Teens scream–FOUR-TEEN— hip-hip hooray! That’slike 250yearsfor a small, independentpress.
Since 2012, we’ve unleashed nearly 300 feral books — including17 volumes by France’s greatest humorist—Alphonse Allais— as well as all his “anthumous” stories, translated by Allaisian scholar Doug Skinner. Just cast a glance to your right and glom the mile-long list of authors, artists, and translators we’ve published.
Grab some Scat & help celebrate this mondo milestone — that’s how we’ve survived this long. It’s all thanks to you.Let’s keep this ball rolling.
What a great way to start 2026 — “The Eros Issue” of TYPO: The International Journal of Prototypes #13 — 160 pages of prurient prose, poetry, & titillating graphics. Featuring Nile Southern‘s Oulipian dive into Daddy Terry Southern‘s classic novel CANDY; Amy Kurman on silent stag films; an interview with a bisexual Surrealist vampire; suggestive covers from a 1930s French glamour zine; a report on a shocking Parisienne incident by Alfred Jarry; excerpts from Walter Serner‘s novel THE TIGRESS; and much more.
This special issue includes stellar works by Madeleine de L’Aubépine; Marcel Béalu; Erik Belgum; Tristan Bernard; Terry Bradford; R J Dent; Mike Ferguson; Rachel Galvin; Massimo Gatta; Edward Gauvin; Alfred Jarry; Gabriel de Lautrec; George MacLennan; Alfred de Musset; Opal Louis Nations; Ernesto López Parra; Alejandro Albarrán Polanco; Bernard Quiriny; James Richie; George Sand; Doug Skinner; Lono Taggers; Corinne Taunay; Robin Tomens; Paul Willems, and Mark Wyatt.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
Reach for quick relief with TYPO #8, a timely remedy for your anxiety and depression. Bring feelings of joy back into your life with its mixture of fictions, poems and artworks from different times and countries. Also it’s a perfect holiday gift for the connoisseurs in your family.
PACKED WITH PROTOMORPHS, DADA, SURREALISM, COLLAGE, FUTURISM, EXPERIMENTAL FICTION, CRIME SCENES, STOLEN LOVE POSITIONS, VISUAL POETRY, BILITERAL ALPHABETS, CONSTRAINED TEXTS, MAD FOLD-INS, FRENCH LITERATURE, ABSURDIST HUMOR, SOUND POEMS, SILENT CINEMA, FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS, & MORE.
This issue features contributions by Tim Newton Anderson; Tom Barrett; Terry Bradford; Steve Carll; Peter Cherches; Norman Conquest; Lynn Crawford; Jeanne Devlin; Jean-Christophe Duchon-Doris; Albert Ehrenstein; James Montgomery Flagg; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Vasilisk Gnedov; Michael Gould; Allan Randolph Kausch; Amy Kurman; Julia Lillard; Emilia Loseva; George MacLennan; Zach Keali’i Murphy; Opal Louis Nations; Grasset d’Orcet; Bernard Quiriny; Paul Rosheim; Marcel Schneider; Doug Skinner; Lono Taggers; Mark Valentine; Renée Vivien; Tom Whalen; Paul Willems; Carla M. Wilson; Danny Winkler; Mark Wyatt.
Where else would you meet this cast of luminaries….
Alphonse Allais; mIEKAL aND; Terry Bradford; Steve Carll; Norman Conquest; Lynn Crawford; Noël Devaulx; Mark DuCharme; Albert Ehrenstein; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Richard Huelsenbeck; Iliazd; Mark Kanak; Thomas J. Kitson; Amy Kurman; Jean Lorrain; Emilia Loseva; Marcel Mariën; Willy Melnikov; Raymond Roussel; Heather Sager; Phil Demise Smith; Doug Skinner; Paul Willems; Cynthia Yatchman.
We are elated, delirious, tickled, thrilled, and ecstatic to announce the 16th volume in our acclaimed Alphonse Allais Collection. This first English translation of Allais’s Pour cause de fin de bail has been exquisitely prepared and introduced (with notes on the text) by master translator Doug Skinner.
This wickedly amusing collection contains fifty-three absurdist tales—packed with phantom limbs, floating brothels, tapeworms, ostrich shoes, and other remarkable things. It makes a jolly beach read, or to browse in your hammock whilst sipping a cool glass of lemonade—or better yet, a jug of absinthe.
So, if you haven’t already begun gathering your personal Allais collection—shame on you!—now is the time to start. Scroll down and you’ll find unadulterated links to each edition for convenient purchasing.
blackscatbooks.com 