Archived News from the Poison Pie Publishing House.

News Updates From 2023:

 

On-going Blog Series

December 31, 2023
The Writing of Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza Is Complete
The writing of Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza, accomplished in approximately 100 words per day on each day of 2023, is now concluded. The full text of the completed score is available for viewing on a free, anonymous basis.

Several related documents have also been updated today, as described below.

The entirety of the Clockwise Cadenza, however, is not complete. The writings for the month of December have been delivered today to Julia Keffer, the artist creating the monthly chapter heading illustrations. This final illustration will appear sometime in the first month or two of the new year.

As described previously, the final two steps in the creative process, namely the reading of the score and the musical performance are intentionally left to undetermined dates.

 

December 22, 2023
Illustrations for Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza
At long last, we have posted the illustrations that serve as the monthly headings for first eleven months of Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza. We have also collected these images in a gallery. As our resident artist at Bus Stop Art Show waits to create the chapter heading until after she has read the monthly writing, we will post the final illustration sometime in early 2024.

 

December 22, 2023
Exploratory Illustrations for Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza
This week we received in the mail the artwork for the first eleven months of Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza. Also in the package from Bus Stop Art Show, were various artistic explorations of characters and scenes in the Clockwise Cadenza, created before a final style had been settled. We post these drafts in a gallery of their own.

 

November 16, 2023
Illustrations from 2nd Edition D&D Planescape Books by Tony DiTerlizzi (1993-1995)

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House continue their art project in which they render scenes from beloved books as shrinky dinks. In the latest edition, we translated into plastic form four creatures illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi for 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons books related to the Planescape multiverse campaign setting. A gallery is posted.

 

November 5, 2023
Illustrations from selected works by Satoshi Kitamura (1985-1999)

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House continue their art project in which they render scenes from beloved childhood books in shrinky dink form. In the latest edition, we feature scenes from four books by Satoshi Kitamura. A gallery is posted.

 

October 29, 2023
Illustrations from Four Books by Shel Silverstein (1963-2005)

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House continue their art project in which they render scenes from beloved childhood books in shrinky dink form. In the latest edition, we translated characters from four books by Shel Silverstein. A gallery is posted.

 

October 10, 2023
Illustrations from Bumperboy stories by Debbie Huey (2005-2015)

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House continue their art project in which they render scenes from beloved childhood books in shrinky dink form. In the latest edition, we translated four of our favorite scenes starring Bumperboy by Debbie Huey. A gallery is posted.

 

September 24, 2023
Illustrations from selected works of Dr. Seuss (1960-1963)

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House continue their art project in which they render scenes from beloved childhood books in shrinky dink form. In the latest edition, we translated scenes from four books by Dr. Seuss. A gallery is posted.

 

September 10, 2023
Illustrations from Eric Carle's A Ghost Story

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House received a request for a Halloween-themed mobile and decided to combine the request with the on-going project of rendering children's book as shrinky dinks. A Ghost Story, with text by Bill Martin Jr. and pictures by Eric Carle, was published in 1970. A gallery with images of the individual pieces and the assembled mobile is posted.

 

September 3, 2023
Illustrations from Polo by Régis Faller

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House is multi-generational. So our investigation of influential childhood books spans various decades. Here the PPPH staff rendered several scenes from three Polo stories by Régis Faller as shrinky dinks. A gallery is posted.

 

August 1, 2023
Illustrations from Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel

While revisiting influential books from the formative years, the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House rendered several scenes from Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel as shrinky dinks. A gallery is posted.

 

July 22, 2023
More Illustrations for Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza
The Bus Stop Art Show has shared some more artwork to illustrate the musical score, Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza. Several new images have been added to the gallery page since the last update.

 

July 2, 2023
Exploratory Illustrations for Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza
The Bus Stop Art Show has shared some more postcards from the creative journey as she considers various styles in which to illustrate the musical score, Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza. Two new mosaic images have been added to the gallery page.

 

July 1, 2023
First Exploratory Illustrations for Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza
The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House post three new draft illustrations by Julia K. Keffer for the musical score, Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza. Interested visitors can view works in progress on the gallery page.

 

March 14, 2023
The Abyssal Aria Mobile



We post photos of a newly assembled mobile composed of circular labyrinths and chapter illustrations from Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria rendered in shrinky dink form. The electronic version of the musical score, Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria (2022), remains available via free, anonymous access.

 

March 5, 2023
Mazes



In an indication that the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House are slowing working to build a mobile of the chapter illustrations from Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria rendered in shrinky dink form, additional components of the mobile have surfaced. These parts feature a maze motif in keeping with the notion that Eurymedusa, heroine of the Abyssal Aria, was a refugee from the labyrinth of King Minos. The electronic version of Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria (2022) remains available via free, anonymous access.

