Now Kickstarting: Feminist steampunk bike racing action!

October 30, 2015 — by Elly Blue

When I joined Microcosm at the beginning of this year, I brought along a lot of contracts for books that nobody quite knew what to make of. Several of them have come out since, including the feminist bicycle science fiction volume Pedal Zombies, which was met with quite a bit of skepticism—Microcosm has never published a straight up work of fiction before, much less science fiction. Would we be able to pull it off? Well, one successful Kickstarter campaign and a steady stream of kick-ass reviews later, it looks like it’s working for us.

And not a moment too soon. Today we launched a Kickstarter project for our second science fiction book: The Velocipede Races is Emily June Street’s steampunky YA tale of a young woman’s liberation, a comedy of manners combined with edge-of-your seat racing scenes.

It’s an exciting, page-turning read. Cherie Priest, New York Times Bestselling author of Boneshaker, says that it’s “Tense, thoughtful, and truly thrilling; The Velocipede Races is a marvelous fantasy of manners and machinery.” We hope you like it as much as we do: To learn more, check out the video below, and please consider backing the project before it ends on November 28th.

Call for Submissions: Journal of Bicycle Feminism on Money and Class

October 20, 2015 — by Elly Blue

How does bicycling fit into your personal economy? Your social standing? How do your choices when it comes to bicycling relate to your income, and how do they relate to your attitudes towards money? Did your bike cost a lot or a little, and how do you feel about that? Have you done economic research or reporting on bicycle issues? What are your observations about the costs and benefits of cycling?

The first volume of the Journal of Bicycle Feminism, Cycletherapy, was about feelings: joy, grief, and healing. The second volume is about money, status, and wealth, whatever those topics mean to you.

A wide variety of submissions are sought, particularly from underrepresented perspectives. Personal narratives, essays, and reporting will be the bulk of the volume—lengths between 1,000 and 3,000 words are ideal, but if a piece needs more words we can talk. Illustrations and photographs are sought as well. I’d like to include one piece of fiction, and one very short (around 500 words) and funny piece for the end of the book.

The submission deadline is February 1, 2016. Email questions, queries, or submissions to elly at microcosmpublishing dot com.

Call for Ideas: What Should Microcosm Make Next?

October 13, 2015 — by Elly

Dear readers,

Yup, that’s you, reading this now.

If you’re at all familiar with Microcosm, you probably know that we do a whole lot more than just publish books.

We make t-shirts. Patches. Stickers. Buttons. Other stuff sometimes comes down the pipeline like fanny packs or sweatshirts. It’s all made in the US and we try to support companies that are in it for reasons of the heart rather than the wallet.

A large amount of this stuff is bicycle-related because that’s how we roll. But a lot of it is about other stuff, like vegan, punk music, feminism, politics, health, community justice, and generally poking holes in and kicking down the walls.

The point is that a lot of the ideas for these things come from readers like you. Sometimes someone emails us and says “Can you make a a version of your Evolution design but with a unicycle?” And we do.

Or sometimes people send in original artwork for us to put on stuff. And we do that too:

You too can submit a finished design (if we used it, you’d still own it, and we’d pay you royalties). Or just tell us the idea that you had that you wish someone would make. We’ll make it if it works for us and send it to you, too!

We made a google thing for you (it’s below) to tell us about your idea (or you can always just email us too).

Thank you!

Love,

Microcosm

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