This was a real thing. Besides spider venom there was also scorpion venom, and other poisons.
In other news, this will be the first weekend that I'll be spending the entire weekend at home. Then I only have one show in November and one show in December. I've lost count of the number of shows I've done, but I'm confident it's over a dozen. I have enough information now from the last three years that I can make a chart and establish which shows are the ones that I need to give priority. But, before I do that, I need to finish working on my next book and get it shipped to the printer.