We note in passing that an analogous mobile based on the chapter illustrations from Hebeloma's Swamp Fantasy Overture (2021) is featured in a gallery on the PPPH site. For both the Abyssal Aria and the Swamp Fantasy Overture the artwork appearing in the mobiles are translations of original illustrations by Julia K. Keffer of Bus Stop Art Show ().

 

February 19, 2023
Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria Chapter Illustrations



The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House rendered the illustrations used as chapter headings for Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria in shrinky dink form. A gallery of the results is posted here. The electronic version of Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria remains available via free, anonymous access.

 

February 12, 2023
Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria: First Edition Hardcover



The first edition of Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria is published today in a numbered set of fourteen. The hardcover book runs 169 pages including indices. Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria is a post-existential musical score generated through a non-idiomatic, improvisational creative process. It was serially published on a daily basis in 2022 on the blog of the Poison Pie Publishing House. Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria recounts the adventure of Eurymedusa, one of fourteen youths offered to the minotaur by King Minos, immediately after she escaped from the labyrinth. The score is illustrated in watercolor by Julia K. Keffer of Bus Stop Art Show () and each book in the first edition is accompanied by a set of twelve postcards featuring all of the illustrations created as monthly chapter headings plus two bonus postcards with related paintings. The electronic version of Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria remains available via free, anonymous access.

 

January 7, 2023
A Survey of One Hundred Bestiaries Continues
In 2016, the bibliophiles at the Poison Pie Publishing House began a recurring online feature showcasing books about monsters. Initially ambitious, they titled it A Survey of One Hundred Bestiaries. It turns out that there is a virtually infinite number of such books in the world, cataloging creatures real and imagined. The survey continues to this day. In the past several years, a new entry in the survey has been added on the first Saturday of each month. Today, on the first Saturday of January, 2023, we post the 324th entry, The Botanical Bestiary, written by Matt Cavanaugh and illustrated by Sita Duncan. The survey is not intended to be a review; we do not provide subjective commentary. Instead, we present an image of one entry from the book as well as some portion of the accompanying text description, allowing the reader to form their own opinions. In the case of The Botanical Bestiary, we note here that this is an example of our favorite kind of bestiary—a first book by the author and a labor of love brought to fruition through crowd funding.

 

January 3, 2023
Musical Instrument Restoration
The team behind "Restoration of Musical Organs: Analysis of Rubber Cloth and Other Historical Materials" (from left to right): Max Camp, Chris Webb, Matthew Valderrama and Charlotte Buchanan.

In the spring semester of 2022, a team of undergraduate students in the Materials Science & Engineering department at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville restored a 1907 Beckwith Reed Organ to playable condition as part of an undergraduate research project. The team focused on the materials used in the restoration and compared the currently available replacement materials with the century-plus-old original materials on the basis of functionality, durability and safety. One member of the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House was lucky enough to be asked to serve as their project advisor, though his knowledge of reed organs was virtually non-existent.

The project turned out to be an unexpected success. A few highlights follow:

  • First place in the Tickle College of Engineering Research category in the 2022 EURēCA (Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement) poster event and competition at the University of Tennessee.
  • A six-minute documentary video (on YouTube)
  • Second place in the national ASM Undergraduate Design Competition
  • Publication of a version of the report in the Journal of American Organbuilding (The site hosts the original report and poster for free access, though the edited article is part of the subscription to the journal.)

 

January 2, 2023
The Art of Materials Science
Poplar Perspective - Jakob Scroggins (yellow-poplar derived carbon fibers)

One member of the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House holds a day job where he has the good fortune to interact on a daily basis with smart and creative young people. In the recently concluded fall semester of 2022, the local student chapter of the Materials Research Society at the University of Tennesseee hosted an event in which student researchers submitted visual images of their scientific work. Some of the works were displayed in Hodges Library over the course of the semester. For the enjoyment of visitors to the Poison Pie Publishing House, we have posted a link to an online version of the exhibit here.

 

January 1, 2023
2022: The Year in Review at the Poison Pie Publishing House
In the year 2022, the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House produced exactly one book. Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria, a post-existential musical score generated through a non-idiomatic, improvisational creative process, was serially published on a daily basis in 2022 on the blog of the Poison Pie Publishing House. The score is illustrated by Julia K. Keffer of Bus Stop Art Show (). Hebeloma's Abyssal Aria recounts the adventure of Eurymedusa, one of the maidens offered to the minotaur by King Minos, immediately after she escaped from the labyrinth.

Also in 2022, the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House generated more music reviews than usual (18!). In doing so, we hope only to spread the word about hidden musical gems from the cultural margin.

The staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House is no longer setting annual goals. However, the daily blog will continue, with the intention of engaging in non-idiomatic improvisation. This work will take the form of a musical score and is titled, Hebeloma's Clockwise Cadenza (2023).

To our readers, we, the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House, thank you for your interest and support and we look forward to another mutually creative and unpredictable year.