If you’ve missed any of these, now’s the time to stock up. Remember, good humour is hard to find.
Click to order HOT HEART OF BOAR & OTHER TASTES
Click to order CAPTAIN CAP – VOL. II
Click to order THE NEGLECTED WORKS OF NORMAN CONQUEST
Click to order COLD IN THE BRAIN
Click to order THE COMPLETE UNABRIDGED LEXICON
Click to order IT’S FUN TO BE RICH IN AMERICA
Click to order A CAMI SAMPLER
Click to order CAPTAIN CAP – VOL. I
Click to order A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ART DECONSTRUCTION
Climb aboard and pop your corks, Captain Cap (Vol II) sets sail today!
We recognize the inherent risks of launching a book on the first day of April, yet we’ve decided to push ahead—(or should we say shove off?)—since it’s entirely appropriate when the author is Alphonse Allais, the great French innovative humorist. Moreover, on this very day in 1897, Paul Ollendorff christened Allais’s Album primo-avrilesque (April Foolish Album)—a portfolio featuring seven monochromatic paintings which anticipated abstract art. Sadly, the album has gone unnoticed by so-called “art historians,” but we’ll leave that fight for another day.
Presently, this second volume—(two more to follow!)—gets down to the nitty-gritty, i.e., Allais’s legendary stories peppered with bizarre inventions, tall tales, philandering, and—oh yes—frequent liquid refreshments. Come to think of it, the phrase “traveling the high seas” may well have been coined in honor of the good captain’s bar-hopping.
Now’s your chance to discover a whole world of exotic trivia, such as…
And much, much more.
The Apparent Symbiosis Between the Boa and Giraffe has been painstakingly translated by the versatile Doug Skinner. who has illustrated the book with 17 original drawings done in true Allaisian spirit. He also provides an enlightening introduction and extensive notes containing historical tidbits that bring La Belle Époque alive.
At over 100 pages, this collectible edition marks a watershed moment for the Absurdist Texts & Documents series, and is one of several reasons why the word “chapbook” should be thrown overboard.
So don’t miss out on this gala voyage. Click here and order a copy.
We wish you all a happy April Fool’s! (And that’s no joke.)
Masonic
Sound or sounds which pass rapidly through brick and stone walls
Matinee
A church service of morning prayer followed by a Biblical movie
Mausoleum
Hard floor-covering made of ground cork and linseed oil on a canvas backing, found in many large, imposing tombs throughout Asia Minor
Maximum
A full-time working mother with a large family
Mayonnaise
The sophisticated dance routine of a Central American Indian tribe who had formulated a highly developed civilization
Mazurka
A lively dance through a confusing, intricate network of pathways bordered with neatly kept topiary
Mediocre
The 15th Century sport of pissing in another’s glass of mead
Megger
A female mugger
Melancholia
A tonic made from cantaloupes prescribed to relieve extreme depression
Membranophone
A telephonic apparatus for transmission of sound or speech to a distant point through a pliable series of layers composed of animal or vegetable tissue (a soft house-phone)
Mercantile
A lizard-like reptilian found in many polluted waters
Mermaid’s purse
(Slang) A rather wet, slobbery kiss
Mesopause
The split floor area of a low story between two other stories of greater height in a building
Mesopeak
A mountain summit of lesser altitude than those which overshadow it on one or more sides
Metallurgy
A hypersensitivity to specific alloys such as brass or bronze
Metaphor
An imaginary apparatus for conveying objects and concepts which do not literally denote, in order to suggest comparison with another object or concept by means of mental signals, as a bright idea, the radiance of which may be changed
Methanation
An aggregation of Methodist persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages
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from The Complete Unabridged Lexicon by Opal Louis Nations
The Brighton Daily Herald says “Nations gives new meaning to the word definition.”
OUT OF PRINT
A yummy treat (for those with strong stomachs) is coming soon in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series…a new collection of strange “tastes” from the late master chef Terry Southern:
HOT HEART OF BOAR & Other Tastes
We’ll be serving it fresh—piping hot and throbbing—in a limited edition of only 125 copies. First come, first served.
The book features rare unpublished texts, including an excerpt from The Hunters of Karinhall—a screenplay that, sadly, was never filmed. It’s a bloody masterpiece, and we do mean bloody. There’s also a private letter to William Burroughs; a vomiting priest; “K.Y. Madness,” and more.
In addition to the author’s culinary delights, you’ll find illuminating introductory notes by Nile Southern, as well as tastefully explicit illustrations by Norman Conquest.
In short, it’s a full-boar feast for famished fans of black humor.
Prepare to dig in.
