In the wings, some special things (third edition)…

Scat addicts (of which I’m one) will get their fix and kicks in the coming months. What would winter be without a stack of Scat on the bedside table? Bleak indeed. So cheer up & gear up… good reading is on the way.

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On October 15th we’re releasing a limited edition of the play that may have influenced Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT. This deluxe edition of Balzac‘s 3-act comedy WAITING FOR GODEAU (Original title Mercodet) is translated from the French by Mark Axelrod. This launch is bound to make waves so circle the date in red.

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In November, we’re publishing two Black Scat Classic Interim Editions.
First,  a portfolio of cool nudes by the Austrian painter Monika Mori (known internationally as “Moo”). These dazzling abstract forms are at once playful, moody & seductive. Don’t miss MOO NUDES—a lush, erotic celebration of the female body.

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Also in November, the legendary Opal Nations returns with some wicked (and we do mean wicked) visual black humor:  EMBRYO WORLD.  It’s sure to piss off the Right-to-Lifers and thrill the rest of us.

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December, we raise the curtain on the Théâtre de l’Absurde—a  limited edition of a hilarious little Patchenesque drama: ‘S A BIRD by Eckhard Gerdes. No spitting in the balcony.

Finally, for fans of Alphonse Allais, our sublime trade edition is AVAILABLE HERE.

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Bon Voyage, Captain Cap

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For those who may have missed our editions of Alphonse Allais‘s CAPTAIN CAP, here’s a treat: Doug Skinner‘s introduction to Vol. IV, THE SANATORIUM OF THE FUTURE:

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Dorothy Parker once remarked that most humorists “milk a formula until it moos in pain.” After so many years of turning in several columns a week, Allais may have been feeling the strain. He admitted in one piece that the punning names he used for his characters were not really that funny. In a series of rather glum installments in 1901 (July 25, July 31, August 9), he simply listed recent patent applications. Contemplating such genuine inventions as the luminous hat, the pedal-operated fan, the combination fishing pole and bicycle pump, the hail parasol, the gloves made from intestinal membranes, the multicolored cane, the sea soap, the summer fez, the metal legs for wooden horses, the powdered cheese, “etc., etc., etc.,” he could only remark, “The fantasists who think they’re so clever when they imagine a dust-catcher for submarines, or a rubber muzzle to prevent snails from dribbling on the salad, are small beer beside certain serious and licensed inventors.” Fact, all too often, trumps fiction, to the eternal despair of humorists.

All Hands on Deck! The Future Has Arrived!

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Ahoy mates! —the fourth and final volume in the Captain Cap Collection has arrived—more madcap tales by the great French absurdist, Alphonse Allais. His hard-drinking, philosophizing, womanizing, & pioneering Captain Cap sails again to some hilariously strange shores. The pun-filled text has been brilliantly translated (and profusely illustrated) by Doug Skinner—and includes a penetrating preface and extensive notes on the text.

If you’ve never heard of “crocodile bridges” or “smell-buoys”, then you simply must read this  literary landmark—the first English translation of  “…one of the great masterpieces of humorous literature.”—nooSFere Littérature.

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Come on in, the water’s fine…

CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY OF THIS LIMITED EDITION

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Volumes I – III are out of print..

 

Captain Cap Rides Again!

illustration by Doug Skinner

Hang on to your caps, folks, the Captain is back in a capsized edition designed to tease—Volume III in our hilarious 4-volume series.

Captain Cap: The Antifilter & Other Inventions by Alphonse Allais, translated and illustrated by Doug Skinner. This literary landmark is the first publication in English featuring Allais’s hilarious, booze-cruising captain of the high seas—the unthinkably unsinkable Captain Cap.

Over 100, profusely illustrated pages, The Antifilter is packed with strange, pataphysical inventions, quirky cons, cocktails, wordplay and absurd pranks. In short, it’s a feast for landlubbers and lover’s of French lit & humor.

DISCOVER:

  • a new way to give microbes what they deserve
  • a successful ascension, without a craft
  • a machine that travels 234 kilometers an hour
  • the secret of a truly modern house
  • the art of shoeing horses on the Australian pampas
  • a strange theory on the formation of coal

 and much, much more!

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110 pages, perfect-bound. Limited to 125 copies. $21.50

CLICK HERE and climb aboard.

