We are a small independent publishing house with a focus on all topics related to the science and art of mycology.
We believe the many benefits of studying fungal ecology and applying mycology through food and medicine cultivation, pollution remediation, and cultural studies should be available to anyone seeking this rare knowledge. We strive to produce the best educational and entertainment materials to help further this cause of spreading myco-literacy around the world.
Chthaeus (
thay-us / ˈTHäæus/ )
Press was founded in 2016 by Peter McCoy to publish
Radical Mycology: A Treatise on Seeing and Working With Fungi, our flagship book based on Peter's extensive experience spearheading a grassroots mycology organization by the same name. The ongoing goal of Radical Mycology is to increase access to mycological knowledge and to help build a supportive community of like-minded and well-informed fungi advocates and educators. As a sibling organization to Radical Mycology, Chthaeus Press works to further these efforts through the production of a wide variety of fungi-focused media.
About Our Name
The word
Chthaeus was created by Peter to encompass the dual nature of fungi, as he perceives it. Taking the prefix of
chthonic (belonging to the underground) and the suffix of
archaeus (the highest state of matter believed by alchemists of old to be just shy of etheric), our name reflects the notion that though fungi are of the physical world, they also offer timeless perspectives on the world's most inspiring and unresolvable mysteries.
In both our name and publications we seek to raise up the fungi – to bring the under above – to not only shed new perspectives on the fungi themselves, but on the ways humans engage with these unique organisms and the Earth as a whole.