Tag: satire

SADE’S SATIRICAL NOVELLA

In this rare novella by the Marquis de Sade, a marriage is arranged between the aging Judge de Fontanis and a young woman, Mademoiselle de Téroze, who (unbeknownst to him) is in love with someone else. The young woman and her brother-in-law (the Marquis d’Olincourt) perpetrate a series of practical jokes, humiliating hoaxes and elaborate schemes in order to deceive the judge and stop him from consummating the marriage.

This amusing tale is an artfully-written and beautifully-structured literary attack on the judiciary, and one of Sade’s most savagely satirical texts.

A JUDGE DECEIVED
Marquis de Sade
Translated from the French by R J Dent
Pocket Erotica #24
pp., 174; paper, $14.95

Two other humorous works by the Marquis de Sade are also available in the Pocket Erotica series.

UFOs (Unidentified Flying Odes)

John Pitaro has written an illuminating review of our SELECTED POEMS OF EDWARD D. WOOD, JR.
(Absurdist Texts & Documents #26).

It appears in the current issue of SENSITIVE SKIN magazine.

Here’s a snippet:

“Within this mix of emotional upheaval and splintered symbolism, Wood closes the chapbook with a particularly notable piece, one indicating his inclusion in both the literary underground and the LGBTQ community as well as the sorrowful reality of unsuccessful arts careers. It is dubbed “Howl” (page 25) and opens with a sharp, satiric awareness of Ginsberg:

I saw the best flicks of my generation destroyed/by critics/ranting hysterical mutants/
Dragging directors in drag through the mud like/blood-thirsty bullies

Here, Wood deems himself “the angel-headed genius in the orange neon dusk of Hollywood”, and observes his audience both laughing at and cheering him in the cinema before

They staggered off into the sunset strip/
Leapt off the Hollywood sign into the bliss of the curvaceous cult-womb/
That wrapped them forever in its loin-lit angoric embrace “

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW

CLICK HERE to buy the book and weep with laughter. Inspired satire, guaranteed.


LOOK OUT MAMA, IT’S DEBAUCH-O-RAMA!

“A harsh, hilarious, scurrilous, and scatological satire.”
—Ed Simon, JSTOR Daily

Poet John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, was considered one of the greatest English satirists — a nimble wit and scribbler of sublime wordplay, parodies & pornographic puns.

Hailed by Graham Greene and Ezra Pound, Wilmot is perhaps best known for his outrageous libertine satires, including this wickedly funny Restoration drama.

Originally titled The Farce of Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery, DEBAUCH-O-RAMA is an absurdist “closet drama” – written to be read aloud and not performed.  It consists of five acts in raunchy rhyming couplets and a madcap cast of characters:

CAST

  • Bolloxinion – King of Sodom
  • Cuntigratia – his Queen
  • Pricket – young Prince
  • Swivia – Princess
  • Buggeranthos – General of the Army
  • Pockenello – Prince and favourite of the King
  • Borastus – Buggermaster-General
  • Pene & Tooly – Pimps of Honour
  • Officina – Maid of Honour
  • Fuckadilla – Maid of Honour
  • Cunticulla – Maid of Honour
  • Clytoris – Maid of Honour
  • Flux – Physician to the King
  • Vertuso – Dildo- and Merkin-Maker for the Court

Let the curtain rise and the laughter begin!

DEBAUCH-O-RAMA
A Restoration Closet Drama
by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Pocket Erotica  [№ 11 ]
65 pp.; paper, perfect bound; 4 x 6 inches; $10
ISBN 978-1-7357646-2-7

Journey to Parts Unknown

“…her valleys are like Eden, her hills like Lebanon, her springs as Pisgah, and her rivers as Jordan; that she is a paradise of pleasure and garden of delight.”

This satirical travelogue was first published in England 1740. With Swiftian wit, it describes the female sexual anatomy as a metaphor of geography and natural history. This lovely guidebook is a must-have for the armchair adventurer, as well as timid explorers who dream of female parts unknown. Students of natural history and budding geographers will discover many hidden delights within these pages.

