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: Julien Gracq’s “The House” Albert Cossery’s “Perpetually Barking Man” The Belgian School of the Bizarre Paul Nougé’s Optic Unveiled A “Surreal Wheels” pictorial Doug Skinner’s intrusive Reader Survey A rare Boggle toss Bouncing Draculas An Oulipian crossword puzzle And more avant-garde goodness.
FEATURING 38 LUMINARIES: Robert Archambeau; Corina Bardoff; Terry Bradford; Igor Bulatovsky; Paul Busson; Apollo Camembert; Norman Conquest; Albert Cossery; Noël Devaulx; Rachel Galvin; Jean-Luc Gameau; Shawn Garrett; Edward Gauvin; Julien Gracq; Pierre Autin-Grenier; Daniel Y. Harris; Rick Henry; Esteban Isnardi; Julia Lillard; Joshua Martin; George MacLennan; Dmitri Manin; Paul Nougé; Thomas Owen; Angelo Pastormerlo; Alejandro Albarrán Polanco; Bernard Quiriny; Adam Ranđelović; Simon Read; Doug Skinner; Lono Taggers; Mark Valentine; Tim Walker; Gregory Wallace; Alyson Waters; Andrew Wenaus; Tom Whalen; Bill Wolak.
Avant-garde composer & poet, Mirtha Pozzi in Paris.
Don’t miss the current issue of TYPO: The International Journal of Prototypes, featuring the first English translation of a novelette by surrealist André Pieyre de Mandiargues, and previously unavailable translations from a diverse selection of neglected literary masters: Marcel Schneider, Bernard Quiriny, Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando, Walter Serner, and others. Plus art and startling surprises.
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.
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.
This scandalous little work appeared in France under the title “Letter to La Présidente.”
Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) was a novelist and poet, one of the champions of Romanticism. In 1850, he and his friend Louis de Cormenin visited Italy, so he wrote his friends back home a letter about their adventures. The result was a rollicking “filthy letter,” packed with jokes, slang, obsolete words, literary allusions, puns, alliterations, neologisms, Spoonerisms, verses, outrageous metaphors, and Rabelaisian lists. It was published privately in 1890, and became a clandestine classic.
A FILTHY LETTER Théophile Gautier Translated from the French by Doug Skinner, with an introduction & notes on the text Pocket Erotica Series #28 74 pp., 4 x 6 inches; 979-8-9894330-7-0
We proudly present the 15th volume in our grand Alphonse Allais Collection. Here is France’s greatest humorist in top form. This first English translation of WE ARE NOT SHEEP features 44 witty tales, PLUS four extra stories, translated by Allaisian scholar Doug Skinner, with his erudite introduction and complete notes on the text.
If you’re looking for laughter—(and, hell, who isn’t?)—this delightful edition is a gift that will long be remembered.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALPHONSE ALLAIS (1854-1905) was a peerless French humorist, celebrated posthumously by the Surrealists for his elegant style and disturbing imagination. In addition to composing absurdist texts for newspapers such as LE CHAT NOIR and LE JOURNAL, he experimented with holorhymes, pioneered conceptual art, and created the earliest known example of a silent musical composition: FUNERAL MARCH FOR THE OBSEQUIES OF A DEAF MAN (1884). Ahead of his time (as well as ours), Allais is needed now more than ever. His mischievous work remains fresh, funny, and always surprising.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
DOUG SKINNER has contributed to Black Scat Review, The Fortean Times, Strange Attractor Journal, Fate, Weirdo, Nickelodeon, Cabinet, and other fine publications. Black Scat Books has published several books of his stories, cartoons, and songs, as well as translations of Alphonse Allais, Charles Cros, Alfred Jarry, Pierre-Corneille Blessebois, Luigi Russolo, Caroline Crépiat, and Corinne Taunay. Other translations include Three Dreams (Giovanni Battista Nazari, Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks), The Cocktail Hour (Marcel Requien and Lucien Farnoux, with Gaylor Olivier, Corps Reviver), and Principles of Cerebral Mechanics (Charles Cros, Wakefield Press).
He has written music for several dance companies; his scores for actor/clown Bill Irwin include The Regard of Flight, The Courtroom, The Regard Evening, and The Harlequin Studies.
TV and movie appearances include Great Performances, Martin Mull’s Talent Takes a Holiday, Mike’s Talent Show, Ed, Crocodile Dundee II, several of George Kuchar’s videos, and a smattering of commercials.
His albums That Regrettable Weekend, It All Went Pfft, and An Afternoon in the Arboretum are available on Bandcamp.
Here in America, Black Scat Books has published thirteen collections by the master absurdist — all skillfully translated by Doug Skinner. And coming this December — we’ll bring you Allais’s 14th book—WE ARE NOT SHEEP.
While you’re waiting, please check out our vast Alphonse Allais Collection below. These volumes will keep you laughing throughout 2024. (Click on the titles below for details.)
blackscatbooks.com 