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 […]

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“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 […]

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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, […]

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To celebrate the release of the movie The Mothman Prophecies, based on the book by John Keel, Fortean Times published a special Mothman issue (#156, April 2002). I contributed an interview with John, aided by George Kuchar and Mamie Caton, as well as a Keelian bio and bibliography. I also wrote a short article about […]

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The syllabic constraint of haiku calls for the additional constraint of rhyme. Here are seven examples: Look at all the salt Sprinkled on my frosted malt It’s the waiter’s fault You thought it great sport To commit a grievous tort I’ll see you in court What is this I found Just lying here on the […]

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Tom Bowden has posted a review of my translation of Charles Cros’s Principles of Cerebral Mechanics, along with an interview with me, over here (it’s the second review in the batch). Get your copy of this fascinating work today, from Wakefield Press!

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“Selby Yarrow’s Private Diary” can be found in The Snowman Three Doors Down. Poor Selby Yarrow starts a diary, but runs into difficulty with both his intentions and his materials. He also decides to keep it in code, only to realize that anyone can crack it, since he described it before using it. Here’s how […]

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Principles of Cerebral Mechanics is now available from Wakefield Press! This is my third translation of Charles Cros (these are the others). Here’s how Wakefield describes it: Though lesser known among the scientific writings of Charles Cros, Principles of Cerebral Mechanics is a visionary work that further establishes the author’s standing as the inventeur maudit […]

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For the “Errata” edition of the Black Scat Review, I came up with a list of unfortunate typos on title pages. I particularly enjoyed inventing fictional publishers. Here’s how it begins: TYPOS ON TITLE PAGES H. L. Mencken once observed that a book is most likely to have a typo on the title page, since […]

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This story recounts the romance between Princess Ada and her suitor, Prince Gabe. She’s rather GAGA, and he, frankly, is A BEEF-FACED FEEB. But music is the food of love!  

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