11 is HEAVEN

IN THIS ISSUE: Alphonse Allais; Terry Bradford; Norman Conquest; Lynn Crawford; John Dee; S. C. Delaney; Luc Fierens; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Paulette Hampton; Isidore Isou; Ben D. Jaeger; Paul Kavanagh; Amy Kurman; Joel Lipman; George MacLennan; André Pieyre de Mandiargues; Marcel Mariën; Sean G. Meggeson; Thomas Owen; Angelo Pastormerlo; Agnès Potier; Bernard Quiriny; Paul Rosheim; Alberto Savinio; Doug Skinner; Corinne Taunay; Michel Vachey; and D. Harlan Wilson.

Featuring

  • SUBTERRANEAN ART SHARDS
  • “PAPA BACH”
  • MARCEL MARIEN’S “AUTOPORTRAIT”
  • LUC FIERENS COLLAGES
  • D. HARLAN WILSON SPECULATIVE FICTION
  • “ISOU: THE JAMES DEAN OF LETTRISM”
  • JAEGER ON “THE RITES OF ECSTASY

PLUS new translations of André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Michel Vachey, Alberto Savinio, Alphonse Allais, Bernard Quiriny, & Thomas Owen.

TYPO: The International Journal of Prototypes #11
154 pp., trade paperback; $20
ISBN 979-8-9923826-8-6

Lucky 13!

 With a blast of bottle rockets and puffs of Dadaist confetti, Black Scat celebrates its thirteenth b’day on July 4th. Woo-hoo! It marks the start of those rebellious teenage years, so watch out for the unexpected.

We hope you’ll join the celebration & support this independent press by ordering one of our nearly 200 sublime books.

C’mon, sing us a tune and dance like a loon!

Summer Reading…

Avant-garde composer & poet, Mirtha Pozzi in Paris.

Don’t miss the current issue of TYPO: The International Journal of Prototypes, featuring the first English translation of a novelette by surrealist André Pieyre de Mandiargues, and previously unavailable translations from a diverse selection of neglected literary masters: Marcel Schneider, Bernard Quiriny, Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando, Walter Serner, and others. Plus art and startling surprises.

ISOU ROCKS!

The James Dean of Lettrism is back in this disruptive chapbook. The spirit of Dada lives in Doug Skinner’s first English translation of Considérations sur la mort et l’enterrement de Tristan Tzara—originally unleashed in 2012 in a limited Black Scat edition of 50 copies. Here Isou recounts his bizarre and humorous behavior at Tristan Tzara’s funeral in France.

Isidore Isou, the founder of the artistic movement Lettrism, was a great admirer of the Dadaist Tristan Tzara. So, when Tzara died in 1963, Isou disrupted the funeral to give the great provocateur a properly raucous sendoff. Isou’s lively account of the proceedings is both a polemic against traditional funerals and a warm declaration of his affection and admiration for Tzara.

Isou reading

PUMPING IRONY

In this issue we’re pleased to present the first English translation of a novelette by the surrealist writer André Pieyre de Mandiargues. You’ll also find previously unavailable translations from a diverse selection of neglected avant-garde literary masters like Marcel Schneider, Bernard Quiriny, Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando, Walter Serner, and others. While these writings range from baroque to fantastic, from dada to surrealism and back, together they helped populate modern literary art.

TYPO #10: The International Journal of Prototypes
Trade paperback, 158 pp., $20
ISBN 979-8-9923826-6-2 

Poèmes phonétiques; DADA; Surrealism, visual poetry; fantasy; Lettrism; experimental fiction.

IN THIS ISSUE: Chiara Ambrosio; Tim Newton Anderson; Terry Bradford; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando; Thibault Jacquot-Paratte; Mark Kanak; Amy Kurman; André Pieyre de Mandiargues; George MacLennan; Frank Nims; Giambattista Palatino; Angelo Pastormerlo; Maurice Pons; Mirtha Pozzi; Bernard Quiriny; Jason E. Rolfe; Marcel Schneider; Walter Serner; Doug Skinner; Phil Demise Smith; Lono Taggers; Corinne Taunay; Gregory Wallace.

TYPO 10 — an instant collector’s item. Available worldwide.

To order outside the USA, click on your flag:

CA

INANE Is Insane!

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.

ON SALE NOW!
Number 50 in the Absurdist Texts & Documents Series.

Dig in!

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 

TYPO #9: A Fusion of Avant-Garde Literature

Like a robot assembled in a subterranean laboratory, this issue contains prototypical pieces from around the world. Many contributors were previously seen in so-called Obscure Publications. Others have been freshly translated from rare French, Belgian, and Russian books and magazines. Some authors are well-known in avant-garde or fantasy circles. Some artists & writers are just breaking through. But all have been brought together to create this sublime issue for your pleasure.

FEATURING: Alphonse Allais; Chiara Ambrosio; Robert Archambeau; Pierre Bettencourt;  Greg Boyd; Terry Bradford; H.V. Chao; Norman Conquest; Lynn Crawford; Caroline Crépiat; R J Dent; Mark Ducharme;  Jean-Luc Garneau; Edward Gauvin; Vasilisk Gnedov; Kirpal Gordon; Michael Gould; André Hardellet; Jordan Jones; Amy Kurman;  Joel Lipman; Emilia Loseva; Stephen-Paul Martin; George MacLennan; Henri Michaux; Claudio Parentela;  Angelo Pastormerlo; Gabriel & Marcel Piqueray; Bernard Quiriny; Doug Skinner; Renée Vivien; Danny Winkler; Bill Wolak.

TYPO #9: The International Journal of Prototypes
152 pp., trade paperback; $20
ISBN 979-8-9923826-0-0

Three Strikes You’re Out …


Lost souls frozen—albeit pointlessly— in sporting poses; suspended in time like extra innings. Poor lost souls waiting to come home while the world has vanished.

Norman Conquest is a verbo-visual artist based in Northern California. His work has appeared in many publications in the U.S. and Europe. He is the author of over 40 books, including the underground classic, A Beginner’s Guide to Art Deconstruction (Permeable Press) and, most recently, Smells Like Teen ‘Pataphysics (Black Scat).

Farm Team Ballet
Norman Conquest
Illustrated; chapbook,‎ 46 pp., paper, $12
Absurdist Texts & Documents #49
ISBN 979-8992382655

It’s a bird… !

We are thrilled to present our first book of 2025 – THE VIRTUOSO PARROT & OTHER STORIES.

Claude-Sosthène Grasset d’Orcet (1828-1900) wrote startling articles and stories about secret societies, hidden bloodlines, and his own idiosyncratic views of history. His obsession with finding puns and rebuses, in both ancient inscriptions and modern speech, influenced generations of occultists and was the inspiration for the “language of the birds” expounded by the enigmatic Fulcanelli.

This book is Grasset d’Orcet’s first appearance in English! It contains five of his odd short stories, a contemporary obituary, and detailed notes on his ideas and allusions.

At last, the virtuoso parrot speaks to English readers!