This story appears in Black Scat Review 19. Owen has rather a difficult time in it. Here’s how it begins: UP TO THE SUMMIT Owen slipped, and fell 25,000 feet to the jagged rocks below. Fortunately, he was unharmed. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, as he staggered to his feet. “I’d better be more careful.” A tall […]
Entries Tagged as '*Words'
Up to the Summit
April 14th, 2020 · Comments Off on Up to the Summit
Black Scat Review 19
April 5th, 2020 · 2 Comments
The 19th issue of Black Scat Review is now available! This issue’s theme is “ecstasy.” I contributed “Two and One” (a story about a love triangle, told entirely in three-letter words), “Up to the Summit” (in which Owen’s daily mountain climbing is interrupted by his mother’s sudden wedding), and “C11H13NO2” (an alliterative consideration of a […]
Two and One
March 29th, 2020 · 3 Comments
Here’s the beginning of a short story to appear, or so I’m told, in the next issue of Black Scat Review. It’s a rollicking tale of a love triangle. Although rather bawdy in spots, it uses no four-letter words. TWO AND ONE Ivy was the one for Ira, and Ira was the one for Ivy. […]
The Alphabet
January 26th, 2020 · 3 Comments
The alphabet always seemed to have a sort of plot to me. Here’s one possibility. THE ALPHABET It started with abundance beauty and clarity Apples and apricots for all Birds and butterflies in the blue Cats and dogs everywhere But it grew feebler and grayer As it hobbled and inched along It grew jaded and […]
Logic and Rhetoric
January 15th, 2020 · 2 Comments
A few entries on logic and rhetoric, from the Scat Noir Encyclopaedia. ALLITERATIVE METONYMY: A rhetorical device in which a noun is replaced by an associated noun beginning with the same letter; for example: It’s a digestion eat digestion world. ANAPHORIC APOSTROPHE: A rhetorical device in which a person not present is addressed repeatedly; for […]
Hoohoo
December 15th, 2019 · 1 Comment
This description of an artificial auxiliary language, which I hope is fictional, was one of my contributions to the Scat Noir Encyclopaedia. This book is still available from Amazon, and provides ample entertainment and instruction. HOOHOO: Hoohoo is an artificial auxiliary language, developed by Dr. Ernst Babner in the early twentieth century. Dr. Babner, a […]
The Song of the Sculptors
December 8th, 2019 · 2 Comments
Here’s a translation of a song by Charle Cros, from Black Scat Review 18. SONG OF THE SCULPTORS (Charles Cros, 1879) Proclaim the principles of art! And shout with all your might! That marble is a stone apart, Because it is so white. Proclaim the principles of art! And fix them in your head! Like […]
Black Scat Review 18
November 17th, 2019 · Comments Off on Black Scat Review 18
Black Scat Review #18 is now available! This jam-packed issue contains four pages of my comic strip “Shorten the Classics,” an excerpt from my translation of Alfred Jarry’s play The Pope’s Mustard-Maker, and my translations of poems by Charles Cros, Jules Jouy, and Laurent Tailhade. You will also find contributions by Mark Axelrod, Angela Buck, […]
Hansel and Gretel and I
October 31st, 2019 · Comments Off on Hansel and Gretel and I
This retelling of the classic tale can be found in my book The Doug Skinner Dossier. Both Hansel and Gretel are based closely on my sister. Here’s how it begins. HANSEL AND GRETEL AND I Hansel and Gretel and I lived with our father and evil stepmother in a little bungalow out near the forest. […]
The Funeral Dinner
October 20th, 2019 · Comments Off on The Funeral Dinner
This unusually brief story appears in my collection Sleepytime Cemetery. It’s short, but long enough for a happy ending. THE FUNERAL DINNER Little Tommy sat under a tree, pulling the wings off flies. When he pulled the wings off one, he tossed it onto the grass, where it died. He then plucked the next one […]