Microcosm Publishing

Hey! Microcosm Publishing's multimedia tour is coming down the west coast! This April the Post-Punk Extravaganza tour will feature traveling vegan chef/author Joshua Ploeg doing a "cooking show" from his book In Search of the Lost Taste as well as making some interesting vegan snacks for all. Joe Biel will be showing the Plan-It X Records Documentary, If It Ain't Cheap, It Ain't Punk!, hosting a Q&A on DIY publishing, and setting up a well-stocked zine/book table. Also, Mia Partlow and Michael Hoerger of the upcoming Edible Secrets book and the brand-new  Curious Case of the Communist Jell-o Box poster zine will be showing up with a mobile museum and document library on the fascinating secret history of food and espionage. Come on out and hang with us!

OUT NOW! This awesome "poster zine" shows the sordid shared history between Jell-O and nuclear secrets. Wait. What? Yep, Jell-O and nuclear secrets. Packed with espionage and intrigue, this super sweet poster (featuring declassified documents!), details the not-so-well-known connections between America's favorite jiggly fruit snack and the Manhattan project, government propaganda campaigns, and executed spies (or were they?) Ethel and Julius Rosenburg. It's totally like a John Grisham novel ... only, y'know, not stupid and predictable and terribly written. There's always room for J-E-L-L-O. And nukes! And the truth! It's a little preview of our upcoming book Edible Secrets!

This is that green home- & self-maintenance book you've been hearing about! 

OUT NOW! Over the last fifteen years, Plan-it X Records helped foster a huge cultural revolution -- uniting geographically divided DIY punk communities under one umbrella. With a united ethic and common goals, this scene has grown to a critical mass while some bands flirted with mainstream success and others choose to remain firmly rooted in the basement punk scene. This original documentary climaxes in the 2006 Festival where punks from all over the world met up in Bloomington, IN for a week of music and skillsharing. Original footage of This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Japanther, Defiance, Ohio, Ghost Mice, One Reason, Operation: Cliff Clavin, Soophie Nun Squad, and more!

Look at our Youtube for more preview clips!

COMING MAY 1! “I dream of a better world,” writes zinester and How and Why author Matte Resist in the intro to his new book. He continues, “To me DIY culture is about grabbing a little piece of that dream.” What follows over the course of the next 281 pages is Matte doing what all dreamers must do—waking up from his dream, opening his eyes, and confronting what roadblocks and hurdles lie between him and his goal. Matte does this by laying down chapter upon chapter of blueprints for a better world. A sequel to our do-it-yourself handbook Making Stuff and Doing Things, How and Why gives us detailed, engaging, easy-to-use info on bicycles, home and garage, gardening, educating children, musical instruments, and the all-inclusive “everything else” section. If you dream of taking back your life and building a better world, How and Why might be your new best friend.

We've been cutting some boards, painting some signs, and doing some moving things around at the 'cosm store. It's also of note that we grew by 133% in November, so it's no longer abysmally small and crowded. New shelves! New merch! New love! It's at 833 SE Main St. #108 (at 9th b/t Hawthorne/Belmont) We have tons of unique discounted, damaged, forgotten gems from the past, and used stuff; much of it for half price or less! Take a gander at the $2 table! Everyday 11 AM - 7 PM

OUT NOW! Raleigh Briggs, author of the popular Microcosm title Make Your Place, is back with another pamphlet on better, healthier living. This time around, she tackles soap-making basics, and teaches us how to create silky handmade soaps at home. How To Make Soap contains basic directions, recipes, a list of resources, and assorted tips and tricks to make your homemade soaps special. Raleigh takes a seemingly arduous task, and makes it breezy and fun, with her charming hand-drawn illustrations and easy to follow directions. How to Make Soap is a great guide (and gift!) for the beginning soapmaker, looking for a place to start.

OUT NOW! Xerography Debt's new issue features even more of the beloved "review zine with perzine tendencies" wherein your favorite zine writers become zine reviewers, columnists, and news hounds! Wred Fright wrote an amazing history of zines that begins in 1929! 64 pages of new zines to fall in love with, collect obsessively, and tell your friends about. They want to review your zines in future issues; yes, you! We know you are out there! Now you should send it to: Davida Gypsy Breier / PO Box 11064 / Baltimore, MD 21212 USA. Now offering subscriptions! 

OUT NOW! Heck yeah, it's the new issue of Burn Collector! Here, in Burn Collector #14, zine superstar Al Burian lays down 156 pages of truth, trouble, and everyman blues. Whether battling the cops in Chicago, essaying the frenetic nervous breakdown of city life, spilling the secret truth of all religions, or talkin' comix and punk shows, Burian does so with class, humor, and a timeless feel for language. Burn Collector 14 is heavily illustrated, dense with stories, and ripped right from the headlines of Burian's hard, hilarious, rowdy life.

