Introducing the Scene History Series

Are you stoked about the history of your town? Do you find out interesting nuggets by talking to those who came before you or by researching the details out from books and the Internet? Do you want a reason to hunt out some people you respect for them to fill in the gaps?

Well, the Scene History Series is an opportunity to do just that. Like our Simple History Series, we will publish three issues each year, each about a scene that tells the stories of the characters and interactions the scene has with the outside world. 

Due to their tremendous early popularity, we are expanding this series from zines into paperback books.

And we’re believing in democracy here. We are offering an open submission policy for this series. If you want to write about the history of a music scene that you are knowledgeable about or willing to research, we’ll read it, edit it, and work with you, with the goal of us publishing it.

We ask that you focus on the nuts and bolts of the scene rather than one individual, band, or encyclopedic trivia. Focus on the narrative, the characters, and the story. Why was the scene interesting? What made it tick? Why did people become so attached to it? What was unique about how it looked, sounded, and smelled? How did it redirect people away from alternate lives and change the way that they looked at the world forever?

Suggested length is 15,000-30,000 words. Get as creative as you find gratifying. Learn about your favorite places and how things developed.

Submit or ask questions to joe at microcosmpublishing daht com

Scene Histories so far (find all the published ones here:

1. Punk in NYC’s Lower East Side, 1981-1991 by Ben Nadler

2. The Rock & Roll of San Francisco’s East Bay, 1950-1980 by Cory M. Linstrum

3. Out of the Basement: From Cheap Trick to DIY Punk in Rockford, Illinois, 1973-2005 by David Ensminger

4. The Prodigal Rogerson: The Circle Jerks and The Golden Years of LA Punk by J. Hunter Bennett

5. The Bounce scene of New Orleans

6. Syracuse, New York and the foundation of vegan straightedge hardcore

7. Caribean Hip Hop

8. Peoria, IL