Michael P. Daley is a writer and historian. Daley’s work concerns American crime, politics, subcultures, media, and art. He also founded and runs First To Knock, an independent publishing company and record label based out of Michigan City, Indiana. Daley is a former counterculture archivist, political news editor, and legal researcher.
As writer and editor, Daley has contributed to publications by Anthology Editions, Sinecure Books, Pleasure Editions, Boo-Hooray, Frank151, and Challenger, in addition to his own imprint First To Knock.
As publisher, First To Knock produces works of cultural history, literature in translation, art books, critically acclaimed non-fiction, and a subscription-only periodical covering topics diverse as experimental mathematics to esoteric Medieval philosophy. First To Knock titles have been featured in outlets such as Hermitix, CrimeReads, The Washington Post, Apocalypse Confidential, Volupté, Rain Taxi Review of Books, and KCRW Los Angeles.
As a former archivist, Daley was a founding member of Boo-Hooray, which excavated and preserved significant cultural collections related to American political movements and underground film/art. During that time, he facilitated the sale of cultural collections to institutions such as Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Cornell's Rare & Manuscript Collections, Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Miami’s Special Collections, and Georgetown's Lauinger Library.
Daley has also lectured on history at venues such as the Grolier Club and Oklahoma State University. He has staged exhibitions and events on the likes of Oklahoma’s mid-century underworld, Baron Corvo, William S. Burroughs, Gustave Kahn, private press records, Édouard Schuré, science-fiction zines, and masterpieces of Civil War photography in New York City, Tulsa, Chicago, Venice, Paris, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, and Montreal.
As writer:
Echoes of a Natural World: Tales of the Strange & Estranged [editor and contributing writer] (First To Knock, 2020)
Weird fictional meditations on nature from 19th century French Decadents like Joris-Karl Huysmans and Jean Lorrain; a once lost occult story from the early 20th century; and short works from contemporary American authors. Science-fiction scholar Gabriel Mckee called the book an “uncanny menagerie” that “submerges you in high strangeness.” Daley’s story “Impressions of a Whispering Mold” is also featured. Leaf by Leaf’s Chris Via said: “Daley has really given us a treat… The story really reads like a collaboration between Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, and Henry David Thoreau—but Thoreau throws his hands up after the first couple of pages and leaves.”
Bobby BlueJacket: The Tribe, The Joint, the Tulsa Underworld (First To Knock, 2018)
An extraordinary true story of a man who went from career thief and convicted killer to celebrated prison journalist—ultimately becoming a respected Eastern Shawnee activist and orator. Award-winning author and poet Ron Padgett called the book a “fascinating and richly detailed biography” and “an intimate portrait of [a] complex emotional and intellectual life.” Philip K. Dick Award-winner Jack Womack described BlueJacket as: “Insightful, angry, straightforward, reminiscent of the subterranean classic You Can’t Win by Jack Black.” BlueJacket has been featured in Los Angeles Review of Books, Tulsa World, Weird History, This Land Press, and Public Radio Tulsa/NPR. The book was nominated for best non-fiction work for the 30th annual Oklahoma Book Awards.
Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992 [co-authored/co-edited with Johan Kugelberg and Paul Major] (Sinecure Books, 2013)
A history of private press records and self-funded musical careers in the mid-20th century. Enjoy The Experience was featured in BBC, Vice, Book Forum, and was called the greatest music book of the year by Los Angeles Magazine. Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark called Enjoy The Experience “the greatest coffee table book ever made.” Musician John Zorn said: “Featuring the best (and worst) music that was too good for major label backing, Enjoy The Experience is a hilarious and obsessively passionate collection of vanity and insanity from the depths of human creativity.”
That’s Life: The O.L. Jaggers Story (Boo-Hooray, 2011)
A short-form biography about the legal struggles of a cult L.A. preacher once famed for his UFO-themed sermons. Johan Kugelberg said That’s Life “reads like a bizarro Great Gatsby.”
Ed Wood’s Sleaze Paperbacks [co-authored/co-edited with Johan Kugelberg] (Boo-Hooray, 2011)
An annotated visual catalogue of low-budget filmmaker Ed Wood’s pornographic writing career. Featured in Time, io9, and Flavorwire.
As editor:
The First To Knock Periodical (2023- )
Pennies in a Stream: Great Moments in Printed Advertising 1918-1984 (First To Knock, 2022)
Flying Saucers Are Real! (Anthology Editions, 2016)
Parallax News (Parallax News, 2014-2016)
The Tattooed Dragon Meets the Wolfman: Lenny Kaye’s Science-Fiction Fanzines 1941-1970 (Boo-Hooray, 2014)
Frederick Rolfe: Alpha & Omega (Boo-Hooray, 2013)
Houston Rap Tapes (Sinecure Books, 2013)
The Situationist Times facsimile edition (Boo-Hooray, 2012)