Suzanne Burns knocked ’em dead at Powell’s in Portland last night. She read from her Black Scat novel Sweet and Vicious and customers were gobbling up copies. Suzanne’s book is must-read fiction and you can grab your copy on Amazon here.
Zombies R Us
Time to walk (or is it rock?) with the Robot Zombies of Angkor Wat.
Wat’s new? Why, this new experimental soundtrack mix from Midnight Grindhouse by the one and only DrG Supreme. Man, this audio is cool and ear-ie, so don those headphones, crank up the decibels and trance on over to our Scat Trax page.
Desires that Disappear
And words got souls just as much as we do. Words change when you say them, the way your soul changes when the right woman touches you. Same with photographs. They got souls. You look into a photograph too long, too hard, and you steal the very soul of the photograph…
Doug Rice, from Here Lies Memory
These remarkable photographic moments – memories – faces from the street – dig below the surface of flesh and go to the bone where forgotten words are etched. Words like lost souls in joyless eyes. AN EROTICS OF SEEING goes far beyond today’s omnipotent street images, the snapshots and candid portraits that reveal only surfaces. Doug Rice captures epiphanies in the faces of strangers— finds an “erotic” connection only a visionary artist can discover. It is not simply a matter of capturing the “decisive moment” — it is the depth his eye perceives —piercing crowded public spaces and revealing absences – ghosts and their memories – the very soul of our transient lives.
AN EROTICS OF SEEING:
The force of photography as philosophy’s broken sentence
Photographs and text by Doug Rice
5.25″ x 8.25″, perfect-bound paper. 64 pp.,
$20 / Edition limited to 300 copies
ART PHOTOGRAPHY
“Doug Rice reveals things about loss, memory, language, invention – things that we didn’t know needed to be said or seen, but learn it in the miraculous accident Rice realizes as writing and photography, and offers it as an inexplicable generosity that resonates with the generosity that Rice intuits in the world he re-inhabits.”
-EARL JACKSON, author of Strategies of Deviance
Alphonse Today! —Hip! Hip! Allais!
drawing by Doug Skinner
Who was the hippest cat to ever hang his hat at Le Chat Noir in Paris? Alfred Jarry? Erik Satie? Apollinaire? No! Alphonse Allais, of course — the fellow who experimented with holorhymes, invented conceptual art, and created the earliest known example of a silent musical composition: Funeral March for the Obsequies of a Deaf Man (1884). Furthermore, you don’t need a Time Machine to travel back to 1893 to read Allais’s oddly titled collection Le parapluie de l’escouade. In fact — thanks to Doug Skinner’s inspired translation — you don’t even have to read French to enjoy all 39 wickedly funny texts in The Squadron’s Umbrella because Black Scat Books has launched its first publication in English. Yes, it’s another coup for this little house, and a landmark for lovers of French literature and Pataphysical humor.
ALPHONSE ALLAIS (1854 – 1905) was France’s greatest humorist. His elegance, scientific curiosity, preoccupation with language and logic, wordplay and flashes of cruelty inspired Alfred Jarry, as well as succeeding generations of Surrealists, Pataphysicians, and Oulipians. The Squadron’s Umbrella collects 39 of Allais’s funniest stories — many originally published in the legendary paper Le Chat Noir, written for the Bohemians of Montmartre. Included are such classic pranks on the reader as “The Templars” (in which the plot becomes secondary to remembering the hero’s name) and “Like the Others” (in which a lover’s attempts to emulate his rivals lead to fatal but inevitable results). These tales have amused and inspired generations, and now English readers can enjoy the master absurdist at his best. As the author promises, this book contains no umbrella and the subject of squadrons is “not even broached.”
THE SQUADRON’S UMBRELLA
by Alphonse Allais
Translated with an introduction, notes and illustrations by Doug Skinner
6” x 9”, trade paperback. 160 pp., Illustrated.
$12.95 / ISBN -13 978-0692392126
FICTION / FRENCH LITERATURE / HUMOR
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM BLACK SCAT BOOKS:
Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks by Alphonse Allais
Translated by Doug Skinner
Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais
Compiled and translated by Doug Skinner
Sublime Poetry from Across the Pond
Me a seaman’s wife
She the sea, the ocean
Me your land, your solid ground.
Or the other way around – I the sea, the ocean
She your land, your solid ground
She, the seaman’s wife.
