Celebrate the birthday of France’s greatest humorist with this sublime introduction to the wordplay and black humor that shocked and dazzled Bohemian Paris in the raucous “Banquet Years.” The ALPHONSE ALLAIS READER includes hilarious stories, plays, an excerpt from Allais’s only novel, as well as the classic exploits of Captain Cap. The translator, Doug Skinner, has added copious notes, illustrations, and an illuminating introduction.
Step into the funhouse! Laughs and surprises await!
Here’s an issue you’ll party with like there’s no tomorrow. It’s filled to the brim with a stellar cast of artists, writers, poets & translators. 150 pages of avant-garde goodness – plus 42 contributors from around the world.
Featuring: Alphonse Allais; Terry Bradford; George Chappell; Georges-Oliver Châteaureynaud; Alex Cigale; Charles Cros; Milo De Angelis; Vojislav Despotov; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Eckhard Gerdes; André Gill; Dana Golan; Émile Goudeau; Franz Hellens; Hogarth, Jr.; Vasyl Khmeliuk; Amy Kurman; George MacLennan; Paul Madsack; Dmitri Manin; Scott Marshall; Jim McMenamin; Ainsley Morse; Ethan Persoff; James Reidel; Michel Robic; Albert Robida; Paul Rosheim; Igor Satanovsky; Erik Satie; Serge Segay; Doug Skinner; Lono Taggers; Corinne Taunay; Lawrence Venuti; Antoine Volodine; Louis Wain; Gregory Wallace; Alyson Waters; Maria Luise Weissmann; and Nikolay Zabolotsky.
Don’t miss this one, folks – Sweet 16 comes only once in a lifetime.
TYPO: The International Journal of Prototypes is packed with avant-garde goodness, featuring Alphonse Allais; mIEKAL aND; Erik Belgum; Steve Biersdorf; Terry Bradford; Geoff Cebula; Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud; Alex Cigale; Norman Conquest; Farewell Debut; S. C. Delaney; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Vasilisk Gnedov; Daniel Y. Harris; Paul Kavanagh; Irene Koronas; Amy Kurman; Emilia Loseva; Louis Pons; Agnès Potier; Bernard Quiriny; Jason Brandt Schaefer; Doug Skinner; Corinne Taunay; Igor Terent’ev; Froylán Turcios; Michel Vachey; Paul Valéry; Paul Verlaine; Tom Whalen; and Danny Winkler.
Alphonse Allais’s collected stories were published in eleven volumes between 1892 and 1902. He called these books his “Anthumous Works.” With the publication of Feeding Time, Black Scat has now issued all of them—all first English translations by Doug Skinner.
Our stellar, 17-volume Alphonse Allais Collection is now complete and includes six additional volumes: Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks; The Blaireau Affair, Allais’s only novel; Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais; I Am Sarcey, his stories featuring Francisque Sarcey; Alphonse Allais’s Masks: Deluxe Special Edition. (an illustrated version of one of his stories); and our sampler, The Alphonse Allais Reader.
If you haven’t discovered France’s greatest humorist, dig in!
FEEDING TIME
Alphonse Allais
Translated by Doug Skinner
Paperback; 168 pp.; $14.95
ISBN 979-8-9923826-4-8
Where else would you meet this cast of luminaries….
Alphonse Allais; mIEKAL aND; Terry Bradford; Steve Carll; Norman Conquest; Lynn Crawford; Noël Devaulx; Mark DuCharme; Albert Ehrenstein; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Richard Huelsenbeck; Iliazd; Mark Kanak; Thomas J. Kitson; Amy Kurman; Jean Lorrain; Emilia Loseva; Marcel Mariën; Willy Melnikov; Raymond Roussel; Heather Sager; Phil Demise Smith; Doug Skinner; Paul Willems; Cynthia Yatchman.
151 pp., trade paperback; $20
We are elated, delirious, tickled, thrilled, and ecstatic to announce the 16th volume in our acclaimed Alphonse Allais Collection. This first English translation of Allais’s Pour cause de fin de bail has been exquisitely prepared and introduced (with notes on the text) by master translator Doug Skinner.
This wickedly amusing collection contains fifty-three absurdist tales—packed with phantom limbs, floating brothels, tapeworms, ostrich shoes, and other remarkable things. It makes a jolly beach read, or to browse in your hammock whilst sipping a cool glass of lemonade—or better yet, a jug of absinthe.
So, if you haven’t already begun gathering your personal Allais collection—shame on you!—now is the time to start. Scroll down and you’ll find unadulterated links to each edition for convenient purchasing.
Happy Summer!
Le propriétaire
My Rent Is Due!
Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks
Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais
Black Scat Books celebrates a few of Doug Skinner‘s masterful translations.
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.
A toast to France’s greatest humorist!
Here in America, Black Scat Books has published thirteen collections by the master absurdist — all skillfully translated by Doug Skinner. And coming this December — we’ll bring you Allais’s 14th book—WE ARE NOT SHEEP.
While you’re waiting, please check out our vast Alphonse Allais Collection below. These volumes will keep you laughing throughout 2024. (Click on the titles below for details.)
Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks
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.
