Archived News from the Poison Pie Publishing House.

News Updates From 2013:

 

December 9, 2013
The Many Faces of Poison Pie
It has been repeatedly noted that Poison Pie was an entity who encouraged if not thrived on ambiguity, particularly in regard to the various descriptions of his person and stories of his origin, which are often simply contradictory. Today, we add new material to this already abundant file of conflicting information.

Some of the accounts of Poison Pie have been literary in nature. These include but are not limited to the following texts.

Other representations of Poison Pie have been material in nature, including the following objects.

To this myriad of forms, we now add a description of Poison Pie as a role-playing character.

This character background is fourth in a series of six character histories posted here.

 

December 7, 2013
Introducing Mr. H.E. Gorton
Citizens of the World Present & Future:
Earlier this year, the crack talent-identifying branch of the Poison Pie Publishing House completed a psychic exercise during which a series of meditative sit-ins were sat in, from which psychic reverberations were dispersed through-out the aurasphere of the Earth, soliciting material from young writers for potential publication. The response was overwhelming. The team was, if anything, too adept at the generation of emanations that found resonance within sympathetic individuals. However, the task of sifting through the mountain of submissions has been completed. Although there were many excellent materials submitted, at this time the Poison Pie Publishing House would like to announce the addition of only a single new talent to the illustrious roster of authors writing for the Poison Pie Publishing House. It is with a sense of great anticipation that we announce that Mr. H.E. Gorton of City Redacted, State Redacted has agreed to publish with the Poison Pie Publishing House. We expect his first book to be on shelves prior to December 7, 2023. As a more definite date becomes apparent, updates will be provided. Mr. Gorton has graciously allowed us to share the exercise he submitted that earned him this recognition. He has asked that the writing exercise be titled, Insect Gods (Lore from the Devonian Genesis): The Arthropod Deuteronomy, although it was originally submitted under the title Insect Gods: A Ninth Grade Vocabulary Homework Assignment. The full text is available via free anonymous download.
Sincerely,
The Editorial Board of the Poison Pie Publishing House

 

December 2, 2013
The latest illustrated book from the Poison Pie Publishing House, The Mushroomnomicon by the Keffer family, continues to exceed expectations. As previously noted, the six members of the heroic party in the Mushroomnomicon had their origin in the role-playing adventures of the four authors. By popular demand, we present character sheets for these six characters. The Mushroomnomicon is now available in paperback, online and narrated formats.

 

November 11, 2013
The Poison Pie Publishing House is proud to announce the publication of an essay titled A Literature of Non-Idiomatic Improvisation. In this freely distributed document, a description of the literature of non-idiomatic improvisation is provided. An analogy with the established field of non-idiomatic improvised music is continuously employed to define a literary counterpart. Elements of both the non-idiomatic nature and the improvisational nature of literature are identified. Five works of fiction by established authors are evaluated in terms of these criteria. Finally, one work of fiction by an author who identifies himself as a writer of non-idiomatic improvised literature is discussed.

 

November 5, 2013
We post a link to a new poem, "There was No Need to Publish", by David Keffer.

 

October 30, 2013
All fourteen novels published by the Poison Pie Publishing House have been entered in the KindleMatch program. In this program, customers who purchase the paperback version of any novel from the Poison Pie Publishing House from amazon.com will have access to a free electronic version of the book for the kindle. The KindleMatch program launched October 29, 2013.

 

October 28, 2013
We post a link to a new poem, The Last Monday Morning in October, 2013, by David Keffer.

 

October 5, 2013
A demon of flame arose from the abyss, traveled through astral portals and appeared at the doorstep of the Poison Pie Publishing House last night, inside which slept the staff in the dormitories on the second floor, above the printing presses over which they had feverishly worked the previous day. Exhausted from their labors, none were disturbed by the arrival of the beast, except yours truly, who either wasn't sleeping well or had not exerted the same level of effort in my labors for the righteous cause of the Poison Pie Publishing House, and had thus not been rewarded with a well-earned, imperturbable sleep. I rose and stepped into the heated proximity of the demon. It scanned me for a moment with three or four of its six roving eyes, then with an imperceptible shrug dismissed me as inconsequential.

In the abyss, it is said that flame demons possess a voracious appetite. They devour all lesser, combustible creatures with whom they come in contact. Although I had not sought immolation in answering the door, nevertheless I wondered by which virtue or vice I had escaped the demon's notice. Was I possessed of some invulnerability to conflagration of which I had never been aware? Was, unbeknownst to me, a higher power shielding me from a fiery doom? Or, rather, was I simply, as it seemed, already a mote of ash, for whom further incineration would be redundant?

Though the broken, dissonant clacking of the tripedal gait of its hooves on the concrete floor unnerved me, I followed the beast for half an hour as it wove between the presses, the darkness disturbed only by the flicker of its internal smoldering. Apparently, it did not find whatever object it had been sent to retrieve, for it scoured me over its shoulder once more with a baleful eye, before emitting a burst of red flame, momentarily blinding me. When my sight returned, the demon was gone, leaving only a faint odor of sulfur in its wake.

I laughed. For ten thousand years has the Poison Pie Publishing House hidden knowledge from powers both good and evil. Such a cursory invasion had little chance of success. Indeed, the manuscript of the forthcoming work from the Poison Pie Publishing House remained safe in a vault, accessible only to myself. These secrets, both profane and mundane, we would reveal according to our schedule and none other.

 

September 26, 2013
Hebeloma Crustuliniforme, also known as Poison Pie, is generally regarded as a toxic mushroom, although there are those who simply describe it as unpalatable. The offending agent in Poison Pie is Hebelomic Acid A. Today we present various representations of Hebelomic Acid A, including ball and stick, space-filling, and cylinder visualizations. Color legend: gray-carbon, red-oxygen, white-hydrogen.

 

September 9, 2013
Check out the blog of Mr. H.E. Gorton, Ixuru Speaks, for some ancient musings from a young mind.

 

September 6, 2013
We post a link to a new poem, Bicycling in Heavy Morning Fog, by David Keffer.

 

September 1, 2013
In celebration of the first anniversary of the renewed publishing activity of the Poison Pie Publishing House, a poster has been created showcasing the covers of the fourteen novels released during the past year. These novels consisted of some new material mixed in with a heavy dose of archival releases, spanning as far back as 1993. A chronology of the novels is available. While the archive is not entirely depleted, rest assured no such publishing productivity shall be matched again. This poster and others from the Poison Pie Publishing House are available for viewing at the broadside page of the gallery.

 

July 29, 2013
A new version of the broadside, 4 nymphs (redux), is posted online. This broadside features four nymphs in felt fingerpuppet form designed by Ms. Ruth Keffer, soon to be in the fifth grade. One of these fingerpuppets appears in the illustrated book, The Mushroomnomicon, published by none other than the Poison Pie Publishing House and now available in paperback, online and narrated formats. The original version of the poster is available in the broadside page of the gallery.

 

July 27, 2013
june and jitter (the bugs) by David J. Keffer has been published in paperback and ebook formats. "june and jitter (the bugs)" is the bastard child produced from the unholy union of Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" and an unrelenting dose of the clinical absurdism of Kobo Abé. A crew of ten leave Earth to explore the planet, Simuliidae, but only one of them is aware that the planet is already inhabited by a race of aliens, known as June, driven insane by an ancient, sentient and telepathic moon, conveniently also named June, June the Moon. These explorers struggle to come to terms with the cosmic and potentially self-destructive message that June directs them to scrawl across the face of Simuliidae. This is an archival release; the novel was written in 1993 in Minneapolis, MN. It is available in the shop.

 

July 7, 2013
The Poison Pie Publishing House presents the next entry in a series of broadsides of felt fingerpuppets, 4 dwarves. Two of the dwarves appear in the recently released illustrated story, The Mushroomnomicon, from the Poison Pie Publishing House. Three of the finger puppets are designed by Joseph Keffer. One of the finger puppets is designed by David Keffer. A second version of the broadside with the finger puppets presented as their original pencil drawings is posted in the gallery.

 

June 27, 2013
The Mushroomnomicon by the Keffer family has been published in paperback format. The Mushroomnomicon is an ancient tome of the Cult of the Mushroom, containing secrets of the eldritch universe beyond the comprehension of mortal men. Herein, the tale is told of how the Mushroomnomicon was stolen by agents of the ancient Dragon of the White Wasteland and how a brave group of adventurers sought to retrieve the book and return it to a safe place. The story is told with felt fingerpuppets and photographs from wild places in East Tennessee and North Carolina. It is intended for both children and adventurous adults. It is available in the shop.

 

June 18, 2013
We post a link to a new poem, I Feel That Echo, by David Keffer.

 

June 14, 2013
Omens continue to appear suggesting that the release of a new illustrated story by the Poison Pie Publishing House, The Mushroomnomicon, draws near. A promotional flyer is now available here. In the event that we have misinterpreted these signs and rather it is the apocalypse that draws nigh, we encourage you to sneak into your neighbor's doomsday bunker immediately.

 

June 13, 2013
The third of three broadsides celebrating the birthday of Lynn Keffer, one of the four authors responsible for the two illustrated books, Tales of the Mushroom People and Call of Cthulhushroom, featuring finger puppet adventures, is posted. In honor of her birthday, the other three authors each made a broadside for her. Most of the fingerpuppets in this broadside were designed by David Keffer, but Ruth Keffer and Joseph Keffer also contributed designs. All featured members of the Cult of the Mushroom appear in the forthcoming illustrated story, The Mushroomnomicon, from the Poison Pie Publishing House.

 

May 30, 2013
The Ruins of My Daughter's Cities by David J. Keffer has been published in paperback and ebook formats. "The Ruins of My Daughter's Cities" is an imaginary travelogue of a father and daughter through cities invented as the basis for providing a better understanding between them. The novel borrows literary devices from Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" and "Cosmicomics". It also was written with Calvino's criteria for literature, taken from "Six Memos for the Next Millennium", in mind. The novel was written from September, 2012 to April, 2013 in Knoxville, TN. It is available in the shop.

 

May 9, 2013
Holy cow! There's a yeti loose in the Poison Pie Publishing House. Run! Run for your life!

 

May 8, 2013
The first proofs of The Ruins of My Daughter's Cities by David J. Keffer have been received. The discovery of an egregious historical spelling error on the back cover, and repeated in the author's foreword, requires that a second proof be generated. "The Ruins of My Daughter's Cities" is an imaginary travelogue of a father and daughter through cities invented as the basis for providing a better understanding between them. The novel was written from September, 2012 to April, 2013 in Knoxville, TN.

 

May 5, 2013
4 nymphs is the second of three broadsides celebrating the birthday of Lynn Keffer, one of the four authors responsible for the two illustrated books, Tales of the Mushroom People and Call of Cthulhushroom, featuring finger puppet adventures. In honor of her birthday, the other three authors each made a broadside for her. The fingerpuppets in this broadside were designed by Ruth Keffer. At least one of these nymphs appears in the forthcoming illustrated story from the Poison Pie Publishing House.

 

May 1, 2013
Lynn Keffer is one of the four authors responsible for the two illustrated books, Tales of the Mushroom People and Call of Cthulhushroom, featuring finger puppet adventures. In honor of her birthday, the other three authors each made a broadside for her. The broadsides feature finger puppets that will appear in the forthcoming illustrated story, again coauthored by all four of them. Today, we present the first of the three 11"x17" broadsides, titled "Six Adventurers", featuring finger puppets designed by Joseph Keffer. The other two broadsides, designed respectively by Ruth and David Keffer, will be showcased here in the not too distant future.

