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Bicycle / Race

Bicycle / Race imageBicycle / Race paints an unforgettable picture of Los Angeles—and the United States—from the perspective of two wheels. This is a book of borderlands and intersections, a cautionary tale about the dangers of putting infrastructure before culture, and a coming-of-age story about power and identity. The colonial history of southern California is interwoven through Adonia Lugo's story of growing up Chicana in Orange County, becoming a bicycle anthropologist, and co-founding Los Angeles's hallmark open streets cycling event, CicLAvia, along the way. When she takes on racism in the world of national bicycle advocacy in Washington, DC, she finds her voice and heads back to LA to organize the movement for environmental justice in active transportation.
In the tradition of City of Quartz, this book will forever change the way you see Los Angeles, race and class in the United States, and the streets and people around you wherever you live.
 

This is Portland (2nd Ed)

This is Portland (2nd Ed) imageUpdated with a new edition for 2018 and 50% additional material, This is Portland is a first-hand look at a city that people can't seem to stop talking about. It's a guidebook of sorts, but not to restaurants and sightseeing. Instead, Alexander Barrett is your friendly guide to the quirky characters and atmosphere of Portland, Oregon and how fun, beautiful, and ridiculous it can be. With its approachable, often hilarious tone, this book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about bikes, beards, beers, rain, and everything else important about the city you've heard you should like.

Stoner Babes Coloring Book

Stoner Babes Coloring Book imageThis meditative, art-filled adult coloring book is inspired by the beauty of women and gender fluid people who savor the qualities of the cannabis plant. They are empowered, intelligent, motivated humans who pay no mind to judgment, for they’re making their mark in this world no matter their color, shape, size, age, or gender. You'll enjoy coloring these highly detailed and varied pages, with tattoos, patterned garb, shape-filled backgrounds, marijuana bouquets, and gorgeous faces. While you color, partake in the transcendental qualities of weed and contemplate what empowerment means to you. Contains over 60 babes on single-sided and perforated pages that you can tear out and share.

Feminist Weed Farmer

Feminist Weed Farmer imageWeed is powerful medicine, and growing your own is as empowering as it gets. Experienced Humboldt farmer Madrone Stewart shares her hard-won knowledge gained from years of growing cannabis, Zen meditation, and surviving as a woman in a male-dominated industry. She walks you through the big picture and each detail of growing about six backyard plants, from selecting seeds to harvest and processing. Humorous, sage, and with a big heart, each chapter is infused with what she's learned about equalizing the weed industry, applying mindfulness to pest management, and the importance of owning each step of the process. If you've ever wanted to grow your own pot or make hash or kief at home, this book is your wise guide.
 

Unfuck Your Brain

Unfuck Your Brain imageOur brains are doing our best to help us out, but they can be real assholes sometimes. Sometimes it seems like your own brain is out to get you—melting down in the middle of the grocery store, picking fights with your date, getting you addicted to something, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. You already told your brain firmly that it isn't good to do these things. But your brain has a mind of its own. That's where this book comes in. With humor, patience, and lots of swearing, Dr. Faith shows you the science behind what's going on in your skull and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life. If you're working to deal with old traumas, or if you just want to have a more measured and chill response to situations you face all the time, this book can help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and get your life and brain back. Our brains are doing our best to help us out, but they can be real assholes sometimes. Sometimes it seems like your own brain is out to get you—melting down in the middle of the grocery store, picking fights with your date, getting you addicted to something, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. You already told your brain firmly that it isn't good to do these things. But your brain has a mind of its own. That's where this book comes in. With humor, patience, and lots of swearing, Dr. Faith shows you the science behind what's going on in your skull and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life. If you're working to deal with old traumas, or if you just want to have a more measured and chill response to situations you face all the time, this book can help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and get your life and brain back.

The Post-Structuralist Vulva Coloring Book

The Post-Structuralist Vulva Coloring Book imageNever fear, neither gender essentialism nor pretentious continental philosophy are safe from the all-seeing gaze of The Post-Structuralist Vulva Coloring Book. Quotations from postmodern theorists intertwine with diverse vulva imagery from the sacred to the profane to bring you a one-of-a-kind meditative coloring experience. Edited by Elly Blue and illustrated by Meggyn Pomerleau.

Paleo for Unicorns

Paleo for Unicorns imagePaleo for Unicorns is a hilarious, helpful cookbook for people who want to eat what feels right to them without a bunch of macho posturing, pseudoscientific diet mumbo jumbo, or nitpicky recipe policing. If you don't even eat cereal for breakfast because you don't want to wash the dishes, and if eating cereal makes you feel kind of woozy anyway, this might just be the cookbook for you. Written for even the most beginnery of beginners, this book will inspire you to start cooking and taking care of yourself, because taking care of yourself is a radical feminist act. And if you take care of other people, large or small, it will help with that, too. The recipes, cooking advice, and stories in this book are for anyone who wants to eat a more anti-inflammatory, gluten-free, dairy-free, or low-carb diet.
 

Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills

Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills imageTenth anniversary edition of our bestseller with a new introduction! Out now in hard cover!

Xerography Debt #42

Xerography Debt #42 imageIn times of political upheaval and personal problems, zines can be an outlet for people to examine the world they live in and their place in it, enabling them to form communities and create dialogues with people they might never have reached through traditional means. Of course, while not all zines are about politics and revolution, they all share within them the ability to inspire others to talk, think, and create. This zine is a collection of reviews by zine writers that was founded to help amplify the voices of people who had largely been marginalized by the mainstream media and to create a safe community for independent thought. In an age of blogs and tweets, Xerography Debt is a beautiful, earnest anachronism, a publication that seems to come from a different era, but is firmly entrenched in the now. And they want to review your zines in future issues, send to: Davida Gypsy Breier / Glen Arm, MD 21057

The Classic Bicycle Coloring Book

The Classic Bicycle Coloring Book imageColor happily and reflect back upon the bicycles of your life with Taliah Lempert's newest coloring book! The pages are perforated and single-sided for easy sharing. Enjoy this beautiful book of bike art!
 

In The News

Call for Submissions for Neurodiversity zine series

Autism now occupies a similar place in the public consciousness at this moment as gay rights did in the 1970s: no one understands it and The Borg demand our assimilation! 
Proud to Be Retarded #1 (previously Don't Be Retarded) is for sale now! It offers exposition on neurotypicals' neurophobia and the frequent claim that they are supportive of #ActuallyAutistic people...as long as we act like they do. One reviewer for my book Good Trouble mentioned that she couldn't believe that I wasn't part of a radical zine community on the forefront of Autistic theory...so I decided to start one! The inspiration for the title lies in the homocore roots of punk and Don't Be Gay in the 1980s. Queer punks were told that they would be accepted as soon as they acted like straight people.  The deadline for issue #2 is August 15, the theme is suicide, and submissions should be 500-2,000 words! Theme for issue #3 is interactions with authority figures. 
Your Neurodiverse Friend features advice and explanatory narrative about the neurodiverse experience for the less divergent so we can be seen as real, whole people. The first issue is at the printer now! If you are interested in contributing to issue #2, the deadline is November 15 and the theme is "being taken advantage of." We want your personal narrative, origin story, misconceptions you've faced, how people could better interact/collaborate/interface with you, and aspirations of how you would like the movement to grow that can serve as a narrative for NTs understanding our people's experiences. 500-2,000 words.
email submissions/questions to joe at microcosmpublishing daht com

Good Life BFF

Good Life BFF imageYour sustainable living toolkit! Subscribe to all of our most popular books, as they come out: Cookbooks, DIY project books, books about healthy relationships, bicycling, fermenting, building, mending, growing, and generally living the life you want in every way.
 

Microcosm In Your Town!

Here are the events we'll be participating in this year. Either we're tabling our books, or an author is presenting, or both! a customer browsing a table full of books If you’re planning an event and want us to be part of it (speaking, author readings, movie screening, book and t-shirt slinging, etc) please let us know!!

Calling for submissions for 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 scouting out details on Google and Wikipedia? Do you want a reason to hunt out some people you respect and fill in the gaps? Well, the Scene History series is an opportunity to do just that. Like our Simple History Series, we will publish a paperback each year of the Scene History series that tell the story of a particular city's scene. (the series does not profile individuals, albums, or bands, but really must be framed around a real scene, no fiction!) Suggested length is 15,000-30,000 words. Get as creative as you find gratifying. Learn about your favorite places and how things developed. Check out the existing Scene Histories here! To pitch, just send a general summary of the scene that you are profiling, the years profiled, and your qualifications/interest to profile it! Will it be prose or comics? Do you have access to photos and images? Why are you excited to do this? Submit or ask questions to joe at microcosmpublishing daht com

BFF Book Subscription

BFF Book Subscription image

Be our Best Friend Forever (BFF)! For 6 months you'll receive every new title we publish. The subscription is sliding scale price $10-30/month, and you can either pay in one sum upfront here or pay-as-you-go here. Thanks for your support!  Google+

 

Upcoming

Blogifesto!

This Is… Alexander Barrett

Colorful little book on a shelf. "This is Portland"We’ve loved working with traveler/writer Alexander Barrett since the beginning. From our beloved Portland to Shanghai and soon San Francisco, Alex’s eye for the unique little details in the cities he features continues to be spot on and enjoyable. Years ago, 2015 to be exact, we interviewed Alex for the release of This is Shanghai, and this week we decided to catch up with him and revisit those questions for a update.

 

 1. Where are you *right now* and what is the most important thing to know about what’s going on around you there?

Right now, I’m in my apartment in San Francisco, looking out over the city. I’ve lived here just long enough to think that the new Salesforce tower is ruining the skyline. Oof that thing. Today was “Sunday Streets” on Valencia in the Mission. They close the street to traffic and line it with musicians, dancers, and tables dedicated to local non-profits. I just watched a bunch of hippies play Jefferson Airplane covers to a small group of dancing children. “When the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies…” It was the first time I really listened to those lyrics. The kids really responded to them.

2. I know it’s crass to ask, but when you aren’t making charming illustrated books about places you’re getting to know, what exactly do you do for a living?

I have a job. I’ve had the job for three years. I still don’t know exactly what it is. But I go there and I do stuff. When it started, I was a copywriter working on branding for YouTube. Then I convinced some higher ups to let me buy a Risograph Printer. Now I mostly print fun stuff and show other people how to print fun stuff.

3. What’s your favorite book that you’ve read this year?

I read Tamara Shopsin’s Arbitrary and Stupid Goal a few months ago. I really like the format of her books. It’s not unlike the way I’ve structured mine. Very staccato. But her chapters bounce all over the place through time, topic, and location. Such a wonderful experience.

4. What’s next for you? And finally, the question on everyone’s mind: Where will you live next?

I’ve lived in San Francisco for three years, which is the longest I’ve lived anywhere in a long time. I think I’ll stick around for a while. I won’t be in this city forever, but they have nice baked goods here. For the time being, I’m going to be in this apartment and explore the way I make things.

Looking back, the process of making these three books feels so similar. But looking at the final products, I think I’ve gotten better at it. I think This is San Francisco is the best and most complete project I’ve ever made. That feels good.

 

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Learn more about Alexander and follow his work at www.alexanderbarrett.com and check out all three of his city books.
If you’re in Portland this month, snag a free copy of the 1st edition This is Portlands at “little free libraries” all over town! More on the blog.