In the undiscovered world of Crescendo, a seafaring tribe is cast away unto mystical lands both baneful and wondrous. Facing primal forces of nature and severed by an indomitable river, the two tribes’ fates are determined by the willingness to communicate. The introduction of music into their world becomes magical as celestial bodies and spirit animals guide their captivating ventures into uncharted lands. Through seasons of nature and nurture, lust and vengeance, harmony and discord, their lives are irrevocably transformed as Crescendo’s inhabitants discover the ability to sing.
A Tale of Crescendo was written by Psychedelic Scene’s secondary editor Bill Kurzenberger within December 2025 during his interim role as the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. Inspired largely by historical and current events combined with musical fiction ala Cloud Atlas, Kurzenberger inadvertently created and designed the melodious land of Crescendo and its characters in a matter of weeks, developing and authoring the new world’s origin story and first book in the process. On the winter solstice December 21st 2025, the online magazine’s readers were introduced to A Tale of Crescendo.
Though a fantastical land, Crescendo is a mirror for our own world at times. With communication as its connective motif along with underlying Aquarian themes of harmonious synergism, this new fictional work is peppered with allusions to The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Golden Age psychedelia. Originally published in weekly installments on psychedelicscene.com, ATaleOfCrescendo.com now premiers on the spring equinox March 20th 2026 with the novella available for the first time in entirety, as a downloadable eBook PDF and in its final form.