Top Ten Forthcoming Titles

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The Facetiae Erotica of Poggio
by Poggio Bracciolini. With hand-lettered cover & drawing by Jana Vukovic

Captain Cap (Vol. III): The Antifilter & Other Inventions
by Alphonse Allais. Translated from the French by Doug Skinner

Oulipo Pornobongo 2: Anthology of Erotic Wordplay
edited by Norman Conquest

Blink: Visual Antiphonies
by Farewell Debut

Hotel Ortolan
by Tom Whalen. With photographs by Michel Varisco

Embryo World & Others Stripped Bare
by Opal Louis Nations

Moo Nudes
by Monika Mori

Contemporary Art for Rich Kids
by Peppo Bianchessi

Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks
by Alphonse Allais. Translated from the French by Doug Skinner
(Illustrated trade paper edition)

Tintin Meets The Dragon Queen in The Return of the Maya to Manhattan
a novel by Alain Arias-Misson

In the wings, some special things (second edition)…

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Nearly 100 posts ago—on August 18th, 2012 to be precise—we published a roundup of forthcoming books called “In the wings, some special things…”  There were only a few titles on our list back then, yet we were ambitious, eager, and inspired. Today, this little house has a bookshelf all its own. Moreover, we’re still putting our money on the printed word, despite the world’s panicky flight to digital.

There is (and must be) room for both eBooks and print.

Indeed, a few of our titles—as well as our magazine Black Scat Review—are available for Kindle and other digital platforms. But the emphasis remains on paperback editions to be held, squeezed, sniffed, licked, displayed and read.

Here are a few treats coming your way this summer.

The Facetiae Erotica of Poggio by Poggio Bracciolini.
Facetiae is a collection of humorous and indecent tales by Renaissance humanist Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459), which was originally published in 1470. It features such stories as “Of a Fool, Who Thought His Wife Had Two Openings” and “Visio Francisci Philelphi,” the earliest recorded version of Carvel’s ring. This special Black Scat Classic edition includes a cover and illustrations by artist Jana Vukovic. Based in Belgrade, Serbia, Jana is well known for her unique, hand-lettered designs and book covers. Limited to just 69 copies, this edition is a must-have for one’s private library.

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Be prepared to sail away with two more volumes in our Captain Cap series by Alphonse Allais. Translated and illustrated by the great Doug Skinner, these amusing pun-filled tales featuring Allais’s legendary, hard-drinking captain have never before appeared in English. Leonardo Reviews in the UK called Volume I “…a little gem.”

So head to the shore and keep your eyes peeled for Captain Cap (Vol. III): The Antifilter & Other Inventions, and Captain Cap (Vol. IV): The Sanatorium of the Future.

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Our world is drowning in a deluge of iPhone snapshots—billions of mirrors reflecting the detritus of daily life… evidence of the fast food we consume, the parade of strangers and passersby, the microscopic gestures pointing to the enshrinement of Self.

QUESTION: what happens when an artist arms herself with an iPhone?

ANSWER: Blink: Visual Antiphonies by Farewell Debut

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photograph by farewell debut

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Happy Summer Reading!

New Issue!

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IN THIS ISSUE: Alphonse Allais and François Caradec get high; Doug Skinner translates and reports; Carla Wilson interviews a faux Warhol; David Macpherson’s detective reveals the clues; Jim McMenamin turns on some screen gems; Nile Southern travels back to the future; Tom Whalen serves up a love story; Opal Nations strips the flesh off Embryo World; Erik Belgum offers up some poisons; Farewell Debut blinks visual antiphonies; Larry Fondation explores Harold Jaffe’s Revolutionary Brain. Plus a portfolio of drawings by the late Peter Hanssen.

ORDER YOUR COPY HERE

The Idiot Hath Arrived!

No, not that idiot, this idiot…

How I Became an Idiot

Esteemed French drama critic (and the butt of derision at the cabaret Le Chat Noir), Francisque Sarcey reviewed the premiere of Alfred Jarry‘s Ubu Roi with this visionary verdict: ”…a filthy fraud which deserves nothing but the silence of contempt.”

Writer and humorist Alphonse Allais transformed Sarcey into an Ubuesque piñata in a series of wicked columns published under Sarcey’s name in the newspaper Le Chat Noir. 

Never before in English, this rare collection is introduced and translated from the French by Doug Skinner. Edition limited to 60 printed copies. #00 in our Black Scat Classics sub-series.

“How I Became an Idiot reminds me of Félix Fénéon’s excellent Novels in Three Lines… the unexpected is suddenly present, and there is rudeness, as well as a savagery of attack that we simply can’t imagine anyone doing to any well-known columnist of today and getting away with it.”
—Jeff Bursey, author of Verbatim: A Novel
Prepare yourself for some nasty laughs.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT.