Alan Squire Publishing

A Small Press With Big Ideas

"Princess Daddy" a Story by Richard Peabody Celebrate the beloved publishing legend, Richard Peabody, and his collected best-of, "The Richard Peabody Reader," by enjoying this story from its "Home and Family" section Princess Daddy by Richard Peabody I am Princess Daddy complete with tiara and I’m en route to the Princess Planet with Twyla, my 3-year-old whirlwind of a daughter. She has constructed a spaceship out of wooden blocks to transport us. She’s wearing her purple tutu. "Where your tutu daddy?" Good question. One my wife wishes to remedy at the very next thrift sale. My … [Read more...]

Listen to Richard Peabody on The Poet and The Poem Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri, interviews Richard Peabody for her podast "The Poet and The Poem" In the first years of the Obama presidency (now seemingly so long ago) Grace Cavalieri sat down with poet, novelist, publisher Richard Peabody as part of her "The Poet and The Poem" series. During the podcast Richard and Grace discuss many things including novel writing, "tween" lit, and Richard's "Mondo" series. The section above is edited to include only the interview with Richard Peabody. The original version also … [Read more...]

Nuages (after Django Reinhardt), a poem by Richard Peabody Today we share a poem from "The Richard Peabody Reader" centered on fatherhood with an interesting twist in homage to the famed jazz guitarist. 1   She’s lost amidst her sleeping cubs like otters in a nature film.   One girl horizontal across the bed the other vertical with her hair fanned along my wife’s stomach.   How does she sleep?   Buttery moonlight spotlights skin. Softens everything.   I watch from the doorway.   Earlier they were like tiny animals-- fighting sleep. Melting … [Read more...]

Who's Afraid of Richard Peabody? An Introduction to the Indie Legend As Small Press Week approaches we decided to take some time to pay tribute to one of the original indie lit heroes in Richard Peabody. James J. Patterson (Left) and Richard Peabody share a laugh at the 2019 ASP launch party. This year's Small Press Week (sponsored by our friends over at SFWP) will run from November 30th to December 6th. Since Alan Squire Publishing is 1.) a small press (big ideas notwithstanding) 2.) runs the Legacy Series, a project dedicated to longtime friends of indie publishing and 3.) … [Read more...]

  Richard Peabody reads "The Forgiveness Device" "Richard Peabody has served the literary community here [in DC] in countless ways, often simultaneously—mentor, teacher, editor, cheerleader, co-reader, host, panelist, blurber, book seller, co-conspirator. Peabody is a kind of resident institution here, the bookish equivalent of Ben’s Chili Bowl." Nathan Leslie Last week I spoke briefly of Richard Peabody's beautiful coming-of-age poem "The Forgiveness Device," but used it only to put his talent as a reader of Hellerian disaster-comedy in proper context, so the listener might admire … [Read more...]

Richard Peabody reads "Flea Wars"  "Not only is he a good writer, he is very entertaining and funny. And very  sexy, too." Michael Dirda When Richard Peabody came in-studio to record this excerpt from an absurd and frustrating story in The Reader, I was still in disbelief I hadn't read it in The New Yorker or The Atlantic or some other pedigree publication first. But, from the moment he uttered, almost farcical in his expressionlessness, "just dip the cats they say," he had me: I knew it belonged to Richard and to Richard alone. We recorded "Flea Wars" on the heels of recording "The … [Read more...]

"Main Character: Richard Peabody has devoted his life to Washington's writers. At what cost?" In 2011 Lora Engdahl wrote a long feature article on Richard Peabody for the Washington Post, exploring his countless contributions to DC's literary brood. Richard Peabody has not only been patron saint to the arts (what with his magazine, Gargoyle, and his press, Paycock), but also a Socratic figure and mentor to many young writers just finding their sea legs--it is with great satisfaction we might read the names of people, now household, who got their start in Gargoyle. This is all to say that … [Read more...]

Richard Peabody Talks Gargoyle Magazine Buzz McClain of Northern Virginia Magazine sat down with Richard and others close to him in order to ask a very important question: What's next for Richard Peabody? Founder of the DC-ubiquitous annual magazine, Gargoyle, esteemed editor and writer in his own regard, Richard has recently put out through Alan Squire Publishing a compendium of his work, The Richard Peabody Reader...so, what's next? Read the full article here A Long Excerpt: “For a while Gargoyle was pretty regular, but I’d say for the last 20 issues it’s always been ‘Well, this … [Read more...]

Richard Peabody Reads "I'm in Love with the Morton Salt Girl" Peabody’s aesthetic is all-embracing – strands of punk, beat, experimental, feminist, and political protest literary influences blend with the purely romantic to create a body of work that is both profound and pleasing.  Eckleburg Book Club Morton Salt Girl is original Peabody. Creative, daring, and irreverent. His delivery on this recording is so sure you may conflate the poem with a yarn by Ronsard or Nash—though, a comparison wouldn't be far-fetched. But be assured, this sure person, somewhere compressed between humor, … [Read more...]

The People, an alternative indie-publishing canon, by Richard Peabody In March of 1980, Michael Martone did something extraordinary — inviting a motley crew of indie press folks up to Johns Hopkins University. Martone, a student at the Sems, had begun a subversive mag with fellow Hoosier Michael Wilkerson, which they dubbed Indiana Mon Amour. The conceit? You had to write about Indiana to be eligible for inclusion. The concept a chippy response to the workshop lip service to “place” and very much in keeping with those two madcap zealots. Their zine experience plugged them directly into the … [Read more...]

Poetry Can Save Your Life By Richard Peabody I started out as a fiction writer, a storyteller, a mimic. A derivative time travel piece for our middle school literary magazine was rejected and it took me eons to get back in the saddle. By freshman year of college, a quasi-Hemingway hunting story was brewing. By junior year, I was writing song lyrics to go with my bad guitar-hack noise. A poet friend told me my lyrics sucked but might possibly turn into some decent poems. Poems? What the hell? But everybody seemed to hate my mostly autobiographical stories (particularly my girlfriends) so I … [Read more...]