Category: Fiction

Time for Your Dose of Existential Humor

When Daniil Ivanovich Yuvachev steps in front of a trolleybus and is killed, he immediately regrets not looking both ways before crossing the street. It’s one of many deaths Daniil faces in these eighteen absurdist tales. From a mind that wanders too far at lunch, and a madcap chase through St. Petersburg, to a clock that stops time whenever it’s observed, these stories trace not only the lives and deaths of the hero, but the author’s impossible nostalgia for a time, a city and a writer he never knew. Filled with existential humor, this masterful collection explores the thinly-veiled boundary between sense and nonsense. 

“The Many Lives and Countless Deaths of Daniil Ivanovich is an absurdist gem in which Jason E. Rolfe channels the best essences of Gogol and Dosto evsky while authenticating his own unique voice. Uncanny, whimsical, and smart, these interstitial stories and vignettes reminded me that literature isn’t dead yet after all.” —D. Harlan Wilson, author of Outré and The Psychotic Dr. Schreber

“Whether you find this funny or frustrating, I would recommend a few sips of this book from day to day. Taken all at once, it can induce mental chaos, but taken one story at a time, it can promise wide smiles. Jason E. Rolfe might be the most specialized of specialist writers, but he deserves a wide, non-specialized readership.” —Mark Fuller Dillon, author of Ice and Autumn Glass


THE MANY LIVES AND COUNTLESS DEATHS OF DANIIL IVANOVICH
by Jason E. Rolfe
with a Postscript by Paul Rosheim
Trade paperback, 112 pp., $14
ISBN 978-1-7373711-2-0

Available on Amazon in North America, Europe, and Australia

Jason Rolfe writes fiction that is both darkly comic and comically absurd, often using humour to shed light on things he finds philosophically absurd. His publications include the novellas, The Puppet-Play of Doctor Gall (Black Scat Books, 2020) and An Archive of Human Nonsense (Snuggly Books, 2017), and the short story collection, Clocks (Black Scat Books, 2018). His short stories have recently appeared in the anthologies The Neo-Decadent Cookbook (Eibonvale Press, 2020), Bitter Distillations (Egaeus Press, 2021) and Uncertainties V (Swan River Press, 2021). Jason is a frequent contributor to Black Scat Review.

Also available from Black Scat Books:

LEAVE IT TO EVE

“If I ever wondered why, this was the answer that kept me glued to my task. Their flesh was the humble instrument on which I sang praises to God. For God was love, and God was transgression.”

Every girl deserves a good mentor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born on Lesbos, Greece, Eurydice is a feminist writer, artist, multi-modal scholar, and podcaster. She is the author of Satyricon USA: A Journey Across the New Sexual Frontier (Simon & Schuster, New York, London, Sydney, Singapore, 2000 &  Touchstone 2001), f/32: The Second Coming (Virago Press, London: 1993), f/32 Revisited (Richard Kasak Books. New York: 1994), f/32 (Fiction Collective II. Normal, IL: 1991), two chapbooks (Labyrinth, and Gymnostithi, a book of poems in Greek), and dozens of investigative articles for Spin magazine. Her essays, articles, reviews have appeared in magazines like Harper’s and Newsweek, and literary journals. She was an investigative staff writer for Spin magazine and the sex advice columnist for Gear magazine. Her art has been featured in numerous shows in Europe and the U.S. and is in private collections and public museums. In 2010 she had a ten year retrospective in Miami Beach during Art Basel. Her podcast, Speak Sex w Eve, is available on every audio platform.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN . . .

A special reprint edition of BLACK SCAT REVIEW #1 is now available.

Originally published in 2012, the issue sold out quickly and has long been out of print. It features John Crombie’s translation of “Like Mother” by Alphonse Allais; a hilarious accusatory text by the legendary Canadian absurdist Crad Kilodney; collage art from the UK by Michael Leigh; Elizabeth Archer’s revealing interview with British humorist Samantha Memi; experimental comic art by Florence Bocherel; a rare comic drama by Pierre Henri Cami translated by Doug Skinner; bizarre poems from Portugal’s Pedro Carolino; and astounding short fiction by Samantha Memi, Yuriy Tarnawsky and Tom Whalen. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The original cover photograph by S. N. Jacobson has been censored to allow its display on Amazon.)

BLACK SCAT REVIEW (Number One)
edited by Norman Conquest
paperback; illustrated; full color;
ISBN 979-8450666396

AN ERROR-FILLED TREASURE TROVE!

The long-awaited “errata” issue is now available.

