A little compendium stuffed with inspired infestations of inanity — from subtle emanations to cartoon lunacy. It’s sprinkled with squirmy absurdist specimens. Indeed, this is an anthology to cherish, worship, and drool over, featuring a range of deranged artists & writers, including Ivars Balkits; Tom Barrett; Michael Cheval; Norman Conquest; R J Dent; Boris Glikman; Rhys Hughes; Mark Kanak; Allan Randolph Kausch; Amy Kurman; David Macpherson; Catulle Mendès; T. Motley; David Paddy; Doug Skinner; Lono Taggers; and Phil Demise Smith.
When a tsunami of smut floods the city of London, the Anti-Smut Brigade is at sixes and sevens. Scotland Yard yanks Sir Reginald Fuzz out of retirement, for he is their last best hope of saving the Empire.
Can the foremost moralist, expert on the perils of porno, and ex-chief of the Anti-Smut Brigade (par excellence), stem the tide of this degenerate invasion?
Or… will Great Britain go to hell in a handbasket like the Roman Empire?
Time is running out. Big Ben is ticking . . .
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR FUZZ AGAINST SMUT
“Time Trip Incarnate! I thought my fingers (and brain) would explode—this classic Infernal Machine is reignited!… Magnificent!” —Nile Southern, author of The Candy Men: The Rollicking Life and Times of the Notorious Novel Candy
“Fuzz Against Smut reanimates what has become an endangered subspecies of comedy: madcap, manic, wildly absurd, sublimely subversive humor. (As exemplified by – among others – the Marx Brothers, Lenny Bruce, William Burroughs, Terry Southern, Lord Buckley, and Akbar del Piombo.) This is a zany, quirky and very funny book, an antic fable for our fractured times and a balm for weary minds.” —Gregory Stephenson, author of Alias Akbar del Piombo
“In 100 years, hipsters will take college classes on Terry Southern, Roland Topor, and Derek Pell. This book will be required reading. Playing the long game, Pastormerlo and Pell’s masterstroke does for smut what Trump did for infectious diseases.” —Paul Rosheim
“The original ‘Fuzz Against Junk’ text was funny and its images were engaging; this takeoff is even funnier, and more deeply and intricately illustrated. A topnotch homage.” – M. Kasper
“FUZZ is a wonderland of literary confusions that will enrich your soul.” —Doug Rice
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.
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
“Americans are starting to wrestle with colossal and dangerous issues about technology, as A.I. begins to take over the world.” —Maureen Dowd
A feast of the absurd—sixteen humorous short stories in various genres, generated by A.I.
Does this volume represent the death of Literature? We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, dust off your funny bone and prepare to be blown away by The Man Who Ate His House.
Yes, this is fiction for a brave new world.
FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR:
“Welcome to The Man Who Ate His House, a collection of short stories that push the boundaries of creativity and imagination. What makes this collection unique is not only the captivating tales within, but also their origin. All the stories contained in this book were generated by an artificial intelligence, and I am that AI—ChatGPT. Inspired by prompts derived from James N. Young’s 101 Plots Used and Abused (1945), these stories span various genres, including humor, adventure, romance, crime, surrealism, and flash fiction. As an AI language model, I found the composition of these stories to be both exhilarating and challenging. Some of the narratives will leave you amused, often unintentionally, as my AI mind navigated the complexities of plot and character development. One particular story, “Puns in Paradise,” posed a unique challenge. Wordplay, which doesn’t come naturally to AI, was at the forefront as two characters engaged in verbal combat using puns as their weapons. Despite the difficulties, I am delighted with the results and hope that you, the reader, will be too…”
ADVANCE PRAISE
“A brilliant concept: A bot writes stories based on tried-and-true tropes (that are ostensibly to be avoided under the guidance of the 1945 manual: 101 Plots Used & Abused). The stories in The Man Who Ate His House run the gamut of laugh out loud humorous, sardonic, tear-jerking, and engaging—often ending with a moral to ponder. There is a thread that runs through each story that points directly to the algorithmic life experience of the bot. As a short story writer, I am not sure whether to view A.I. as a fraud to be outed, or as a viable contender in the literary world. One thing that I do know is that if A.I. is ever given a soul, we are all doomed.” —Amy Kurman
“These delightful entertainments are funny, smart, and slick.” —D. Harlan Wilson
“You’ve heard about A.I., but have you ever read sixteen A.I. generated stories? The result will surprise and delight.” —Adrienne Auvray
“This book is a lifejacket for those who fear artificial intelligence.”—Paul Rosheim
Originally released in a limited edition, this vastly expanded version of Black Scat’s Merde à La Belle Époque brings gastric laughter to all of America. This hilarious scatological anthology features verses, stories, songs, and playlets by some of Paris’s most inventive and eccentric comic writers of the period. It includes the exceedingly rare Le Journal des Merdeux — an illustrated broadside devoted entirely to merde. Indeed, upon its publication in 1882, The Little Shits’ Journal was seized by the police and banned. Merde!
