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.

Funny Farm …

What happens when constellations socialize, when Faust and the Devil start drinking, when imaginary friends gain imaginary friends, when Sleeping Beauty and Rip van Winkle trade places, when Duncan paints a cockatrice, when a terrifying Werechurch roams the land? And was it really a good idea for August and Collier to start that potato farm, especially given Collier’s troubled past? Doug Skinner defines his own comic genre, filled with vivid characters, fictional physics, and surprising narratives, often filtered through stringent constraints to keep the language lively. If you read only one book this year, read this one over and over again!

Happy B’day, Alphonse Allais!

Illustration by Corinne Taunay

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.)

Let’s Not Hit Each Other

2 + 2 = 5

Loves, Delights, & Organs

Alphonse Allais Reader

The Blaireau Affair

Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks

Pink and Apple-Green

Double Over

I Am Sarcey

Long Live Life!

Masks: Deluxe Special Edition

No Bile!

Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais

The Squadron’s Umbrella  

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.

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.

BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.

“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

“A tour de force of inanity.” —Tom Whalen


TYPO 2

T Y P O: Journal of Lettrism, Surrealist Semantics, & Constrained Design

Our second issue is packed with treats from around the world…

Alien alphabets

Prismatic subdivisions

Principles of double-talk 

Post-Neoist portraits

Desiring specimens 

Asemic architecture

Paul Éluard poetry

Titular typography

Surrealist trivia

Italian eye candy

Curlicues in review

Generic Sheet Music

Jarry on the English language

Historical filler text translations

& much more

Pierre Albert-Birot; Guillaume Apollinaire; Mark Axelrod-Sokolov; Tom Barrett; Allan Bealy; Miggs Burroughs; Jahan Cader; Janina Ciezadlo; Norman Conquest; Farewell Debut; R J Dent; Karen Eliot; Paul Éluard; Paul Forristal; Ryan Forsythe; Jesse Glass; Rick Henry; Rhys Hughes; Rory Hughes; Alfred Jarry; Richard Koman; Márton Koppány; Amy Kurman; Peter F. Murphy; Pata-No UN LTD; Gaston de Pawlowski; Derek Pell; Harry Polkinhorn; Tom Prime; Jason E. Rolfe; Ded Rysel; Doug Skinner; Giovanni Antonio Tagliente; Félix Vallotton; Andrew C. Wenaus; Adolphe Willette; Carla Wilson;William Wordsworth.

Trade paperback; 152 pp., $14.95
ISBN 979-8-9869224-5-4