Caroline Crépiat holds up my translation of her book Le Chat Noir Exposed, at an art show in Paris. If you haven’t read it yet, this may remind you that you’ve been meaning to.

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This sad little tale can be found in The Snowman Three Doors Down. The title did, in fact, come from a dream. The constraint (for there is a constraint) is that the text forms an acrostic of the title, and that each sentence contains the number of words corresponding to the initial letter’s place in […]

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The upcoming issue of the Black Scat Review is devoted to “Lewd, Nude, and Rude.” I’m offering my translation of The Noble Apothecary, a 1664 novella by Jean Donneau de Visé. Donneau de Visé is remembered mostly for his polemics against Molière, but he also wrote plays, served as Louis XIV’s historian, and founded an […]

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My new annotated translation of “Loves, Delights, and Organs,” by Alphonse Allais, is now available from Black Scat Books. Allais was a peerless humorist whose wild imagination, and fascination with technology and language, made him a favorite of Alfred Jarry, André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Umberto Eco, and generations of writers. The Pataphysical College named him […]

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The 24th issue of Black Scat Review is now available! The theme of this one is “Funhouse.” In it, you can find my short story “The Potato Farm,” as well as delightful verbiage and artwork by Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, David Berger, Norman Conquest, R J Dent, Muriel Falak, Eckhard Gerdes, Richard Gessner, Alfred Jarry, Richard Kostelanetz, Amy Kurman, Mantis, Kate Meyer-Currey, Bob McNeil, Lillianne Milgrom, Lance Olsen, Paul Rosheim, Nile Southern, and […]

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“The Potato Farm” tells the story of August’s foray into potato farming, his often uneasy partnership with Collier, and his intermittent interactions with Bud and Paulette. It’s slated for the next issue of the Black Scat Review. Here’s how it begins: THE POTATO FARM August entered the Camisole Tavern and approached Bud and Paulette, who […]

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The 23rd issue of Black Scat Review is now available! It’s devoted to “wordplay,” and includes several pages of Doug Skinner: my translations of two poems by Raymond Queneau (depicted on the cover) and four pages of my upcoming comic book Shorten the Classics. Also on board are the stellar crew of Mark Axelrod, Tom Barrett, […]

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To celebrate the release of the movie The Mothman Prophecies, based on the book by John Keel, Fortean Times published a special Mothman issue (#156, April 2002). I contributed an interview with John, aided by George Kuchar and Mamie Caton, as well as a Keelian bio and bibliography. I also wrote a short article about […]

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The syllabic constraint of haiku calls for the additional constraint of rhyme. Here are seven examples: Look at all the salt Sprinkled on my frosted malt It’s the waiter’s fault You thought it great sport To commit a grievous tort I’ll see you in court What is this I found Just lying here on the […]

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Tom Bowden has posted a review of my translation of Charles Cros’s Principles of Cerebral Mechanics, along with an interview with me, over here (it’s the second review in the batch). Get your copy of this fascinating work today, from Wakefield Press!

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