 

May 1, 2013
Hysteresis: An Asymmetrical Account of an Individual Apocalypse by David J. Keffer has been published in both paperback and ebook formats, available from the shop. Written in Minneapolis in 1995, Hysteresis takes the form of a revelation of an end-of-the-world battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light, in which neither side is particularly enthusiastic about the campaign and the only prize at stake is the continued existence of their respective leaders. Here, there are only hints of the narrator's maniacal dementia that will come to full flower in Symptoms of the Lunatic, two years later.

 

April 25, 2013
15 novels written by David J. Keffer from 1993 to 2013 (most of them published by the Poison Pie Publishing House) have been rendered in abstract visualizations, which can be viewed here. These visualizations were created by converting the text files of each novel into an image using the Null_Sets script created by Prof. Amy Szczepanski and Prof. Evan Meaney in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department and the Art Department respectively at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The Null_Sets website is located here.

 

April 13, 2013
Here is another look at the forthcoming illustrated book from the Poison Pie Publishing House. Enlisting the aid of the Mushroom People, the Cult of the Mushroom ambushes those travelers foolish enough to wander into their territory of the coastal swamp.

 

April 3, 2013
Perhaps: The Continuing Exploits of Alton and Eugenia by David J. Keffer has been published in both paperback and ebook formats, available from the shop. "Perhaps" is the second volume of stories about the sorceress, Eugenia, her assistant zombie, Alton, and their mission to reduce the sum total of misery on planet Earth. (The first volume is titled Alton and Eugenia. Together the two book covers show felt fingerpuppet renderings of Alton and Eugenia.) "Perhaps" was written from September, 1999 to July, 2000 in Knoxville, TN. It was thought to be the final novel describing Alton and Eugenia, until they made a surprise appearance in The Horties: An Invisible Novel, written a decade later.

 

March 29, 2013
Work has begun in earnest on the next illustrated book from the Poison Pie Publishing House. Here is a sneak peek at our party of heroes as they slog through a bog in search of adventure, fortune and existential affirmation. And yes, to forestall any questions, this is the same swamp within which the Cult of the Mushroom practices their occult rituals.

 

March 8, 2013
A Memory of Fire by David J. Keffer has been published in both paperback and ebook formats, available from the shop. "A Memory of Fire" is a novel of indeterminate conflagrations from April-September, 1997 in Washington, DC.

 

March 3, 2013
In preparation for the vernal equinox, the Cult of the Mushroom invited me into their midst to observe all but their most sacred rituals, in the role of ethnographer, documenting their lifestyle before the impending doom, which they believe to be imminent. When asked what shape the apocalypse would take, there was general agreement that it would come in the form of a well-trained team of gun-toting federal thugs.

 

February 24, 2013
The Cult of the Mushroom has accelerated the pace of negotiations by releasing a blue dragon. Several of the staff at the Poison Pie Publishing House were nearly electrocuted when the beast burst through the garage door at the back delivery dock and unleashed a storm of lightning from its maw. We were spared only by the arrival of the Druid of Mushroom Cult, an old man who is referred to by his followers as the Deadly Galerina. By means unknown to us, the Deadly Galerina seemed to exert some measure of control over the dragon. It seems clear now that we have little alternative but to publish his book, the Great Mushroomnomicon, on his intransigent terms no less.

 

February 14, 2013
Happy St. Valentine's Day! To celebrate the occassion, we here at the Poison Pie Publishing House hired a band of mushroom cultists to perform at our warehouse. Sheena, formerly a punk rocker, has dyed her once ebony hair blond and now plays bass mushroom for the folk unit, The Exploding Puffballs. To the delight of all assembled, they brought the house down with their country-pop sensation, Sweet Home, Myxomycetes. I took the opportunity to ask Sheena if she would participate in a new illustrated story featuring the Mushroom Cult still in the planning stages at the Poison Pie Publishing House. She agreed only on the condition that everyone in the cult is subsumed by the Great Mushroom by the end of the book, a constraint to which I did not immediately acquiesce.