Here’s Black Scat author & translator Doug Skinner performing a ukulele solo: The Regard of Flight 23 — Second Homesickness Song. This clip was broadcast on TV in 1983 and is from a comedy play on tour starring Skinner, Bill Irwin, and Michael O’Connor.
A sweet treat to launch the weekend. Enjoy!
A man of many talents, Doug Skinner has translated Isidore Isou’s Considerations on the Death and Burial of Tristan Tzara and Captain Cap (Vol. I.) by Alphonse Allais—both in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series. In addition, he has written numerous scores for theater and dance, particularly for actor/clown Bill Irwin. His articles, cartoons, and translations have appeared in The Fortean Times, Fate, The Anomalist, Nickelodeon, Weirdo, and Black Scat Review. His translation of Giovanni Battista Nazari’s alchemical dream vision, Three Dreams, was published by Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks in 2002.
You can follow him on his blog here.
[TRUMPETS BLARING; BANNERS WAVING; BABIES SHRIEKING; READERS CHEERING; etc.]
Black Scat proudly announces the publication of Captain Cap by Alphonse Allais—the first of three volumes in a series of “captails” translated from the French by grand maestro Doug Skinner—who also illustrated the edition and produced its sublime cover.
Vol. I (“Captain Cap Before the Electorate”) covers the captain’s notorious political career—including an unexpurgated appendix of his favorite cocktails**.
That this work by Allais has never before appeared in English makes this a literary event worthy of balloons, noise-makers, champagne, and an inebriated marching band.
And to celebrate the Captain’s launch we’re christening this limited edition by offering a FREE Captain Cap campaign button to the first twelve connoisseurs who order a copy.
UPDATE (2/15): All the buttons are gone, alas.
Now if you’ve read this far and are wondering who Captain Cap was, here’s a brief excerpt from the translator’s introduction:
We would be remiss did we not mention that the first title in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series was Masks by Alphonse Allais, for its author embodies the spirit which inspires this small press.
Captain Cap is limited to 125 copies, so we suggest you order quickly before it’s too late.
CLICK HERE AND CAST YOUR VOTE FOR CAPTAIN CAP
And have a drink on him!
___________________
**Be sure and try the recipe for Corpse Reviver (pg. 53)
ADVANCE RAVES (BY ANTICIPATION) for COLD IN THE BRAIN:
“Nobody can add to the absurdity… nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect.”
—Mark Twain
“Not since Nabokov’s Pale Fire has there been…well, this.” —R. Queneau
“Gives bad poetry a bad name.”—Derek Pell
Cold in the Brain
Poems by Pedro Carolino
With annotations by Paul Forristal
Absurdist Texts & Documents No. 10
$10.00
5¼” x 8¼”, Perfect-Bound. Illustrated. 32 pp.
Limited to 69 copies.
Poetry / Unintentional Humor
SOLD OUT
This lovely 18th century woodcut is but one of several illustrations included in Pedro Carolino‘s collection of poems, Cold in the Brain—just published in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series.
At first glance one might suspect that the image has been tampered with—(the subject appears to be wearing a headset)—but this is not the case. The illustration is simply that of a young, drooling poet in the throes of inspiration—wearing earmuffs to undoubtedly muffle distracting sounds while he listens to the voice of his muse.
Had the artist intended to create a headset, then we’d be admiring the work of a visionary artist far ahead of his time. Parenthetically, had Carolino been a poet “ahead of his time” (as opposed to a head of his time, which he probably was) we’d have chosen illustrations from the 20th century.
Pedro Carolino was a 19th century Portuguese poet and translator, best remembered (if at all) for his Portuguese-English phrase book, English as She Is Spoke (often falsely attributed to José da Fonseca). The book is a classic of unintentional humour since its author could not speak English. According to Wikipedia Carolino used a French-English dictionary “to translate an earlier Portuguese-French phrase book, O Novo guia da conversação em francês e português, written by José da Fonseca.” Without permission, Carolino added Fonseca’s name to the book in an attempt to cash in on that author’s successful work. As for Carolino’s poetry, it would never have seen publication but for an earthquake in Lisbon, during which a casket containing the manuscript was unearthed.
Paul Forristal is the former Jean Poquelin Distinguished Visiting Professor
of Carolino Studies at San Diego State University. He is the author of Ronan, the definitive biography of the Brazilian-born Equatoguinean football defender Ronan Carolino Falcão, which has been translated into four languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, and Equatoguinean Spanish. Paul is currently at work on a guidebook for Carolino Canyon, a 40-acre day-use facility nestled in the juniper-pinion forests near Albuquerque. He lives in the Illinois Valley of southern Oregon.
Black Scat’s deluxe, annotated edition of COLD IN THE BRAIN is limited
to 69 copies.
