Bed Bug: A Magazine of the Arts is now available from Black Scat Books! Here’s the description from its editor, Norman Conquest:

As the world comes to an end, and the bed bug infestation spreads from France throughout Europe, it is time for a journal devoted to infestation, invasion, and chaos.

Featuring works by Alphonse Allais, Tim Anderson, Tom Bradley, Norman Conquest, Farewell Debut, R J Dent, Larry Fondation, Jesse Glass, Boris Glikman, Rhys Hughes, Harold Jaffe, Amy Kurman, Terri Lloyd, John-Ivan Palmer, Jason E. Rolfe, Paul Rosheim, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Doug Skinner, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Corinne Taunay, Catrin Welz-Stein, Tom Whalen, Carol White, and D. Harlan Wilson.

I contributed a translation of a story by Alphonse Allais (“An Excellent Trick”), a poem (“Lord Bedbug”), and a piano piece (“BEDBAG”). And you can find it on Amazon!

The Potato Farm is now available! This collection of thirty stories is my first book of short fiction since The Snowman Three Doors Down in 2018.

What happens when constellations socialize, when Faust and the Devil start drinking, when imaginary friends gain imaginary friends, when Sleeping Beauty and Rip van Winkle trade places, when Duncan paints a cockatrice, when a terrifying Werechurch roams the land? And was it really a good idea for August and Collier to start that potato farm, especially given Collier’s troubled past? You’ll find slapstick, vivid characters, fictional physics, and surprising narratives, often filtered through stringent constraints to keep the language lively. If you read only one book this year, read this one over and over again!

It’s designed by Norman Conquest, published by the delightful people at Black Scat Books, and available on Amazon.

A very short story, from my upcoming collection The Potato Farm.

IMPASSE

“I have nothing to say,” he said.
“Who asked you?” she asked.
“I won’t dignify that with a reply,” he replied.
“Then I have nothing more to add,” she added.

Some capitalist theology.

At Derek Pell’s request, I speak briefly about our experiences working with Artificial Intelligence for our book The Man Who Ate His House. Thanks to Mamie Caton for shooting the video, which you can see here.

Kiarna Boyd asked me to narrate her novel Blessed and Cursed Alike, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its publication. I called in Brian Dewan as engineer, and we managed to record the whole book in four days (not in a row). Kiarna has released the first chapter here. More will follow! Sex, violence, magic, and motorcycles as only Kiarna can write it!

This useful design can be found in Typo 3.

TYPO 3 is now available! For the third issue of this inimitable publication, I contributed a parody of Oscar Wilde (“Bosie’s Translation”), an article on the design of single-serve salt packets, a design for a Hawaiian Ouija board, and a translation of a letter by Aloysius Bertrand, as well as examples from my collection of antique calling cards.

My estimable fellow contributors are Tim Newton Anderson, Tom Barrett, André Breton, Jahan Cader, Norman Conquest, Farewell Debut, R J Dent, Germaine Dulac, Eckhard Gerdes, Boris Glikman, Vasilisk Gnedov, Amy Kurman, Edward Lee, Emilia Loseva, Gabriel Pomerand, R. Prost, De Villo Sloan, Robert R. Thurman, and Nico Vassilakis.

It’s edited by Norman Conquest, published by Black Scat Books, and available on Amazon.

A selection of original artwork from my comic book Shorten the Classics will be on display throughout August, at the Elting Memorial Library in New Paltz, NY. I’ll also give a reading there on Wednesday, August 9, at 7 pm; I’ll be joined by another alumnus of the NYC performance scene, Tom Keener. The library is at 93 Main St., and more info is available here.

ADDENDUM: And here’s a photo of the exhibit, thanks to Mamie Caton.