Paycock Press

Paycock Press was founded in 1976 to publish Gargoyle Magazine, a DC-based international literary magazine. Named for Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock, the press went into hibernation in 1990 and when the magazine was revived in 1997 we began talking about starting to publish books once again

Forthcoming Titles:

Stress City: A Big Fat Book of Fiction by Fifty DC Guys
ed. by Richard Peabody (Due late spring 2008) 500pp $18.95
R. R. Angell, Scott W. Berg, Sean Brijbasi, Peter Brown, Kenneth Carroll, Theodore Carter, Christopher Colston, Richard Currey, Kevin Downs, David Everett, Mark Farrington, Juan H. Gaddis, William E. Garrison, Frank Gatling, Brian Gilmore, John Guernsey, James Harper, Dave Housley, Bill Jackson, Dennis Jones, Matthew Kirkpatrick, Len Kruger, Robert Lang, Charles R. Larson, Nathan Leslie, Peter Levine, Greg Lipscomb, Eric Lotke, Alex MacLennan, Joe Martin, James Mathews, Richard McCann, Matthew L. Moffett, Richard Morris, Kermit Moyer, Terence Mulligan, Andrew Nachison, David Nicholson, Jim Patterson, Jim Reed, Jeff Richards, B. B. Riefner, Lewis K. Schrager, Matthew Summers-Sparks, D. A. Taylor, Ross Taylor, Robichaud S. Thorstensen, Tim Wendel, Jim Williamson, Terence Winch, and James Zug.

“The dean of D.C.’s alternative press has compiled a vast compendium of excellence, wildness, and wonder. Perhaps somewhat predictably, I was drawn to the tales of predatory female werewolves and homicidal dogs preaching Lutheran gospel, but pretty much everybody else is here too: the downtown shrimp shack hostesses, the suburban minimum security prison escapees and the closeted death metal deacons. Nixon even wanders through, walking along the beach on his way to reincarnation. There are Vietnamese charades, hippie narcs, monkish visions of Buddhist clarity, and one loser babysitter who brings the kid along to the strip club. Sometimes surreal, often moving, and even more often perfectly hilarious, the work collected here makes D.C.’s literary presence a force to be reckoned with. It’s as powerful as John Riggin’s shoulders, as strong as a shot at Millie and Al’s, and as fun as watching the pandas get it on at the National Zoo.  Well done guys.” – Toby Barlow, author of Sharp Teeth

Stress City is a core sample of the D.C. male psyche, a tube that comes out striated with the compacted layers of what's on these guys' minds:  death, race, sex, death, race, sex, death, traffic, sex.... makes me feel like I never left.  Recommended for Washingtonians past and present." – Jordan Ellenberg, author of The Grasshopper King

"Werewolves, installation artists taking over Arlington, jilted Hare Krishnas out for murderous revenge...this isn't George Bush's Washington. In Stress City, D.C.'s small press conscience Richard Peabody has assembled a monument to the underdogs of the nation's capitol. This anthology is as poignant and truth telling as any 'official' history and way way more fun." – Hal Niedzviecki, author of Hello, I’m Special and The Program

Gravity Dancers: Even More Fiction by Washington Area Women due in spring 2009.

Summer Blaise, Elizabeth Bruce, Maud Casey, Katharine Davis, Shayla Davis, Julie Eill, Nan Fry, Virginia Hartman, Ellen Herbert, Helen Hooper, K.M. Huber, Elizabeth Huergo, Kyi May Kaung, Rachel Korr, Dylan Landis, Raima M. Larter, Cynthia Lollar, Alyce Lomax, Jennifer Makowsky, Molly Woods Murchie, Julee Newberger, Donna Oetzal, Lisa Page, Meredith Pond, Julie Reiley, Elisavietta Ritchie, Carly Sachs, Laura Ellen Scott, Terri G. Scullen, Lynn Sterns, Lisa M. Tillman, Judith Turner-Yamamoto, Michelle Von Euw, Paula Whyman, Susi Wyss, Laura Zam and more.