Your Dick Made Me Believe in Magic: Hot T4T Stories Wherein Gay Trans Witches Destroy Transphobia (Queering Consent)

April 10, 2026

High-heat, sexy, supernatural stories

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!

Keep reading for an excerpt from River Huckleberry Kero’s Your Dick Made Me Believe in Magic, the latest release in our Lambda-Award-winning Queering Consent series! Preorder from our site for direct shipping from Microcosm’s warehouses starting April 15th; available to order or pick from your preferred retailer’s shelves starting May 13th.

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What did we learn by packing orders? | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

April 09, 2026

Throwback time! This week on the pod, we’re revisiting an old-school episode, where Joe and Elly report back after helping out on the shipping floor. Did our systems hold up? What did they learn in the process? (Spoiler alert: A bit!)

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Romantasy, Horror, Microstores: Bookstore Trends w/ Maureen Karb | A People’s Guide to Publishing

April 03, 2026

Maureen Karb is a field sales rep and with Como Sales, a rep group that focuses on indie publishers selling to indie bookstores. Because of what she does, Maureen has a great knowledge and perspective on what’s new and trending at bookstores. From romantasy and horror to new types of bookstores opening all over the country, this week on the pod, join Maureen, Joe, and Elly to talk about what’s hot (and what’s not) in book world.

Do book reviews matter anymore? w/Jane Friedman | People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

March 26, 2026

It’s been said more and more frequently that reviews from trade publications don’t sell books the way they used to. Why is that, and what DOES sell books?

This week on the pod, Jane Friedman of the Bottom Line is back to talk with Joe and Elly about the movement away from book critique to book content, what book reviews are good for, and what, if anything, they can do to help sell books.

For more valuable insights about the book industry from Jane, check out The Bottom Line.

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

Making Stuff and Doing Things: DIY Guides to Just About Everything

March 23, 2026

When you’re young, broke, and in search of a life of adventure, Making Stuff and Doing Things is the most useful book on the planet. It’s been called “more important than the Bible.” It’s an indispensable handbook full of basic life skills for the young punk or activist, or for anyone who’s trying to get by, get stuff done, and live life to the fullest without a lot of money.

The book started as a series of zines, with dozens of contributors setting down the most important skills they knew in concise, often hand-written pages. If you want to do it yourself or do it together, this book has it all, from making your own tooth paste to making your own art and media, feeding, clothing, cleaning, and entertaining yourself, surviving on little, living on less, and staying healthy on all your life’s adventures. You’ll never be bored again.

Keep reading for an excerpt of this latest edition of Making stuff and Doing Things, the enduring bestseller edited by Kyle Bravo—shipping now from the Microcosm site or available at an indie retailer near you!

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How to Defend Books and Why: Book Bans and How We Fight Them

March 20, 2026

From Ginsberg’s Howl to libraries, from prisons to Palestine

You’re invited to the book revolution!

Fight back against censorship and empower your community with this close look at the book banning movement.

In a moving, compulsively readable call to arms for readers everywhere, Danny Caine, bestselling author of How to Resist Amazon and Why and How to Protect Bookstores and Why, offers an expertly-crafted confrontation of far-right, Christian nationalist attempts to reshape American culture through ban campaigns targeting schools, libraries, bookstores, and prisons, with the aim to silence marginalized identities in life and in literature.

From the first-ever banned books display at San Francisco’s City Lights in the 1950s to the rapid rise of so-called Moms For Liberty during the COVID-19 pandemic to attempts to silence Palestinian authors, Caine charts the course of repressive censorship campaigns, along with the creative and sometimes unlikely activists who’ve stood up against them. Each chapter is based on a particular book banning episode, bolstered by research and legal precedent, and concludes with helpful takeaways for further reading or resistance. Throughout, Caine approaches these heated issues with gentle openness harkening back to his work as a public school teacher and a bookseller. He emphasizes our collective responsibility towards art, free speech, and each other.

Keep reading for an excerpt from Danny Caine’s How to Defend Books and Why, available now through our site or arriving on indie shelves near you on 6/2/26!

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The Perimenopause Journey: Finding Our True Selves Amidst Hormonal Chaos, Depression, and Rage

March 19, 2026

Rediscover the person you were supposed to be

Perimenopause is a time when our souls long for change.