***This edition also includes a never-before-published map of the country***

“The Arabian Geographical Lexicographer cited by Schultens in his book observes that the exact limits of the  vast country of Merryland are en­tirely unknown, the greatest traveller never having been able to discover its utmost bounds; and whoever attempts such a discov­ery, may properly be said to grope in the dark.”

Collectors of RARE curiosa and exotic erotica rejoice! — your destination has arrived!

“…a masterpiece of wit and humour!”

TRAVELS TO MERRYLAND
Containing a Topographical, Geographical & Natural History of that Country
by Roger Pheuquewell, Esq.
Pocket Erotica  [№ 10 ]
76 pp., paper; illustrated; $10
ISBN: 978-1-7357646-4-1

Green is the New Black

Have you seen The Book With the Green Cover?

It’s a collection of verbo-visual treats by Norman Conquest. It features posters, charts, mock book & magazine covers, rectified readymades, typographic diversions, found novels, and other detritus. It’s profusely illustrated with color plates and silverware.

Available now, just in time for summer. Be the first kid on the block to take this coffee table chapbook to the beach!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY

 

Cool is here. Happy New Year!

Here is the first publication in English of the master humorist’s collection, Vive la vie! —  stories culled from the pages of Le Chat Noir, packed with madcap (and bawdy) tales of love, adultery, the supernatural, military life, and fake news. These texts are quintessentially Allaisian, spiked with absurd digressions, parenthetical asides, footnotes, puns,  jokes, military jargon, Parisian slang, neologisms, dog Latin, literary quotations, and other unmentionable forms of wordplay. ORDER NOW

 

Le Scat Noir Encyclopædia contains entries from Acrostic to Zwine, and features contributors from around the world—some of whom are distinguished professors at prestigious universities. Others are Nobel Prize winners, while a few have been arrested on felony charges. Discover rare factoids, flash fiction, nubile moon spew, mythological arcana, cabalistic pathogens, pataphysical detritus, scatological schemata, crypto-heuristic scripture, and radical homomorphism. Over 100 pages of profusely illustrated weirdness. ORDER NOW

American Book Review hailed Carla M. Wilson’s  first book,  IMPOSSIBLE CONVERSATIONS, as “profound.”  Now her focus turns to film in this dazzling new fiction collection: CURIOUS IMPOSSIBILITIES:. Taking her cue from French New Wave films of the 1960s, Film Noir, and classics from the ‘70s and ‘80s, Wilson constructs a series of homages to ten visionary directors: Fellini, Tarkovsky, Duras, Robbe-Grillet, Godard, Marker, Truffaut, Bergman, Welles, and Ershadi. Her “cinematic riffs” offer creative interpretations of their iconic films that broke stylistic boundaries using non-traditional techniques. ORDER NOW

12 gifted women writers from around the world unveil intimate stories designed to unsettle, excite, transport, and arouse the reader. “As you move through these tales, points of pleasure will be touched, bliss sent in shock waves. You have uncovered sizzling mysteries, becoming swathed by them. These stimulating women’s voices will carry you through feelings and sensations as old as time.” THE NEW URGE READER 3 features Tamara Faith Berger, Elizabeth Bolton, Emma Gibb, Petra Anne Hawk, Marina Kris, Mandy Lee, Karen Moller, Pamela Naruta, Marina Rubin, Aurora Seymour, Sophia Smith, and Rebecca Woolston. ORDER NOW

 

“In” Tunes for the tuned in 

THE DOUG SKINNER SONGBOOK has arrived!

Black humor hits a high note in this grand collection of music & lyrics. “Buenas Noches, Little Roaches,” “Breeders Can’t Be Choosers,” “My Pal Satan,” and many more of Skinner’s greatest hits in one snazzY large format paperback EDITION. This compilation of hand-crafted sheet music makes the perfect accompaniment to every nuclear family gathering. SO huddle round the piano and rev up those vocal cords!

