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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!

How Not To Kill Yourself

How Not To Kill Yourself imageAre you inclined to escape the crumminess of everyday life into fantasy worlds? Are you smart and imaginative in a way that isn't really suited to your surroundings? Are you definitely misunderstood, likely angry, and almost certainly depressed? Set Sytes, hailing from the UK, would prefer you stay alive and sort things out rather than the alternative, thanks. He figures there are better opportunities for you out there and lays it all out in a way that's compelling, funny, sharp, and useful. This zine (please don't call it a self-help guide, asks the author) is ultimately about how to be a person in the world. It can be done non-miserably, we promise.
 

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!
  • June 16-17: Portland Pride Festival
  • July 21: RAGBRAI, Iowa
  • July 25-29: We'll have our bookstore set up at the glorious battlefields of RollerCon, Las Vegas
  • August 1-2: We'll be tabling at the Alternatives peer support conference in Washington, DC
  • August 17-19: Why Not Fest, Minot, ND
  • September 15: Find us at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair
  • September 16-19: We'll have our bicycle book and t-shirt pop-up shop up at Walk Bike Places in New Orleans
  • October 20-21: We'll be selling our vegan-iest goods at NW VegFest in Portland
  • November 10: Microcosm and Elly Blue Publishing will be tabling at our favorite literary event of the year, Wordstock in Portland
  • December 15-16: BikeCraft, TaborSpace, Portland, OR
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!

A Day in the Life of… Intern Edition

Every few months a batch of brave young creatives joins our crew for a while to learn, explore, and help out around the office. Some volunteer for fun, experience, out of boredom, or for school credit, and every year we get more and more requests for “how can I help!” and “do you take interns?”.
So I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to what being a volunteer here is actually like, from the volunteers themselves. It’s been a while since I was one myself, so I asked a few others to talk about their average day.
Check out the juicy details below.

Jamae Ann Sabangan

From day one, I knew I’d walked into a room full of good people for two reasons—the plethora of tea and the office setup. Although a few of my friends appreciate the taste of tea, seeing several desks at Microcosm Publishing holding piping cups sparked joy in me knowing I’d found kindred tea drinkers. Second, not only are the people in the office open communicators but the space is arranged in a way where we can’t not talk to one another.

As an intern, my day is focused on taking on important tasks that may otherwise go by the wayside, like cross-checking references, compiling book spreads for online catalogs, copyediting excerpts, and researching community resources. Among these, however, the task I enjoy the most is mailing out catalogs to book buyers. Knowing these envelopes hold the potential to connect people outside of Portland’s immediate community to books that could change lives and ways of thinking makes me feel like a small, necessary part of a larger purpose.

the mailing never ends! (just kidding)

And that’s exactly how Microcosm Publishing functions. Bringing light to voices who otherwise may not find a place to share insight on the economical benefits of bike riding, DIY beer brewing techniques, and improved punk rock-inspired recipes. Where else would you find an adult coloring book featuring post-structuralist vulvas breaking the walls of gender identity in the most empowering fashion? The publishing house does this for the greater purpose of serving a community who has yet to see this information but definitely needs it.

Continuing my journey as a Microcosm Publishing intern, I look forward to basking in the tea-infused space, connecting people with world-changing ideas, and participating in work that matters to the community.

Y’know, just your average day in the office.

 

Lydia Rogue

Whenever you find out about a company at PRIDE, it’s almost guaranteed to be a good experience. I’d slipped the catalogue I’d gotten into what my girlfriend dubbed my “swag bag” before heading home and sorting through everything. I applied for the internship not too long after, though it took a while for me to get started.

Once I did, it felt like I hit the ground running – there always seem to be too many tasks, too little time, but that seems to be the day in the life of a publisher. If I’m not unearthing myself from beneath a pile of envelopes, I’m finding homes for Joe’s wayward commas.

Day-to-day life as an intern is grinding through a lot of the same tasks – editing, mailing, sorting, product descriptions… there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that keeps the whole system moving the way it should. One of my first major projects was to put together a mailing list of places that might want to display our 5-Minute Therapy pack – narrowing down the masterlist of some 30,000 potential locations was no easy feat.

The variety of tasks is what makes Microcosm fun. If I start to get antsy on one thing, there’s always another. The best part is, with such a small publishing house, there is no busywork. Everything is essential (if not the most time-sensitive). I’m looking forward to what the next couple of months will bring!

 

Kelsey Williams 

a woman photographs another woman coloring

Kelsey gets a close-up of Stoner Babe artist Katie Guinn

My average day as an intern at Microcosm consists of a only a few things in one day, but many different things each week. Recently, I’ve been extremely grateful to have worked on two different video projects, one being a video for a recent kickstarter campaign for The Stoner Babes coloring book, and the other, a mini documentary feature on Scraper Bikes that originated from Oakland, California. You’d think that spending over twenty hours just editing those two projects alone would have me running, but I’ve gotta say, I love a challenge.

I also get to read books and zines and do a mix of developmental and line editing. Basically, I do a lot of editing. Thank goodness I love it, otherwise I’d cry and ask myself what the point of getting an English degree was.

Some other smaller, but no less important tasks I work on in a day may include updating items on our website, addressing and filling envelopes to send out, researching comp titles (which are basically books similar to ones you’d publish), doing social media research, preparing posts, and more. Since I’m the kind of person that craves change and endless possibilities, this internship is perfect because it provides that for me every single day.

Something really cool that I never thought about is how many new ideas I get exposed to because of this internship. I learn that while I may not have an interest in something like pooping in the woods or getting enough sleep, I can still appreciate and take notice of the effort authors put into their work, and I can also come away with something to tell my grandparents about when they call me five times a week.

If you were to walk into the office, you’d most likely see most of us staring at our computer screens, endlessly typing away, but we’re all working on a small piece of a much larger project. It’s extremely inspiring, playing a part in publishing and sharing someone’s beloved creation to the world, and during that process, I’m also getting to obtain knowledge of how to get my work out there in the future should I choose to do so.

An “average” day at Microcosm doesn’t exist, and that’s my favorite thing about interning here.

 

Want to know what happens after Microcosm? Check back later this month for a “Where Are They Now” post revealing just that. ;-D

Stay strong out there,

Cyn & the team