Both of us someone’s feast
And you ours…
Black Scat has published only a few books of poetry, so when we do it’s quite an event. This collection of poems & observations by the gifted young British writer Edith Doove deserves a place on your shelf. Indeed, Ms. Doove has a sharp eye and her words whisper fresh visions.
These works were originally written in Dutch and composed over a ten year period.
We invite you to discover MINCE in this lovely, limited edition chapbook.
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*cover photograph by the author
In the wings, some special things (seventh edition)…
There is a lot of excitement buzzing around our editorial bunker here in northern California. We are adding quite a few titles to our growing list of sublime art & literature, with books by Alphonse Allais, Alain Arias-Misson, Mark Axelrod, Pierre-Corneille de Blessebois, Catherine D’Avis, Farewell Debut, Edith Doove, Eckhard Gerdes, Richard Kostelanetz, Terri Lloyd, Doug Rice, and Carla M. Wilson, among others. As always, expect some surprises, including (we hope) a book once listed as forthcoming by the great Gaberbocchus Press in London that, alas, never appeared. For now, that’s all we’re at liberty to divulge.
For those who missed out on collecting all 31 titles in the Absurdist Texts & Documents series, we suggest getting in on the ground floor of our New Urge imprint—devoted to contemporary erotic fiction by writers from Europe and North America. The first volume, White Fire & Other Tales by Cody Kmoch has just been released, with four more scheduled to appear in 2015. These sensual trade paper editions are numbered sequentially, handsomely designed, and custom-sized (5 x 7.7 inches) for your comfort and edification.
We should also mention that our magazine Black Scat Review has been redesigned, and will sport a new look when its eleventh issue appears in the spring.
Here are a few goodies waiting in the wings.
THE SQUADRON’S UMBRELLA
by Alphonse Allais
Translated from the French by Doug Skinner
FIRST PUBLICATION IN ENGLISH
A collection of 39 pieces by the great French absurdist. This is quintessential Allais, featuring some of his funniest texts—never before translated.
In regards to the significance of the title, Allais states in his preface the following:
“I have entitled this book The Squadron’s Umbrella for two reasons, which I ask the reader’s indulgence to tick off before him.
- There is no mention, in my volume, of umbrellas of any kind.
- The vital question of the squadron, considered as a unit of combat, is not even broached.”
That pretty much says it all.
UPDATE 1/30 —ON SALE NOW
ANGEL OF EVERYTHING
by Catherine D’Avis
Translated from the French by Kenneth D. Fletcher
FIRST PUBLICATION IN ENGLISH
Bored with her life in a quiet, French coastal town and desperate for excitement, Emma sends out a prayer to the Angel of Happenings. When she meets an enigmatic Parisian photographer, her wish appears to have come true, until she finds herself drawn into an intimate world of erotic temptations, obsession and danger.
The controversial novel L’ange de toutes choses originally appeared in Paris in 2012. Published under the pseudonymous initials “C.A.,” the work received favorable reviews, as well as the condemnation reserved for works in this arena. Ms. D’Avis’s writing has been compared to the novelist Marguerite Duras.
“The Zombie of Great-Peru marks an extremely important literary occasion.” —Apollinaire
THE ZOMBIE OF GREAT-PERU
by Pierre-Corneille de Blessebois
Preface by Guillaume Apollinaire
Translated from the French by Doug Skinner
FIRST PUBLICATION IN ENGLISH
Black Scat Books will proudly resurrect this rollicking novel featuring the first mention of zombies in world literature! Originally published in 1697, it offers “a biting satire of colonial society as licentious, credulous, and possessed by its own belief in zombis.”*
In the words of translator Doug Skinner, this libertine tale is “Great fun. Filled with sex, slapstick, deceit, and fake zombies.”
Who could ask for anything more?
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*Doris Garraway, The Libertine Colony
MINCE
by Edith Doove
A collection of poems & observations by a gifted young British writer. These works were originally written in Dutch and composed over a ten year period.
Ms. Doove has a sharp eye and her words whisper fresh visions.
PUBLICATION; January 31, 2015
Rare Classic Back in Print!
“A badass work of concentrated hallucination.”—Nile Southern
Just in time for the pataphysical New Year, a faux facsimile edition of Aventures dans la ‘pataphysique, which was originally published in Paris in 1951 by Éditions du Sagittaire.
Released in the U.S. by Black Scat in 2013, the limited edition of ADVENTURES IN ‘PATAPHYSICS (Absurdist Texts & Documents #13) sold out quickly. We’re pleased to announce a reprint of that rare edition.