FEATURING WORKS BY: Terri Carrion, Norman Conquest, Caroline Crépiat, Farewell Debut, S. C. Delaney, Jean-Pierre Duffour, Errorbiblioteca, Paul Forristal, Ryan Forsythe, Eckhard Gerdes, Rhys Hughes, Amy Kurman, Alex McKeown, Claudio Parentela, Angelo Pastormerlo, Agnès Potier, Collin J. Rae, C. R. Resetarits, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Doug Skinner, Kristine Snodgrass, Linda Klieger Stillman, Corinne Taunay, Michel Vachey, Carla M. Wilson.

IS THE FOURTH WALL A URINAL?

In Eckhard Gerdes’s fifteenth novel, two women friends — one from the city, the other from the suburbs — attend opening night of a cryptic new play: “Pissers’ Theatre.” Oddly enough, both the play and the theatre it’s being presented in have been designed to accommodate audience incontinence. Thus, the production pauses whenever someone needs to empty their bladder. This bizarre experiment plays havoc with the show’s continuity and leads our heroines into strange places — onstage and off.

“Gerdes’s Pissers’ Theatre shares Godot’s deft moments of humor and sad conclusions about existence. With no signposts in a literary void, lost travel­ers we remain, lost in a writer’s lost designs. This novel deserves to be translated into a theatrical piece someday soon.” —American Book Review

“The Pissers’ Theatre will keep you reading with its captivating storytelling and relatable characters. While it is a light read, there are many hidden metaphors and subtle satirical points… I highly recommend Eckhard Gerdes’ novel to all sophisticated readers (and theatergoers!). It would be a great vacation companion or the perfect novel to read on a rainy weekend.” — Windy City Reviews

THE PISSERS’ THEATRE
Eckhard Gerdes
Trade paperback; 112 pp., $12.95
ISBN 978-1-7357646-9-6

Scat has nine lives!

July 4th marks our 9th year of publishing. To celebrate the occasion we’ve released a special deluxe hardcover edition of our very first title, ALPHONSE ALLAIS’S MASKS — adapted and illustrated by Norman Conquest, with an introduction and notes on the text by Allaisian scholar Doug Skinner.

This revised, expanded edition features three additional chapters and over 60 color illustrations.

Join the celebration and order your copy of this collectable edition here.

ALPHONSE ALLAIS’S MASKS
Adapted & Illustrated
by Norman Conquest
With a Introduction & Notes on the Text
by Doug Skinner
DELUXE SPECIAL EDITION
hardcover; 6×9 inches; 82 pp., illustrated
ISBN 13 978-1-7357646-6-5 / $26


Yum-yum!
Another satisfied customer.

YIPPEE YI YO KI YAY!

“…one of his finest collections to date.” –Ceri Shaw 

BLAZING TALES OF COWPOKE LIT!

Rhys Hughes saddles 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.

Guns, puns, cowgirrrls & tumbleweed — what more could ya ask for. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY BEFORE SUNDOWN

“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


**Read Ceri Shaw’s rave review

BRIGHT IDEAS

“…a magnificent work. Precise, absurdist, hilarious.”

—Rhys Hughes, author of The Smell of Telescopes

The 41st volume in our seminal Absurdist Texts & Documents series has arrived: PATENTS PENDING by Derek Pell and Doug Skinner, with an Afterword by Alphonse Allais. An illustrated compendium of ingenious inventions so ahead of their time they may never be available to the public – not in this world, nor the next. Discover pataphysical gizmos such as the OUIJA BILLBOARD, HELIUM BOMB, IMPOSSIBLE PICTURE FRAME, TROMPE L’OEIL MAGIC KIT, and many others. For now, these inspired concepts are but speculative prototypes – strange dreams haunting the drawing board of destiny – but thanks to this book you may study and savor them, and imagine a future far brighter than the present.

PATENTS PENDING
Derek Pell & Doug Skinner
with an Afterword by Alphonse Allais
Absurdist Texts & Documents No. 41
paperback; illustrated, 112 pp., $14
ISBN-13 : 978-1735615936



ARMCHAIR TRAVEL

“You must travel… I can’t travel… I’ll travel”

We are all armchair travelers now. The question is: Where do we go?

If you’re looking for answers, let 28 imaginative writers & artists from around the globe take you places you’ve never been. Find your getaway in BLACK SCAT REVIEW 21 — The Travel Issue.

FEATURING: Alphonse Allais, Robert James Cross, Farewell Debut, S. C. Delaney, John Oliver Hodges, Rhys Hughes, Harold Jaffe, E.E. King, Olchar E. Lindsann, Charles J. March III, Carmelo Militano, Opal Louis Nations, Peter Payack, Persefone, Roger Pheuquewell, Agnès Potier, Collin J. Rae, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Charles de Rosières, Doug Skinner, Kristine Snodgrass, Ben Stoltzfus, Corinne Taunay, Ed Taylor, Michel Vachey, Tom Whalen, D. Harlan Wilson.