Next month, Black Scat will publish Doug Skinner‘s much anticipated collection of short stories, SLEEPYTIME CEMETERY. This event will certainly have Skinner’s growing cult following dancing on the grave of 21st century Literature. So, too, should fans of absurdist fiction and dark humor prepare to rejoice.
For those who have yet to encounter Mr. Skinner’s peculiar creations, we offer here a FREE story from the book.
Adapted to film four times, “L’Affaire Blaireau” has remained popular and in print in France since its original appearance in 1899. This is its first publication in English. It is humorist Alphonse Allais’s only novel and, in the words of translator Doug Skinner: “It isn’t quite as wild or cruel as his early stories, but I find it delicious anyway. Summer in the provinces, the shrewd but impressionable Blaireau, futile political squabbles, a ridiculous but charming love story, what more could one want? And innocence is rewarded!”
Here’s a taste from Chapter I:
THE BLAIREAU AFFAIR is a rare find to be savored by the author’s growing circle of fans in America.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A COPY ON AMAZON
About the author:
ALPHONSE ALLAIS (1854 – 1905) began his career in Paris during the Belle Epoque. He was particularly active at the legendary cabaret Le Chat Noir, where he wrote for and edited the weekly paper. He quickly became known for his deadpan wit and inexhaustible imagination. Among other things, he also exhibited some of the first monochromatic pictures (such as his all-white “First Communion of Chlorotic Girls in the Snow” in 1883) and composed the first silent piece of music: “Funeral March for the Obsequies of a Deaf Man” (1884).
He was a crucial influence on Alfred Jarry, as well as on the Surrealists: Breton included him in his ANTHOLOGY OF BLACK HUMOR, and Duchamp was reading him on the day he died. Allais’s fascination with wordplay, puns, and holorhymes led Oulipo to call him an “anticipatory plagiarist”; the Pataphysical College dubbed him their “Patacessor.” His books have remained in print in France, and the Académie Alphonse Allais has awarded a literary prize in his honor since 1954.
Bill Ectric at RED FEZ has just published an interview with Black Scat author & translator Doug Skinner. Doug talks about his translation of The Zombie of Great Peru — one of our most popular titles and perhaps our weirdest.
CLICK HERE to read the interview.
CLICK HERE to order your zombie
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. Celebrate the master’s birthday with mirth, mischief, and cocktails!
And one of his sublime books translated by Doug Skinner, from Black Scat, of course.
Captain Cap: His Adventures, His Ideas, His Drinks
Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais
“To leave is to die a little, but to die is to leave a lot.” –-Alphonse Allais
We’re thrilled to announce the eighth in our unique
series of Black Scat Broadsides:
LIMERICKSHAW: HAIKU FOR THE JOHN
by Doug Skinner
Sixteen ribald limericks translated into hilarious haiku. Skinner artfully disinfects the original hackneyed rhymes and reveals the laconic essence of each poem.
Alas, we can only show you a low resolution fragment of the lovely (and explicit) full color poster, which makes an ideal addition to one’s boudoir or bath.
12 x 18 inches; printed on prime 80# UV-coated,acid-free stock.
OUT OF PRINT
The cartoonist Jason Little spotted a man reading THE ZOMBIE OF GREAT PERU in the subway at the Carroll Street stop, in Brooklyn.
A zombie rises from the grave of French literature to stalk the earth once more! This bizarre novel – written in 1697 – marks the first mention of the word “zombie” in world literature. It is a wicked tale of lascivious lust and lunatic desires, a strange concoction of prose and verse, set in the sexual and racial hothouse of colonial Guadeloupe. Our narrator has his eye on the beautiful Creole Countess, who goes barefoot and serves her guests tadpoles. When she offers him sex in exchange for magical powers, he tricks her into thinking she’s an invisible zombie; slapstick, humiliation, and confusion follow. Includes a preface by the avant-garde magus: Guillaume Apollinaire. FIRST PUBLICATION IN ENGLISH!
If you missed this classic weirdness, it’s available here on Amazon.
Available September 1st in a delicious trade paperback edition.
These hot new releases are ideal summer reading. Alain Arias-Misson‘s experimental novel COMIC BOOK subverts the comic book formula and turns it inside-out. Indeed, the sex & violence spins off the page and into your head—right where it belongs. Talk about fun!
THE DOUG SKINNER DOSSIER is a biblical picnic—complete with ants in your pants. This lavish (imitation leather) compendium is loaded with black humor, absurdism, and sheer nonsense—a delightful divertissement for the beach or hammock.
Come on, dive in and READ DIFFERENT!
Holy cow!—it’s the gospel according to Doug Skinner—featuring articles, short stories, verses, columns, literary essays, alphabets, metrical translations, monologues, talks, cartoons, rounds, lipogrammatic smut, a puppet show, a ventriloquism routine, and a one-act play!
THE DOUG SKINNER DOSSIER is destined to be in every motel room across the land. This divine illustrated edition features over 240 pages of wit, wisdom, and profundity. It fairly overflows with inspirational black humor and some rather dangerous (albeit gloomy) ideas that might not be suitable for nuclear family get-togethers. But — swear to god — it’s a hell of a good book!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY ON AMAZON
Here’s a peek at the contents:
Want to try before you buy? Download a FREE excerpt here.