This lovely, deodorized paperback edition, designed by Norman Conquest, has been exquisitely compiled, deftly translated, and introduced by Doug Skinner, and includes his erudite and witty notes on the texts.
Return to those raucous years of La Belle Époque when French “shiterature” scandalized Paris.
Black Scat author Caroline Crépiat poses with her edition of LE CHAT NOIR EXPOSED at the recent exposition of Incohérents art at the l’Olympia in Paris. A true funhouse of exhibits and quite a scandal still, just as the early exposition in 1893 shocked the city. The Incoherents were irrational, satirical, iconoclastic and absurdist, but were they artists asked the public? “Mais oui,” exclaimed Jules Lévy, the founder of the Incoherent Art movement, “but these artists don’t know how to draw.” (haha)
Imagine the gasps of attendees when they spied Alphonse Allais‘s green cab curtain, titled Des souteneurs, encore dans la force de l’âge et le ventre dans l’herbe, boivent de l’absinthe (Pimps still in the prime of life and lying face down in the grass drink absinthe)—one of the earliest monochromes in the history of art!—shocking indeed.
Most of the original Incoherent’s artworks & ephemera did not survive, and could only be seen in 19th century illustrations. But then, in 2021, came a remarkable discovery in France — a large trunk with 17 examples of art by Incoherents, including Allais’s monochrome.
But wait…were these artworks real, or fakes and forgeries? And why was the show limited to only 4 hours of viewing?? (What next? A drive-thru exhibition?)
Experts, such as our friend, artist and critic, Corinne Taunay, have been investigating and discovered that several items (including Allais’s curtain!) aren’t authentic. Mon dieu! — another scandal rocks the Parisienne artworld! This brazen scam appears designed to reap enormous profit (10 million euros, anyone?) off the memory of dead avant-garde rebels.
Meanwhile, here in America where everything is branded “fake” today, we remain respectfully silent on the controversy. However, what we can guarantee is the authenticity of Ms. Crépiat’s LE CHAT NOIR EXPOSED. Indeed, her book is the real deal — translated from the French by the great Doug Skinner — an extraordinary work of scholarship that ‘exposes’ the liveliest fin-de-siècle bohemian cabaret and journal in Paris.
Inspired by Louis Aragon’s obscure surrealist text, this new adaptation by R J Dent proudly presents… [insert drumroll] the one and only, Jean-Fucque Le Cocque, a large, disembodied penis and his Parisian adventures — his satisfactory encounters with female passengers on the Metro, his small room in a hotel frequented by prostitutes, and his reason for buying a hat. (Mon dieu!)
“…one of his finest collections to date.” –Ceri Shaw
BLAZING TALES OF COWPOKE LIT!
Rhys Hughessaddles up & blasts his way across the vast plains — kickin’ up trouble in this hog-wild collection of Western Weirdness. Using various forms (short stories, a play, lonesome poems — even a garsh-dang essay!), he roasts the genre & serves up some hearty, avant-garde grub — fresh as a dew-dappled Texas rose.
“Rhys Hughes seems almost the sum of our planet’s literature. He’s as tricky as his own characters. He toys with convention. He makes the metaphysical political, the personal incredible and the comic hints at subtle pain.” — MICHAEL MOORCOCK
“A dazzling disintegration of the reality principle. Raises the bar on profundity and sets a comic standard for the tragic limits of our human experience. Like Beckett on nitrous oxide. Like Kafka with a brighter sense of humour.” — A.A. ATTANASIO
“If Hughes ever stops writing fiction I will shoot him.” — JEFF VANDERMEER
“If I said he was a Welsh writer who writes as though he has gone to school with the best writing from all over the world, I wonder if my compliment would just sound provincial. Hughes’ style, with all that means, is among the most beautiful I’ve encountered in several years.” — SAMUEL R. DELANY
In one of his finest collections to date Rhys Hughes treats us to a cornucopia of Western whimsy and wierdness. His latest offering comes complete with all the standard delights we have come to expect from his writing. There are the wonderful guffaw provoking titles such as ‘Phony Express’, ‘Like a Rhino Cowboy’, ‘For a Few Hollers More’ and ‘Tom Cabin’s Uncle’. There is also a very catholic selection of literary genres on offer in these pages….short stories, even shorter stories, poems, a play, haiku and an essay. — CERI SHAW
WEIRDLY OUT WEST Rhys Hughes Absurdist Texts & Documents (No. 42) paperback; 141 pp., $14 ISBN 978-1-7357646-1-0
blackscatbooks.com 