CRITICS RAVE FOR DOUG SKINNER’S TUNES
“Chillingly zany” —The New York Times 
“Deceptively dark and satirical” —Cover
“Very witty and well-written jeux des mots” —Woodstock Times 
“Scathingly witty… lullabies etched in acid” —Metro Magazine
“Clever and delightfully barbed” —Paper
  

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE ON AMAZON — CLICK HERE TO ORDER

 

About Doug Sinner

Doug Skinner has contributed articles and cartoons to Black Scat Review, Oulipo Pornobongo, The Fortean Times, Strange Attractor Journal, Fate, Weirdo, The Anomalist, Nickelodeon, Cabinet, and other fine publications. Black Scat has published several books of his stories and cartoons, as well as his translations of the French humorist Alphonse Allais.

He has written music for several dance companies, including ODC-San Francisco and Margaret Jenkins; his scores for actor/clown Bill Irwin include The Regard of Flight, The Courtroom, The Regard Evening, and The Harlequin Studies. He has performed his songs (the ones inside this book) in many theaters, clubs, and cabarets. His puppet shows with Michael Smith have been seen everywhere from Caroline’s Comedy Club in Manhattan to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

TV and movie appearances include Great Performances, The ‘90s, Martin Mull’s Talent Takes a Holiday, Ed, Crocodile Dundee II, and a smattering of commercials.

He lived for decades in Manhattan, but has moved to New Paltz, a few miles to the north.

Buy the book.

Download an Album

Click here for a Free sample.

STAND AND SALUTE!

What happens when you combine patriotism and ‘pataphysics (the science of imaginary solutions)? That’s right, you get a big BANG and fireworks — all packed inside the new
LE SCAT NOIR.  

The July issue features incendiary works by Alain Arias-Misson, Paulo Brito, Norman Conquest, Mitchell Eva, Eckhard Gerdes, Harold Jaffe, Alfred Jarry, Richard Kostelanetz, Terri Lloyd, Frank Pulaski, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Mercie Pedro e Silva, and Doug Skinner. 

#225 marks the first interactive edition with “live” links and an EXCLUSIVE screen-video of Alfred Jarry’s resurrection!  

As always, it’s free to read online or download to your device, so stand and salute! Then  CLICK HERE.

Welcome to Blissville USA!

Take this hilarious trip back to 1970s suburbia and meet sexy Beulah Montezuma. Alas, despite her abundant charms, she’s having a hard time satisfying her well-endowed hubby. But Beulah is not a quitter, and she’s determined to give it her all in this outrageous “erotical” novel.

Originally published by Grove Press, we’re proud to bring this raunchy classic back to life in a New Urge edition. And, yes, the cat (and the pun) is out of the bag now, as the man behind the Stephanie Gatos pseudonym is none other than writer and poet Steve Katz.

Steve is the author of many  acclaimed books of fiction and poetry, including The Exagggerations of Peter Prince (recently reissued), Creamy and Delicious, Saw, Wier & Pouce, Florry of Washington Heights, Swanny’s Ways, Journalism, et al.

This Posh is his.

But this is no time for pussyfooting…CLICK HERE and order your copy today!

You can sample the first chapter for free in the special “Eros” issue of LE SCAT NOIR here

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE ON AMAZON

The Sporting Life!

This collection of sporting tales mashes literary history and sports lore into a satirical inferno—skewering academic jargon and postmodern analysis with a razor-sharp, poison-tipped foil. Axelrod mischievously injects the ancients with steroids and offers statistics to prove how little we know about the origin of our favorite pastimes. Inside you’ll discover the “Baudelaire-Bird Connection or, How the Boston Celtics Got To Be That Way”; the obscure “Russian Sport of Face Slapping”; “Metaleptic Parabasis or, the Fine Art of High Jumping”; “Jai-Alai Machu Picchu,” and many other strange feats of Physical Lit-ness. Arm yourself with these tales and head to the nearest sports bar or poetry reading and laugh your ass off.

Dante’s Foil & Other Sporting Tales
by mark axelrod

150 pp., trade paperback, $12.95

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON