OF ORACLES, ALLUVIA, APOCALYPSES, AND ALMANACS

is a long essay that accompanies individual texts intertwining poetry and scholarship for each card in the deck;

together with black and white images of the original cards, these comprise the 2021 guidebook to Kahn and Selesnick’s TAROT OF THE DROWNING WORLD.

The Tarot of the Drowning World and its guidebook, Tarot du Monde Perdu, are now available to order online: http://kahnselesnick.biz/store

Read an excerpt from Of Oracles Alluvia, Apocalypses, and Almanacs, below:

REVIEWS

Since the artists Kahn and Selesnick chose to publish the guidebook independently and also not distribute it through amazon dot com, it’s ineligible for/invisible to many mainstream review platforms—in the year 2023, for a book to have such an outsider stance gives its presence in some people’s lives a bit of a serendipitous-speakeasyish-word of mouth quality we in truth don’t mind a bit of, but at the same time, we recognize that many of us humans have become accustomed to crowd-sourcing context or reassurance a book might suit our needs via reviews, before plonking down some cash, and I have empathy for those who want to read what other readers think about a book. While eschewing corporate-mediated platforms has its merits, it also limits opportunities to participate in the Commons—reviews and being reviewed are also a way of making and being in conversation and community. So, after talking with a dear librarian friend, I devised a strategy for self-publishing reviews.

I’m also, as an artist and a person making and doing things intended to be shared with other people, very appreciative when people take the time to give me feedback.

Thus, if you’re willing to share some of your thoughts and impressions of the book, whether to be shared publicly in the space below or privately only with me, I made a Google form that won’t collect any of your email or personal data beyond what you choose to share in the spaces provided. You can find it here:

https://forms.gle/EPybuKtYznwbvNM77

And: though I’m not terribly visible on social media, your follows, posts, comments and spontaneous reviews there mean so much to us ! The artists Kahn and Selesnick and I are supergrateful for your tags and shares !

#tarotofthedrowningworld @kahnselesnick @sjudefalkner https://www.instagram.com/sjudefalkner/

madame lulu’s book of fate

In 2020 we created the 2nd Edition, revised, of MADAME LULU’S BOOK OF FATE.

MADAME LULU’S BOOK OF FATE: A GUIDE TO CARNIVAL AT THE END OF THE WORLD TAROT (2018-2020), was commissioned by artists Kahn + Selesnick, who also commissioned several short stories by Sarah Falkner for their City of Salt, published in 2005 by Aperture.

“I adore the book. It’s exquisitely written with an ambiance of mystique– the weaving of powerful old world magic. Madame Lulu’s Book of Fate adds to the prophetic tone of tarot readings with Carnival. The style of writing in the guidebook reminds me of a fortune-teller in a dimly-lit tent, with bad teeth, smelling of patchouli, and reptiles preserved in glass jars lined on the shelves behind her.”

read the full review here:

https://benebellwen.com/2018/09/25/review-of-carnival-at-the-end-of-the-world-tarot/

a few other reviews:

Glamour Zombie: https://glamourzombie.tumblr.com/post/178734340222/embed

Coffee With the Fool: https://coffeewiththefool.com/blog/2018/2/23/deck-review-carnivalattheendoftheworld

ANIMAL SANCTUARY was awarded the seventh Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction in 2011.

From Donna Seaman’s 2011 Booklist review:

”In a stealthily affecting reportorial voice, debut novelist Falkner tells the story of tepidly successful 1960s movie actress Kitty Dawson via interviews, critiques, press coverage, and plot summaries of her movies (one involves packs of rampaging dogs, another giant mutant rabbits). Kitty's intensifying affinity for animals inspires her and her husband to open a California sanctuary for abused and neglected "exotic big cats." We're also granted glimpses into the lives of Kitty's body double, a college student searching for a missing friend while on location in Africa; director Albert Wickwood, a clever and cutting variation of Alfred Hitchcock; and Kitty's son, Rory, a spiritually oriented performance artist. Other pieces in this brilliantly analytical, ironically funny, and tenderly empathic scrapbook novel illuminate curious parallels between hunting and filmmaking, the ethics of nature documentaries, the suffering of lab animals, discrimination against immigrants, the commercialization of art, and how movies "function in place of fairy tales and myths to shape what you fear and hope for." Stylistically fresh, culturally lush, intellectually exciting, and elegantly emotional, Falkner's provocative, surreptitiously beautiful novel dissolves the boundaries between animals and humankind, racial and ethnic groups, and men and women and reminds us that we can all "give and receive and be sanctuary.

Click to read more reviews