This story, in which genial King Merrimack and his garrulous physician Celso have to contend with the surly Prince Zebu, can be found in Black Scat Review 25. Here’s how it begins: KING MERRIMACK King Merrimack threw back his quilt, and sat up to look out the window. It was a cold November morning, […]
Entries Tagged as '*Words'
King Merrimack
July 18th, 2022 · Comments Off on King Merrimack
The Art of Noises
June 23rd, 2022 · 2 Comments
My translation of The Art of Noises is now available from Black Scat Books! Luigi Russolo’s treatise on enriching music with noises was published in Milan in 1916. It contains his 1913 Futurist manifesto on noises, as well as his accounts of building noise instruments, his riotous concerts, his notation, and analyses of the noises […]
Black Scat Review 25
May 23rd, 2022 · 2 Comments
The 25th issue of Black Scat Review is now out and ready for you to read! This one is subtitled “Lewd, Nude, and Rude,” and contains three of my contributions: “King Merrimack,” in which the eponymous monarch and his physician Celso receive a boorish visitor; “The Noble Apothecary,” my translation of a 1664 novella by […]
Caroline Crépiat with “Le Chat Noir Exposed”
May 5th, 2022 · Comments Off on Caroline Crépiat with “Le Chat Noir Exposed”
Caroline Crépiat holds up my translation of her book Le Chat Noir Exposed, at an art show in Paris. If you haven’t read it yet, this may remind you that you’ve been meaning to.
The Somethingization of Something
April 13th, 2022 · Comments Off on The Somethingization of Something
This sad little tale can be found in The Snowman Three Doors Down. The title did, in fact, come from a dream. The constraint (for there is a constraint) is that the text forms an acrostic of the title, and that each sentence contains the number of words corresponding to the initial letter’s place in […]
The Noble Apothecary
April 6th, 2022 · Comments Off on The Noble Apothecary
The upcoming issue of the Black Scat Review is devoted to “Lewd, Nude, and Rude.” I’m offering my translation of The Noble Apothecary, a 1664 novella by Jean Donneau de Visé. Donneau de Visé is remembered mostly for his polemics against Molière, but he also wrote plays, served as Louis XIV’s historian, and founded an […]
Loves, Delights, and Organs
March 6th, 2022 · 2 Comments
My new annotated translation of “Loves, Delights, and Organs,” by Alphonse Allais, is now available from Black Scat Books. Allais was a peerless humorist whose wild imagination, and fascination with technology and language, made him a favorite of Alfred Jarry, André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Umberto Eco, and generations of writers. The Pataphysical College named him […]
Black Scat Review 24
February 22nd, 2022 · Comments Off on Black Scat Review 24
The 24th issue of Black Scat Review is now available! The theme of this one is “Funhouse.” In it, you can find my short story “The Potato Farm,” as well as delightful verbiage and artwork by Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, David Berger, Norman Conquest, R J Dent, Muriel Falak, Eckhard Gerdes, Richard Gessner, Alfred Jarry, Richard Kostelanetz, Amy Kurman, Mantis, Kate Meyer-Currey, Bob McNeil, Lillianne Milgrom, Lance Olsen, Paul Rosheim, Nile Southern, and […]
The Potato Farm
January 5th, 2022 · 2 Comments
“The Potato Farm” tells the story of August’s foray into potato farming, his often uneasy partnership with Collier, and his intermittent interactions with Bud and Paulette. It’s slated for the next issue of the Black Scat Review. Here’s how it begins: THE POTATO FARM August entered the Camisole Tavern and approached Bud and Paulette, who […]
Black Scat Review 23
November 16th, 2021 · Comments Off on Black Scat Review 23
The 23rd issue of Black Scat Review is now available! It’s devoted to “wordplay,” and includes several pages of Doug Skinner: my translations of two poems by Raymond Queneau (depicted on the cover) and four pages of my upcoming comic book Shorten the Classics. Also on board are the stellar crew of Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, […]