 

February 14, 2013
The last of thirteen one-page promotional flyers describing books from the Poison Pie Publishing house has been uploaded to the site. The flyers can be accessed as a group from the flyers page. Feel free to liberally distribute these flyers to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

February 13, 2013
Symptoms of the Lunatic by David J. Keffer has been published in both paperback and ebook formats, available from the shop. "Symptoms of the Lunatic" is a novel about a lunatic written in the manner of a lunatic from February-July, 1997 in Washington, DC.

 

February 12, 2013
Two flyers for illustrated stories published by the Poison Pie Publishing house have been uploaded to the site, describing Tales of the Mushroom People and Call of Cthulhushroom. There is one more illustrated story, Eugenia and the Forest, and that flyer would have been completed as well except Poison Pie refused to cooperate. Feel free to liberally distribute these flyers to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

February 9, 2013
Three more one-page flyers have been uploaded to the site, describing I Saw Blood and then Everything Went Black, Symptoms of the Lunatic (to be released in February 2013) and the first ever glimpse at The Ruins of My Daughter's Cities: An Imaginary Travelogue (to be released sometime in 2013). Feel free to liberally distribute these flyers to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

February 6, 2013
Three more one-page flyers have been uploaded to the site, describing Slow Ecclesiastes, Alton & Eugenia and insect: an entomological fairy tale. Feel free to liberally distribute these flyers to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

February 5, 2013
Two more one-page flyers have been uploaded to the site, describing The Horties and These Stars Are All The Same. Feel free to liberally distribute these flyers to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

January 30, 2013
As part of a promotional campaign, the Poison Pie Publishing House announces the free electronic release of a short story by David J. Keffer, "The Leg". "The Leg" describes the relationship between an amputee and his severed leg written in a Kafka-esque vein. Feel free to liberally distribute this story to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

January 30, 2013
Two one-page flyers have been uploaded to the site, describing The Sutra of Reverse Possession and The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. Feel free to liberally distribute these flyers to relevant places across the electronic world.

 

January 26, 2013
A mushroom cultist, armed with torch and puffball shield recently accosted me and demanded to know why his friends in the cephalopod cult had had an entire story written about their great blunder (see Tales of the Mushroom People II: Call of Cthulhushroom) but nothing had been written regarding the triumphs of the mushroom cult. Well, I did not quite know how to respond to this charge. I stammered something about going where the spirit took me, but that only got me prodded with the pointy spines of his shield. It was only by promising to record the heroic deeds of his people (metaphorically speaking) in the Book of the Great Mushroomnomicon that I was able to convince him to leave me in peace. I fear now I am bound by an oath, wrenched from me under threat of violence. I have nothing in my head at the moment save the fierce visage of the mushroom cultist alluding to a fate worse than death should I seek to shirk my obligation.

 

January 21, 2013
It has been well chronicled that Poison Pie, Man of the Mushroom People, encourages ambiguity, if not outright contradiction, in all descriptions of himself. At times, he changes form to confuse matters further. At a recent archeological excavation, a fingerpuppet representation of Poison Pie as a ferocious myconid was unearthed. To be sure, this fierce aspect lies in stark contrast to Poison Pie's usually loveable demeanor. Three illustrated stories featuring Poison Pie can be found in the shop. Poison Pie also plays a central role in the novel, The Horties. (A high-resolution poster featuring the first 100 fingerpuppets generated by the Poison Pie Publishing House can be found here.)

 

January 1, 2013
insect by David J. Keffer has been published in both paperback and ebook formats, available from the shop. "insect" is an entomological fairy tale, written from June to July, 1993 in Minneapolis, MN.