OUT NOW! Unemployment is the newest zine by Aaron Lake Smith of Big Hands fame. "There's nothing quite like the nagging doubt that accompanies a period of unemployment," begins the zine and for the next 44 pages Aaron brings us along on his dark journey into the heart of the failing American empire. Whether touching on the allegorical implications of the Spider-Man/Peter Parker character symbiosis, dreaming about a shameful meeting with a Christ-like Crimethinc author, or just roaming the recession-era streets, Aaron applies everything to the current economic slump and does so in prose that is tight, engaging, and downright hilarious. This little primer/per-zine is some timely stuff.

UPDATED FOR TEN YEARS LATER! Doris 15 starts by stating "there is nothing wrong with a little depression.  It is a reasonable response to this fucked up world and you don't need to hide or deny it."  That's what makes this anti-depression guide so great.  It doesn't treat depression like a disease that needs to be hidden and suppressed with the latest trend in drug therapy.  Instead, it offers fun, real-life advice from someone who had dealt with depression. New edition!

OUT NOW! Curated by Doris editor Cindy Crabb, Learning Good Consent looks at the culture of sexual consent from a standpoint both sexy and educational. Over the course of 46 pages, Cindy and friends create a well-rounded consent workshop, with all sites set on healing and helping. In a world of shady abusers, demonized victims, and one-sided dating rituals, Consent has your back. As says Cindy in the zine's intro, "Talking about our experiences with consent, our struggles, our mistakes and how we've learned, these are part of a much larger revolutionary struggle."

Just to yet ya'll know, we've got Slingshot Organizers in stock for 2010! Hurray! We've got both spiral-bound large ones, and the small ones in stock in a variety of colors. The time to organize is now!

We're planning our 2010 tabling calendar-- if there's anything you'd like us to come to, please get in touch!

Tabling and Events for Early 2010-- Here we come!

• Photos from tabling!
• 14th Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair- March 13th-14th
• Chicago Zine Fest- March 13th
• Left Forum- NYC- March 19th-21st
• Post-punk Extravaganza Tour featuring Joshua Ploeg's cooking, Michael Hoerger and Mia Partlow's Edible Secrets mobile musem and document library, and If It Ain't Cheap, It Ain't Punk documentary. April 1st --23rd
• Anarchist Assembly- Toronto, ON- April 10th-11th
• Pedalnation, Portland Convention Center- April 9-11th
• New York Anarchist Bookfair- April 17th
• Kazoo Zine Fair- Guelph, ON- April 24th
• Stumptown Comics Fest- Portland- April 24th-25th
• Toronto Comics Arts Festival- May 8th-9th
• Montreal Anarchist Bookfair- May 29th-30th
• San Francisco Zine Fest- September 4th-5th

If you’re planning an event and you’d like the Microcosm gang to participate (by tabling, presenting, aiding in the consumption of vegan treats, etc) please let us know!!

Check Out our LINKS page for yearly events we like to support and bands we've been on tour with!

....okay, well, not really forever...but Just like supporting your local farmers, we now offer a "subscription" to everything that we publish! Every time we publish something new we'll send it to your door! Perfect for people who love to get a monthly package but don't have time to sift through what they want! $10-30/month based on what you can afford. Minimum subscription period is 6 months. Subscription begins the month after it is purchased. To receive more than 6 months, add multiple orders to your quantity.

These packs give you super savings, most of them are only $20.00 -- they're cheaper than if you bought the items separately!

Here's a listing of Superpacks we've released so far!  More to come!  Click on them for more details!

10 Miscellaneous Patches!

125 Miscellaneous Stickers!

Political Zine Pack ($11)

Queer as Punk!

Bicycle! Bicycle!

Go Vegan!

Make Something, Do Something

Nate Powell Superpack #1

Nate Powell Superpack #2

Nate Powell Superpack #3

OUT NOW!  Liz Baillie crafts a Degrassi-style teenage soap opera about queer punks in New York City! Our story resumes with Joey in a coma after an incident of queer bashing and Kate and Desi's relationship on the rocks. Desi's really religious, and Kate's really not, and they struggle to find a middle ground. The boys get caught smoking and uh, other things in the boys room, Kate getting in awkward situations with a hate crime perpetrator at her internship job, and much much more! Will queer teenage romance succeed? Will our heroes prevail over high school principals, skinheads, and a homophobic society?

OUT NOW! "For the past 30 years, Bert and Holly have been cranking this out on a manual typewriter in their yurt. You'll find diagrams and notes on how to make tools, portable showers, find seasonal jobs, stay warm at night while Winter camping; hitchhiking and freight train hopping guides; suggestions from people who live in their car, in tents, yurts, tipis, or nowhere at all. And perhaps my favorite thing about "Dwelling Portably" are the personal stories that surround the helpful information." -Print Fetish