Discover the Jarryesque joys, thrills, and perils of science in a bizarre classic of “imaginary solutions.” With French text and illustrations throughout, this anonymous gem happens to be one of the strangest books we’ve ever published (and that’s saying quite a lot).
$15.00 / $7.50 digital edition
Perfect-bound, illustrated, 64 pp. / Second Printing
‘PATAPHYSICS / SCIENCE / ART / ABSURDISM / FRENCH LITERATURE
NU Imprint Launches Today!
OUT OF PRINT
We’re thrilled to announce the publication of WHITE FIRE & OTHER TALES by Cody Kmoch. This is the first book in our New Urge Editions imprint—devoted to quality erotic fiction by writers from Europe and North America.
This collection features eleven erotic tales by Ms. Kmoch a young writer based in the UK. Her sensual—often startling—sapphic stories reveal an innovative imagination – a quirky, dark sensibility that transports the reader to worlds of white fire, where fantasies, love, and sex unite. She stirs suspense and desire with a voice that is fresh and compelling.
$12.95
Trade paperback, 182 pp.
In 2013, Cody began posting stories on her blog and quickly developed a dedicated following.
A small sampling of comments from readers:
“… flawless…I can’t seem to find any reasonable words with which to describe it. The way you use language is just… gah. Keep doing what you do, please.” – anonymous (on The Luculla Hive)
“Pleasantly surprised, the talent of the author blew me away. She had the ability to capture me and hold me. Very refreshing, I’m totally addicted.” – Reese Michelle
“…this is excellent, this is brilliant. It is very erotic, it is very funny. it is a brilliant use of written form–it may very well be perfect. I’ve ran across a couple of stories vaguely in this vain (both a long time ago) but not at all so clearly conceived or proficiently and cleanly executed. Has anyone ever done this before ? It seems like it would have had to have been, but I really have never heard of this really like this. I feel like a ‘Classic.’ story is one which after you first read it you can’t quite imagine the world without this story having been written–That’s how I feel about this one. The idea of the seduction of the imagination has never been so perfectly expressed and the humor and eroticism are so organic to the story. Is there anything as seductive as the written word when written so well.” – Leslie Petra
“I think of your stories as blossoming flowers…” – anonymous (unfortunately!)
“You, you are amazing, this story is exalting, an wonderful! All of your writing fills me with happiness, I don’t even remember how I found it, but I am so glad that I did.” – Olla Prayer
“Blown away. Really good. Innovative, yet fun and highly charged” – anonymous
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cody Kmoch is a curious product of Czech and Canadian blood, British grammar school bullying, chronic sexual frustration, and the internet. She has been drawing and writing about female beauty and ecstasy since she was a teenager, but almost all of it has been wasted: years of work quietly shredded, binned, or deleted. But in April 2013 something changed, and since then her fantasies have been spilling out on her blog to a small but dedicated following. When she’s not writing, she’s working in an office, playing her guitar, running, or napping.
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A Born-Again Classic Born Again!
Is it a miracle? You be the judge. It’s definitely a Black Scat Classic Interim Edition, so have a cigar and help us celebrate the rebirth of Opal Louis Nations’ EMBRYO WORLD & OTHERS STRIPPED BARE. This out-of-print bundle of joy is now reborn and available in living color in a spanking new second printing (PLUS a fetid digital edition).
EMBRYO WORLD unveils a future ripe with dark foetal visions—surreal and ferociously funny—fresh from the fertile Womb of Nations.
If you missed this baby the first go round, now’s your chance to rock a collector’s item in your arms.
$14.00 print / $7.00 digital edition
Illustrated in full color. Perfect-bound. 52 pp.
SURREALISM / ART / BLACK HUMOR
An Interview with Jason E. Rolfe (How inconvenient!)
Jason E. Rolfe
We invite you to read an incisive, albeit inconvenient, interview with Jason E. Rolfe, author of An Inconvenient Corpse — a collection of short stories published recently in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series. The interview was conducted by one Paulo Brito and is published in Porta VIII, which appears to be based (inconveniently enough) somewhere in Portugal. To read the interview, simply click this LINK.
Once you’ve done so you’ll undoubtedly wish to purchase a copy of Mr. Rolfe’s book. To do so, just CLICK HERE.
Now wasn’t that convenient.
blackscatbooks.com 