Music Gigs Gone Wrong
Edited by Richard Peabody and Gerry LaFemina
Paycock Press, September 2022

File this one under Bad Luck/Fate/Music Musician: Someone who puts $5000 worth of gear into a $500 car to drive 100 miles to a $50 gig . . . What could possibly go wrong? Edited by Gargoyle Magazine‘s Richard Peabody and writer/musician Gerry LaFemina, Music Gigs Gone Wrong gathers 74 musicians and vocalists to share exactly what can happen, whether the music be punk, rock, folk, jazz, funk, you name it. Contributing writer Michael Gentile, SpliceToday, writes “Music Gigs Gone Wrong is the ultimate ‘I’m with the band’ backstage pass. Here’s a diverse look at a variety of live music disasters told firsthand. Whether it’s a half-empty biker bar or a packed 3,400-seat auditorium— turn on the house lights—you’ll hear about the people, dates and places from big cities to the middle of nowhere. The musicians will sing in your ear about the ordeals they had to go through. Tell me more, I love reading rattling rants and sneering inner thoughts. This grand and wonderful collection appeals to all, especially band members and admirers. Without reservation, swallow Music Gigs Gone Bad hook line and sinker. Go hang out with an enjoyable read; one that draws you in deeper and deeper, guiding visions that beckon you to ride away.”

Living in a Red State Blues
Poetry by M. Scott Douglass
Paycock Press, April 2022

Living in a Red State Blues by M. Scott Douglass is a collection years in the making, having been hatched prior to the pandemic and developed throughout the subsequent years of shutdowns and election cycles. Afraid that publishers may have become “exhausted” with the topics covered in these works, Douglass had all but given up on it ever seeing the light of day in print. That was until a few publishers began requesting some of the works to include in their anthologies and literary journals. Thus, life was breathed back into the endeavor and is now available for readers, with such titled works as “Erasing a Color (from literature),” “Cone of Uncertainty,” “Diluting Red,” “Forgiving Red,” “Neoconservatives,” “Punishing Red,” “The Color of Fraud,” “Assessing the VRBO,” and “A Tinderbox of Unsuble Discourse.” M. Scott Douglass is Publisher and Managing Editor of Main Street Rag Publishing Company and general all-around badass.

Have I Said Too Much
Stories by Carmen Delzell
Paycock Press, December 2021
ISBN: ‎978-0-931181-94-8
Paperback, 180pp; $14.95

Carmen Delzell lives somewhere between Mexico City and Austin, Texas. She has lived in Saltillo, Coahuilla, and San Miguel de Allende since 1993 when she won a National Endowment grant and hit the road running. Her stories have aired on All Things Considered, Hearing Voices, PRX, Savvy Traveler, and This American Life. Most of the work in this first collection dates from 1980-2010.