Sleeping Beauty and Rip Van Winkle had much in common, but never met. In this tale in verse, they switch places on awakening, to general confusion. Here’s how it begins. SLEEPING BEAUTY AND RIP VAN WINKLE Sleeping Beauty, Rip Van Winkle, Slept beneath the wheeling twinkle Of the starry sky on high, Slept as decades […]
Entries Tagged as '*Words'
Sleeping Beauty and Rip Van Winkle
June 8th, 2021 · Comments Off on Sleeping Beauty and Rip Van Winkle
Alphonse Allais’s Masks: Deluxe Special Edition
May 19th, 2021 · 2 Comments
July 4th marks the 9th year of Black Scat Books! To celebrate the occasion, they have released a special deluxe hardcover edition of their very first title, Alphonse Allais’s Masks — based on Allais’s story Un drame bien parisien, adapted and illustrated by Norman Conquest, with an introduction and notes by Allaisian scholar Doug Skinner. […]
Into the Sea
May 3rd, 2021 · Comments Off on Into the Sea
In this story from my collection Sleepytime Cemetery, our two hapless protagonists contend with life underwater. Why is it so much harder to breathe there, anyway? Here’s how it begins… INTO THE SEA “I’ve never done this before,” admitted Morris. “Me neither,” said Winchell. “Well, let’s see what it’s like,” said Morris. They jumped off […]
The Cinematographer and the Megachiropteran
April 20th, 2021 · Comments Off on The Cinematographer and the Megachiropteran
“The Cinematographer and the Megachiropteran” was written for Le Scat Noir 227, devoted to formal constraints. You can find it in my collection The Snowman Three Doors Down. I devised a technique similar to Raymond Roussel’s famed process, which used puns and homonyms to generate ideas. I used anagrams instead; the longest anagram pair in […]
2 + 2 = 5
March 9th, 2021 · Comments Off on 2 + 2 = 5
2 + 2 = 5 is now available from Black Scat Books! This, if you’re doing the math suggested by the title, is my tenth translation of France’s master humorist, Alphonse Allais. 2 + 2 = 5 (in French, 2 + 2 = 5), was first published in 1895. Allais is in his prime here, […]
Patents Pending
February 8th, 2021 · 2 Comments
Patents Pending is now available from Black Scat Books, and can be obtained on Amazon! The inimitable Derek Pell and I came up with a book chock-full of new inventions. I’ll let Derek give the pitch: The 41st volume in our seminal Absurdist Texts & Documents series has arrived: PATENTS PENDING by Derek Pell and Doug […]
Black Scat Review 21
February 1st, 2021 · Comments Off on Black Scat Review 21
The 21st issue of Black Scat Review is now available from Amazon! My contributions to this special travel issue are a short story, “The Morning Walk,” and translations of two stories by Alphonse Allais, from my upcoming translation of his collection 2 + 2 = 5. I am, mind you, one of many contributors. My […]
Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie, Tome Deuxième
December 15th, 2020 · 2 Comments
The second volume of Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie is now available! This cornucopia of information, like its predecessor, is edited by Norman Conquest and published by Black Scat Books. I was among over forty contributors; my contributions include articles on Aleatoric Temperament, Boxing Kangaroo Rats, Communion Waffles, Spicy Railroad Stories, Viper Midwives, and other more […]
Announcement
October 25th, 2020 · Comments Off on Announcement
I have been asked by Norman Conquest, the indefatigable director of Black Scat Books, to post this announcement. Perhaps some of you will see fit to contribute to this useful reference work.
Tags: *Words
The Illustrious Sapeck
October 20th, 2020 · 2 Comments
In the interest of metaphysical and pataphysical confusion, some of my entries in the upcoming second volume of Le Scat Noir Encyclopaedia are fictional, and some are factual. This one, on a famous Parisian prankster, is factual. THE ILLUSTRIOUS SAPECK. Eugène Bataille (1853-1891), better known as the Illustrious Sapeck, is not to be confused with […]