The mood swings and physical discomfort as our reproductive system winds down can make it feel like our bodies and brains are betraying and victimizing us. Our Sacred Cycle author Mary McDonald, a therapist who works with people with PMS, PMDD, trauma, and other reproductive health issues, reframes that betrayal as an intervention and opportunity. With inclusive language and compassionate, practical understanding, she brings affirmation, insight, and science to help us navigate our out-of-control emotions, let go of what no longer serves us, and step fully into our power and wisdom.

McDonald invites us to examine what the huge moods of midlife are really telling us. She offers an explanation of what is actually going on with our hormones, offering the facts behind our feelings from the internalized patriarchal messages that lead us to mistrust and mistreat our bodies and minds. The map she draws for our journey is one of shadow work and soul retrieval, a hero’s journey in which we stop trying to “fix” ourselves and rediscover the person we were supposed to be. The greatest prize is to finally get to meet the wise, experienced, and unapologetically authentic soul we were always meant to become.

Keep going to read an excerpt of Mary McDonald’s The Perimenopause Journey! Available now through our site, or via your favorite independent Microcosm peddler 🙂

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What can you do about book bans? (w/Danny Caine) | A People’s Guide to Publishing Podcast

March 19, 2026

Danny Caine, author of “How to Resist Amazon and Why“, “How to Protect Bookstores and Why“, and the new “How to Defend Books and Why” is a writer, speaker, and former bookstore owner.

This week on the podcast, join Danny, Elly, and Joe as they talk about the interplay of book bans and freedom movements the world over, how you can defend books, and the work and the conversations and interviews that shaped “How to Defend Books.”

Get Danny’s books on the Microcosm website, or your local indie bookstore!

To find out more about book bans and challenges, click here.

Prefer an audio experience? Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app.
Get the People’s Guide to Publishing here, and the workbook here!
Want to stay up to date on new podcast episodes and happenings at Microcosm? Subscribe to our newsletter!

The Perimenopause Journey: Finding Our True Selves Amidst Hormonal Chaos, Depression, and Rage

March 16, 2026

Rediscover the person you were supposed to be.

Perimenopause is a time when our souls long for change.

The mood swings and physical discomfort as our reproductive system winds down can make it feel like our bodies and brains are betraying and victimizing us. Our Sacred Cycle author Mary McDonald, a therapist who works with people with PMS, PMDD, trauma, and other reproductive health issues, reframes that betrayal as an intervention and opportunity. With inclusive language and compassionate, practical understanding, she brings affirmation, insight, and science to help us navigate our out-of-control emotions, let go of what no longer serves us, and step fully into our power and wisdom.

McDonald invites us to examine what the huge moods of midlife are really telling us. She offers an explanation of what is actually going on with our hormones, offering the facts behind our feelings from the internalized patriarchal messages that lead us to mistrust and mistreat our bodies and minds. The map she draws for our journey is one of shadow work and soul retrieval, a hero’s journey in which we stop trying to “fix” ourselves and rediscover the person we were supposed to be. The greatest prize is to finally get to meet the wise, experienced, and unapologetically authentic soul we were always meant to become.

A People’s Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Sustainable, Meaningful Book Business From the Ground Up

March 09, 2026

Learn what it takes to publish books successfully

Drawing on 30 years of experience operating an independent publishing company, Microcosm founder and CEO Joe Biel has written the most accessible and comprehensive guide to running a successful publishing business. You’ll learn all the skills of the trade, including how to:

Develop your individual books to connect with readers on a practical and emotional level
Choose between offset printed, digitally printed, and ebook formats and work effectively with printers
Build an authentic niche so you can reach your audience and sell books directly
Understand if and when you’re ready to work with a distributor or large online retailer
Create a budget and predict the cost and income of each book so your company stays in the black
Decide what work you need to do yourself and what can be done by others
Plan for sustainable growth

Featuring interviews with other upstart independent publishers and funny anecdotes from publishing’s long history as well as detailed charts and visuals, this book is intended both for beginners looking for a realistic overview of the publishing or self-publishing process and for experienced publishers seeking a deeper understanding of accounting principles, ways to bring their books to new audiences, and how to advance their mission in a changing industry. All readers will come away with the confidence to move forward wisely and a strong sense of why publishing matters today more than ever.

Keep going to read an excerpt of Joe Biel’s A People’s Guide to Publishing! Available now through our site, or via your favorite independent Microcosm peddler 🙂

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