Here’s the beginning of a short story, “Baby Bay.” The whole thing will appear in The Doug Skinner Dossier, to be published next month by Black Scat Books. You can read this while you wait… BABY BAY High up in the treetops, old Mr. Stork shuffled into the Baby Bay, and peered over his specs […]

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Just in time for June Gloom, Black Scat Books proudly presents the first in a series of Black Scat Broadsides: Alphonse Allais’s “A Curious Physiological Industry,” translated by Doug Skinner. In the spirit of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” this rare text is the master absurdist at his devilish best — a full-color, poster-sized (12 x […]

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In 2012, Norman Conquest kicked off the Absurdist Texts and Documents series at Black Scat Books with his illustrated adaptation of Alphonse Allais’s story Un drame bien parisien. The original limited edition is now out of print. He has just republished a new expanded edition, with an introduction and notes by Doug Skinner. You can […]

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The Zombie of Great Peru, or the Countess of Cocagne, by Pierre-Corneille Blessebois, rises from the grave in its first English edition, translated by Doug Skinner! It’s available now from Black Scat Books. This bizarre novel, written in 1697, marks the first mention of the word “zombie” in world literature. It is a wicked tale […]

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The Squadron’s Umbrella is now out from Black Scat Books! In the words of the publisher: Authored by Alphonse Allais Translated by Doug Skinner 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, […]

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The latest issue of Cabinet, #55, is devoted to love. It contains a postcard with an excerpt from my book Horoscrapes. You can buy a copy, and send a Horoscrape through the U.S. postal system! And the postcard can be viewed here.

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John Dee, Part I: John Dee Through His Dreams An Illustrated Lecture with Doug Skinner Date: Tuesday, November 18 Time: 8pm Admission: $12 Place: Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424 Third Avenue, Brooklyn. This lecture is presented by Shannon Taggart, Programmer in Residence of the Morbid Anatomy Museum. In the first of this two evening series, Doug […]

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Horoscrapes is now available!  Here is the publisher’s blurb: Part Oulipian exercise, these meticulous scrapings reveal the future in all its sublime absurdity. The author approached the horoscope in his morning newspaper as if it were a puzzle, like the crossword or sudoku. By scraping out the middle part, and joining the beginning and end, he received a hidden message. Reading outside the lines […]

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The book blog “Wuthering Expectations” has posted a nice review of the Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais.  You can read it here. The book in question is available from Amazon. Norman Conquest, of Black Scat Books, has sent these photos of happy readers:

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Richard Toronto has written the definitive work on the artwork of Richard Shaver, in two volumes, with over 300 illustrations. I wrote the introduction for the second volume, linking Shaver’s preoccupation with stones and pareidolia to the long tradition of scrying and lithomancy. It’s from Shavertron Press, and you can find it on Amazon. Here’s […]

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