www.laughingmouse.net

Finally! www.laughingmouse.net is live and running!

I'll no longer be updating this blog, but will leave these posts up as a record of our prehistory.

Cheers,
~The Editor

LMP on Facebook

Look for Laughing Mouse Press on Facebook!  Become a "fan," upload pictures from (upcoming!) events, post news and reviews of LMP publications, and share the page with your friends to help spread the word about the press. (Note: This requires a Facebook login.)

Mariette Papic also has an artist page on Facebook with examples of her photography.

Electric Bathtub Psalms - More Audio

The first sales of Electric Bathtub Psalms shipped out yesterday, and Mariette and I are really delighted by the response we've had so far.

To celebrate the launch, I'm posting another audio sample from the book that also appeared in the installation "Love Song 4.22" at Grace Exhibition Space in Brooklyn in April. A description and illustration of the installation are also included in the book. 

Here's Mariette's description of the recording:

"I recorded this piece two years after it was written so I could install as part of a piece on cyberspace. The installation piece and the poem now share the same name. Love Song 4/22 was produced by David Maurice and includes field recordings taken by me. It is an emotional tribute to ballads and to the natural world."

Electric Bathtub Psalms - Now Available!

Electric Bathtub Psalms, the first book of poetry by Mariette Papic, is now available in a limited edition, hand-sewn chapbook with french watercolor paper covers tea-dyed and hand silk-screened by Mariette and Nathan Reimer. The limited edition chap is $17.00, and can be purchased here via PayPal.

Shipping will be modified for orders of multiple copies and international orders. A saddle-stitch chapbook will be available in November.

Tools of the Trade

Here's a peek into the craft of DIY bookmaking. This is an art that had been disappearing or relegated to specialty craft status, but scrapbookers have revitalized the artform, though in a way that I suspect makes some book artists a little queasy. You can now find bookmaking tools in most craft stores in the scrapbook aisles, and of course your better art supply stores will have some tools and supplies as well.

In the photo above you see (clockwise from upper right corner) a saddle-stitch stapler, a binder's needle with thread, an awl, and the white thing on the cover is called a bone folder. Binder's needles have blunt tips to keep from snagging on the paper (thus the need for the awl), and the thread I'm using for the limited edition of Electric Bathtub Psalms is acid-free linen. Some crafters use embroidery floss that they've pulled through beeswax, which I may experiment with later.

Coming soon: a step-by-step sewing demo!

The Rabbit Sellers

Here's an audio preview of the poem "The Rabbit Sellers," which will appear in my collection Geography and Circumstance later this fall. The poem was originally published in The Dry Crik Review of Contemporary Cowboy Poetry back in 1992, and was later reproduced on cowboypoetry.com. The poem documents the boom/bust days of central Wyoming in the late 80s and early 90s. While it's not traditional cowboy poetry, I think it captures the paradoxes and dichotomies of modern Western life.

The Corn Plastic Dancefloor

I'm slowly beginning to assemble the limited editions of Mariette Papic's Electric Bathtub Psalms. In the meantime, here is a link to one of Mariette's current projects over at dublit.com. Mariette has been involved in New York nightlife for many years - as promoter, documentor, flyer designer, and as the pretty girl in the coat with the big fur collar presiding over the velvet rope at that club on 13th Street, you know the one. Her audio piece "The Corn Plastic Dancefloor" documents one night in that world.

Covers for Electric Bathtub Psalms

The covers for the limited edition of Mariette Papic's Electric Bathtub Psalms have arrived, and they're wonderful.


The cover art illustration is by Mariette Papic with screen printing by New York street artist and photographer Nathan Reimer. I really love the interpretation they did of the mouse logo on the back cover.


The paper is archival quality, pressed in France and hand-dyed in a tea bath (PG Tips!) in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

I've been practicing my binding knots and will begin assembling them as soon as Mariette has approved her blue-line copy. Pre-orders through PayPal will be available on the website probably next week.

About the Mouse

Our Laughing Mouse logo was designed in 2003 by Minneapolis graphic designer Brian Matson. Brian was a long-time art-director and editor for Marshall Fields until they were swallowed by MayCorp, and worked on branding for Christian Sande's 2006 campaign for Minnesota Secretary of State. Brian and Spencer also collaborated on a polaroid installation instant.1 for the 2002 Art-a-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. Brian's no stranger to designing mice - his Field Mouse was part of the "Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" Mickey Mouse statue series.

Welcome to Laughing Mouse Press

While I struggle to get the website up and running, here's a blog about Laughing Mouse Press.

Laughing Mouse was founded in 2002 in Minneapolis by Spencer Keralis. Its first publication was Junior High Yearbook, a chap that featured short fiction by Carolyn Tuttle, Chris Besinger, and Spencer Keralis (reviewed here at Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet). The press went on hiatus while the editor did other things in other places like Texas and New York, but has reemerged in Colorado.

Repurposed with a new focus on making art books in a broad sense - books that are art, books for artists, books by artists, books of art - the press has several releases planned for 2009. Electric Bathtub Psalms, the first poetry collection by Brooklyn-based photographer and writer Mariette Papic, will appear in two editions - one a limited edition hand-sewn chapbook with covers silk-screened on French watercolor paper, the other a standard chapbook. Look for these later in July. Geography & Circumstance, a long-delayed retrospective of poetry by Spencer Keralis from 1993 to 2003, will appear later in the summer. Becky Hensley's photo essay Colfax, and a collection of photography by Stephanie Silsby-Hopper are planned for the fall.

We are looking for other poets, artists, authors, and photographers who are interested in making books, as well as graphic designers and book artists interested in collaborating on the design and crafting of the books themselves. Details for submissions will appear here and on the website soon. In the meantime, this blog will include updates about the press, previews and samples. Check back soon for more.