Black Scat Books celebrates a few of Doug Skinner‘s masterful translations.
CLASSICS OF THE AVANT-GARDE
Category: absurdism
Just in time for the holidays!
We proudly present the 15th volume in our grand Alphonse Allais Collection. Here is France’s greatest humorist in top form. This first English translation of WE ARE NOT SHEEP features 44 witty tales, PLUS four extra stories, translated by Allaisian scholar Doug Skinner, with his erudite introduction and complete notes on the text.
If you’re looking for laughter—(and, hell, who isn’t?)—this delightful edition is a gift that will long be remembered.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALPHONSE ALLAIS (1854-1905) was a peerless French humorist, celebrated posthumously by the Surrealists for his elegant style and disturbing imagination. In addition to composing absurdist texts for newspapers such as LE CHAT NOIR and LE JOURNAL, he experimented with holorhymes, pioneered conceptual art, and created the earliest known example of a silent musical composition: FUNERAL MARCH FOR THE OBSEQUIES OF A DEAF MAN (1884). Ahead of his time (as well as ours), Allais is needed now more than ever. His mischievous work remains fresh, funny, and always surprising.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
DOUG SKINNER has contributed to Black Scat Review, The Fortean Times, Strange Attractor Journal, Fate, Weirdo, Nickelodeon, Cabinet, and other fine publications. Black Scat Books has published several books of his stories, cartoons, and songs, as well as translations of Alphonse Allais, Charles Cros, Alfred Jarry, Pierre-Corneille Blessebois, Luigi Russolo, Caroline Crépiat, and Corinne Taunay. Other translations include Three Dreams (Giovanni Battista Nazari, Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks), The Cocktail Hour (Marcel Requien and Lucien Farnoux, with Gaylor Olivier, Corps Reviver), and Principles of Cerebral Mechanics (Charles Cros, Wakefield Press).
He has written music for several dance companies; his scores for actor/clown Bill Irwin include The Regard of Flight, The Courtroom, The Regard Evening, and The Harlequin Studies.
TV and movie appearances include Great Performances, Martin Mull’s Talent Takes a Holiday, Mike’s Talent Show, Ed, Crocodile Dundee II, several of George Kuchar’s videos, and a smattering of commercials.
His albums That Regrettable Weekend, It All Went Pfft, and An Afternoon in the Arboretum are available on Bandcamp.
Alphonse Allais Speaks!
A Black Scat Exclusive video—Alphonse Allais speaking French. (Well, not really, but he has an accent.)
CLICK HERE to view our collection of Alphonse Allais’s titles in English, translated from the French by Doug Skinner.
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH DOUG SKINNER & AI
In this brief video, artist-writer-musician Doug Skinner talks about his collaboration with Derek Pell and AI on a collection of short stories: THE MAN WHO ATE HIS HOUSE.
CLICK HERE to order the book.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
We’re now accepting submissions for OULIPO PORNOBONGO #4: Anthology of Erotic Wordplay.
Pucker up your lipograms and visit our submissions page for details.
Music: Alexander Nakarada / Video production: BuzzReel Studio
FEED YOUR HEAD
YES, NOW YOU CAN…
The only encyclopedias you’ll ever need—the Triad of Truth & Human Knowledge—only from Black Scat Books. Why spend hundreds of dollars and fill your library shelves when three inexpensive, illustrated paperbacks are all you need. No fuss, no mess. Get smart and you can know it all for less than a tank of gas.
Click on the titles below and order today before the world burns to a crisp.
Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie et Dictionnaire de la Pataphysique
BEDSIDE READING FOR THE CURIOUS
First came the groundbreaking Le Scat Noir Encyclopaedia in 2017. Three years later we launched the pataphysical classic Le Scat Noir Encyclopédie et Dictionnaire de la Pataphysique, des arts et du savoir humain: Volume Deux (in English of course). Today we’re pleased to announce a handy reference destined to become a bestseller among scholars and sex fiends: A Concise Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality — a conveniently sized paperback – perfect for beach orgies or boring church sermons. It’s a volume you’ll want to keep within reach in the bedroom or bath. And it’s guaranteed to answer all your questions. (If not, it’s packed with illustrations to ogle and drool over.)
The Encyclopedia features this distinguished panel of 23 experts of various sexual proclivities:
• Tim Anderson
• Mark Axelrod
• Tom Barrett
• Cathy Bryant
• Lenny Cavallaro
• Norman Conquest
• Rémy Dambron
• R J Dent
• Eckhard Gerdes
• Jesse Glass
• Malcolm Green
• Rhys Hughes
• Victor Hugo
• Amy Kurman
• Michael Leigh
• David Moscovich
• Opal Louis Nations
• Peter Payack
• Derek Pell
• Sourav Roy
• Jessica Ross-Dreher
• Paul Rosheim
• Doug Skinner
• Tom Whalen
AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE ON AMAZON.
HAPPY B’DAY!
OVER 200 TITLES PUBLISHED, OVER 160 TITLES IN PRINT.
A RAUNCHY SUMMER FANTASY FROM FRANCE
A FISH FROM ELSEWHERE
Eléa follows a strange fish and is thrown into a provocative realm of unabashed sexual gratification. Faced with evading the grip of the law, escaping the intoxicating clutches of l’hôpital du plaisir, and eluding the ire of her parallel lover’s fiancée, she must return home before she fades away altogether.
A startling, surreal, satiric erotic escapade, this raunchy Wonderland is imbued with the spirit of Kafka, Nin, and Terry Southern.
Laure. Favager’s style is engaging and disruptive, transporting readers into a surreal world where the lines between reality and sexual fantasy blur. The author’s vivid and explicit prose create a comic atmosphere that is both sexy and unsettling, immersing the reader in Eléa’s increasingly erotic escapades.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laure Favager’s short fiction has appeared in several literary journals in France and Quebec. This is her first publication in the U.S.
She lives in Brittany with two uninhibited cats.
UPDATE: Laure Favager’s The Desire Box is now available from New Urge.
