“Selby Yarrow’s Private Diary” can be found in The Snowman Three Doors Down. Poor Selby Yarrow starts a diary, but runs into difficulty with both his intentions and his materials. He also decides to keep it in code, only to realize that anyone can crack it, since he described it before using it. Here’s how […]

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Principles of Cerebral Mechanics is now available from Wakefield Press! This is my third translation of Charles Cros (these are the others). Here’s how Wakefield describes it: Though lesser known among the scientific writings of Charles Cros, Principles of Cerebral Mechanics is a visionary work that further establishes the author’s standing as the inventeur maudit […]

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For the “Errata” edition of the Black Scat Review, I came up with a list of unfortunate typos on title pages. I particularly enjoyed inventing fictional publishers. Here’s how it begins: TYPOS ON TITLE PAGES H. L. Mencken once observed that a book is most likely to have a typo on the title page, since […]

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This story recounts the romance between Princess Ada and her suitor, Prince Gabe. She’s rather GAGA, and he, frankly, is A BEEF-FACED FEEB. But music is the food of love!  

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The 22nd issue of Black Scat Review is now available! This is the “Errata” issue, and contains my contributions “Shakespeare Misspelled” and “Typos on Title Pages.” It also features texts, comics, collages, and drawings by my lively colleagues Terri Carrion, Norman Conquest, Caroline Crépiat, Farewell Debut, S. C. Delaney, Jean-Pierre Duffour, Errorbiblioteca, Paul Forristal, Ryan […]

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Le Chat Noir Exposed is now available from Black Scat Books! This extraordinary work of scholarship exposes the liveliest fin-de-siècle bohemian cabaret and paper in Paris. Le Chat Noir was a playground for painters, writers, poets, pranksters, and musicians, all gleefully demolishing the standards of art and good taste. Caroline Crépiat examines such eccentric personalities […]

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In this univocalic story from The Snowman Three Doors Down, Ebenezer and Celeste have to decipher a coded message sent by the settlers. This may mean trouble for Fessenden. Here’s how it begins… THE SECRET SENTENCE Ebenezer’s beeper beeped. He pressed the desk beeper; Celeste entered the belvedere.“Yes?” she beseeched. He greeted her, petted the […]

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Sleeping Beauty and Rip Van Winkle had much in common, but never met. In this tale in verse, they switch places on awakening, to general confusion. Here’s how it begins. SLEEPING BEAUTY AND RIP VAN WINKLE Sleeping Beauty, Rip Van Winkle, Slept beneath the wheeling twinkle Of the starry sky on high, Slept as decades […]

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July 4th marks the 9th year of Black Scat Books! To celebrate the occasion, they have released a special deluxe hardcover edition of their very first title, Alphonse Allais’s Masks — based on Allais’s story Un drame bien parisien, adapted and illustrated by Norman Conquest, with an introduction and notes by Allaisian scholar Doug Skinner. […]

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In this story from my collection Sleepytime Cemetery, our two hapless protagonists contend with life underwater. Why is it so much harder to breathe there, anyway? Here’s how it begins… INTO THE SEA “I’ve never done this before,” admitted Morris. “Me neither,” said Winchell. “Well, let’s see what it’s like,” said Morris. They jumped off […]

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