Survey” for an imaginary novel, and a “Lipogrammatic Crossword”–a crossword puzzle shaped like the letter E, in which that letter is excluded from all the words and clues. My extraordinary colleagues in this […]

[Read more →]

For TYPO 6, I wrote an article on the Indisposizione di Belle Arti, a satirical exhibit organized by the Famiglia Artistica Milanese in Milan in 1881. It included conceptual pieces, parodies, monochromes, ready-mades, and other techniques later exploited by the Incohérents and Dadaists. Very little has been written about it in English. My article presented […]

[Read more →]