The Zombie of Great Peru, or the Countess of Cocagne, by Pierre-Corneille Blessebois, rises from the grave in its first English edition, translated by Doug Skinner! It’s available now from Black Scat Books. This bizarre novel, written in 1697, marks the first mention of the word “zombie” in world literature. It is a wicked tale […]

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The Squadron’s Umbrella is now out from Black Scat Books! In the words of the publisher: Authored by Alphonse Allais Translated by Doug Skinner Alphonse Allais (1854-1905) was France’s greatest humorist. His elegance, scientific curiosity, preoccupation with language and logic, wordplay and flashes of cruelty inspired Alfred Jarry, as well as succeeding generations of Surrealists, […]

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The latest issue of Cabinet, #55, is devoted to love. It contains a postcard with an excerpt from my book Horoscrapes. You can buy a copy, and send a Horoscrape through the U.S. postal system! And the postcard can be viewed here.

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John Dee, Part I: John Dee Through His Dreams An Illustrated Lecture with Doug Skinner Date: Tuesday, November 18 Time: 8pm Admission: $12 Place: Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424 Third Avenue, Brooklyn. This lecture is presented by Shannon Taggart, Programmer in Residence of the Morbid Anatomy Museum. In the first of this two evening series, Doug […]

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Horoscrapes is now available!  Here is the publisher’s blurb: Part Oulipian exercise, these meticulous scrapings reveal the future in all its sublime absurdity. The author approached the horoscope in his morning newspaper as if it were a puzzle, like the crossword or sudoku. By scraping out the middle part, and joining the beginning and end, he received a hidden message. Reading outside the lines […]

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The book blog “Wuthering Expectations” has posted a nice review of the Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais.  You can read it here. The book in question is available from Amazon. Norman Conquest, of Black Scat Books, has sent these photos of happy readers:

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Richard Toronto has written the definitive work on the artwork of Richard Shaver, in two volumes, with over 300 illustrations. I wrote the introduction for the second volume, linking Shaver’s preoccupation with stones and pareidolia to the long tradition of scrying and lithomancy. It’s from Shavertron Press, and you can find it on Amazon. Here’s […]

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I’ve selected, translated, and annotated a choice selection of plays by Alphonse Allais for this book. First performed in the cabarets and theaters of Paris in the rollicking 1890s, these plays include satire, absurdism, he-she sketches, a burlesque operetta, even a play for dogs.  You’ll find ten monologues, three one-act plays, and twelve shorter skits […]

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Oulipo Pornobongo 3 is now available from Black Scat Books!  Edited by Norman Conquest, this anthology collects smut written under formal constraints.  I contributed an alphabet (“Hybrids”), a homophonic translation (“A Homophonous Restoration of the ‘King James’ Text of Psalm 23”), and a univocalism (“Gus Fucks Lulu”).  There is also work by Maria Schurr, Tom […]

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The eighth issue of “Black Scat Review” is now out!  It contains my short but unpleasant story “Hardwood Mulch,”  as well as seductive works by Suzanne Burns, Doug Rice, Steven Teref, Kurt Cline, Charles Holdefer, Paulo Brito, Jhaki M.S. Landgrebe,Tara Stillions Whitehead, Maria Morisot, Fox Harvard, Charlie Griggs, Monika Mori, and Tom Whalen.  You can […]

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