Our Man in Panama

panamaThe legendary literary maestro, Alain Arias-Misson, has disappeared from Paris. Well, no, that’s not quite accurate… he hasn’t vanished in the sense that, say, a CIA operative might suddenly leave the scene. No…Alain is basking in the balmy breezes in Panama. He and the lovely Karen avoid the nasty winters in France by disappearing  (escaping) to their undisclosed hideout (is there any other kind?) on the Pacific. Actually, their hideout looks like a love-nest, oui?

At the Black Scat Books bunker in northern California, we’re all rather jealous of M. Arias-Misson since temperatures have dipped to 30-degrees! In other words we’re freezing our butts off but cannot afford to escape.

To make matters worse, Arias-Misson sends taunting emails from Panama wishing us warm regards, etc. We took revenge, however, and made certain his vacation was interrupted by a lot of work, i.e., we gave him stiff deadlines for compiling his collection of short stories: The Man Who Walked on Air & Other Tales of Innocence. 

This, by the way, is a significant edition featuring 15 “innocent” tales, spanning 195 pages — experimental, erotic, poetic, passionate, obsessive, and hilarious. But that’s stating the obvious… damn it, the man is bloody brilliant and we’re honored to be unleashing the book any moment now. (No joke, check back here today.)

Why a winter pub date you ask?

Once the new book rears its head on Amazon in the U.S. and Europe, the author will head to New York where he’s always in demand for readings and performances.

And NYC is cold as hell in winter.

🙂

Sleepers Awake!

illustration by Florence Bocherel

Black Scat Review awaits you like a shot of espresso. The new issue features steaming art by Florence Bocherel and Michael Leigh; eye-opening translations by John Crombie and Doug Skinner; plus jolts of piping hot fiction by Alphonse Allais, Pierre Henri Cami, Pedro Carolino, Crad Kilodney, Samantha Memi, Yuriy Tarnawsky, and Tom Whalen. And if that’s not enough to get you out of bed, check out the startling cover photo by S. N. Jacobson, and Elizabeth Archer’s revealing interview with Samantha Memi.  Get your copy here.

Black Scat News from London, Paris, Montreal & Austria

Exciting new books are on the way and you won’t want to miss them.  Samantha MemiWe’ve just published Samantha Memi’s first collection of short fiction: Kate Moss & Other Heroines#7 in our Absurdist Texts & Documents series. Memi is a gifted young British writer with a unique, offbeat voice. And if we didn’t know better we’d swear she’s a relation to the great French absurdist, Alphonse Allais. Also,  the forthcoming first issue of Black Scat Review features an interview with the London-based writer.

self-portrait by Cami
The French humorist Pierre Henri Cami (1884–1958) is virtually unknown in America and Black Scat Books is proud to be the first to publish a collection of his writings & drawings in the States. A Cami Sampler
(Absurdist Texts & Documents #9) is translated by John Crombie whose Kiickshaws Press in Paris published several exquisite letterpress editions of works by Cami. Charlie Chaplin hailed Cami as “the greatest humorist in the world,” and if that’s hyperbole… well he’s certainly right up there alongside several Black Scat authors.

Isidore Isou

Another literary event coming your way—also in the AT&D series—is a text by the Romanian-born French poet and artist, Isidore Isou, founder of the art movement Lettrism. Translated by Doug Skinner, Considerations on the Death and Burial of Tristan Tzara has never before appeared in English. Isou recounts his bizarre and humorous behavior at Tristan Tzara’s funeral. It’s a rare tidbit of renegade  art history.

Monika Mori

In December, Black Scat will publish Shattered Rainbow by the Austrian artist Monika Mori. The book features a series of stunning abstract works created on x-rays with acrylics using a palette knife.


Florence Bocherel

Florence Bocherel is an experimental comic artist/writer. She was born in London, but currently lives in Montreal, Canada. Black Scat will publish her graphic novel, Post-asphyx in 2013.

Pornobongo Has Arrived!

OULIPO PORNOBONGO

Our sublime anthology of erotic wordplay is now available—featuring titillating works by Eckhard Gerdes, Alain Arias-Misson, Larry Fondation. Harold Jaffe, Derek Pell, Andy O’Clancy, Farewell Debut, Rusty Cuffs, Opal Louis Nations, Tara Stillions Whitehead, Samantha Memi, Shane Roeschlein, Lance Olsen, and Ryan Forsythe. [Absurdist Texts & Documents – No. 4; Edition of 50.]

Each constrained text is limited to 600 words and is subjected to an oulipian constraint of the author’s choosing. Is it wordplay or foreplay? You be the judge. You’ll also find provocative “potential” images by artists Norman Conquest and Farewell Debut. All seductively packaged and perfectly bound—52 pages of puzzling seduction and literary tricks. There has never been an anthology like it.

UPDATE: THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT