We’ve been honing our software behind-the-scenes for decades, but this is our first public-facing website makeover since 2012! For 30 years, we’ve had a riotously maximalist ecommerce website. And it’s worked—pretty well. But lately, you’ve been telling us what you want it to do better and we’ve been scribbling notes and making plans.
This week on the pod, Joe and Elly talk about what went into the decision to rebuild the front end of our website, the cool new search features, and how we’ve made it even easier for buyers to use.
Hilarious, vibrant, magically drawing cohesion between divergent themes, brimming with endorsements of the best music and books you haven’t heard or read yet. J. Hunter Bennett, author of The Prodigal Rogerson and Upside-Down Punks, started a little free punk rock bookstore during the pandemic outside his house on a well-trafficked corner of Chevy Chase, D.C., and published a companion newsletter. It began as a way to offload his excess music books and noir novels, but swiftly grewinto a neighborhood fixture and underground punk zine for the modern era.
Here you’ll find book reviews, band interviews, neighborhood gossip, and praise from at least two members of Fugazi. A touching testament to the DIY spirit, a treasure trove of literary and punk rock recommendations, and a low-key how-to guide for building something unique with your own network of like-minded weirdos. C’mon, where else you gonna find Millions of Dead Cops and James Salter in the same place?
This riot of a book is graced with an introduction by Jim Spellman of Velocity Girl and a foreword by Anton Bogomazov of the neighborhood’s more official bookstore, Politics and Prose.
The punks, despite all the best efforts of society and time, are still kicking around, and we love that for them/us.
This week on the pod, J. Hunter Bennett, author of “More Punk than the Public Library,” joins Joe and Elly to talk about middle-aged punk life, starting a little free punk rock library during the pandemic outside his house on a well-trafficked corner of Chevy Chase, D.C., and more.
Native artists have always been central to hard, heavy music: surf rock, hard rock, heavy funk, straight edge, thrash, rap metal, grunge, grind core, and especially black metal. Natives have made their own uniquely Indigenous hard music forms, prehispanic metal in Latin America, Navajo rez metal, and experimental ambient metal in the far north.
Beginning with Link Wray’s trailblazing guitar sound that gave birth to punk and metal as we know them today and culminating in contemporary acts like the all-female, Māori doom metal and punk band Death and Hatred to Mankind, this eye-opening, encyclopedic history of Native bands and musicians spans the last 60 years. Historian and professor Al Carroll teaches us to listen critically to spot imposters and bigotry, while celebrating the explosion of Indigenous bands during the rise of thrash and later nu-metal, how Native artists in the so-called U.S. gained popularity and radio play overseas while their releases were censored in the States, and the “harder than you” grit of bands originating on Pacific islands.
There’s something in this book for every hard music fan. Pick it up if you’re looking for a new way to see the music and culture around you or inspiration to create something of meaning to your own community and roots. Get ready to learn about your new favorite band, deepen your understanding of the music you love, and think critically about the dominant culture.
The tea-making pros at Harney & Sons have pulled together a 66-card deck and guide to help you learn how to divine your future through reading tea leaves.
Usually $30, this week only, snag this deck and guidebook for just $6!
Where would we be without our lovely warehouse staff? (Lost, confused, bookless, most likely.) This week on the pod, join Joe and Elly as they talk about our warehouses, how they work, and the hardworking systems nerds that keep it going.
The purrfect excuse to stay home with your fluffy friend
Snuggle up with this cute and comfy coloring book all about the special bond between a woman, her book, and her fuzziest bestie.
This relaxing coloring book includes more than thirty hand-drawn illustrations depicting comforting, cozy scenes of women chilling out with their cats and a good read, along with activity pages and funny quotes celebrating the pleasures of ignoring the rest of the world. Whimsical activities help you match literary cats to their original texts and provide a low-stakes mental break from the challenges of the day. The perfect gift for a cat-loving friend who’s going through a rough patch, or for yourself.
If you’re keeping up with publishing news at all, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the “Shy Girl” controversy, where Mia Ballard’s book was pulled by the publisher after claims it was written by AI. More and more stories like this are hitting the feeds all the time, from authors to book reviewers.
What does this mean for the industry, and are AI detectors even reliable? Jane Friedman of The Bottom Line is back on the pod this week with Joe and Elly to talk about the AI buzz!
Drink deeply from this steamy cauldron of spellbinding t4t scenes featuring transmasculine hotties practicing erotic witchcraft.
Sigils in an eco-friendly nightclub lead to unexpected encounters; a horned god delivers more than just spiritual blessings to his devotees of self-made men; a video-game playing demon and his roommate coax a ghost through his unfinished business; a budding practitioner’s querent pulls oracle cards for “erotic bliss” and “uninhibited release”; and a green witch’s attempt to identify an unusual psychotropic plant takes a tendril-filled turn.
Each story is linked to a cast of bewitching boys with different body types, boundaries, and backgrounds, all engaging each other in consensual and super sexy rendezvous—each one magically hotter than the next. Ground yourself for some wild magic!
Native artists have always been central to hard, heavy music: surf rock, hard rock, heavy funk, straight edge, thrash, rap metal, grunge, grind core, and especially black metal. Natives have made their own uniquely Indigenous hard music forms, prehispanic metal in Latin America, Navajo rez metal, and experimental ambient metal in the far north.
Beginning with Link Wray’s trailblazing guitar sound that gave birth to punk and metal as we know them today and culminating in contemporary acts like the all-female, Māori doom metal and punk band Death and Hatred to Mankind, this eye-opening, encyclopedic history of Native bands and musicians spans the last 60 years. Historian and professor Al Carroll teaches us to listen critically to spot imposters and bigotry, while celebrating the explosion of Indigenous bands during the rise of thrash and later nu-metal, how Native artists in the so-called U.S. gained popularity and radio play overseas while their releases were censored in the States, and the “harder than you” grit of bands originating on Pacific islands.
There’s something in this book for every hard music fan. Pick it up if you’re looking for a new way to see the music and culture around you or inspiration to create something of meaning to your own community and roots. Get ready to learn about your new favorite band, deepen your understanding of the music you love, and think critically about the dominant culture.
Want to find your new favorite band? Read on for an excerpt of Dr. Al Carroll‘s Indigenous Punk, or preorder your own copy from our site, shipping after April 16th.
