A Pocket Guide to Pride Flags: An Illustrated History of Queer Community Symbols

May 15, 2026

Beyond the rainbow.

Find your own flavor of pride with this definitive guide to pride flags of all stripes—their history, meanings, legacies, and cultural significance around the world. A whole spectrum of stories has unfolded since the original rainbow flag debuted in the 1970s. For the first time, here are over 30 pride flags collected together, accompanied by details about their symbolism, creators, usage, and sometimes controversial histories. It’s all presented with graphic flair by Icelandic designer and comedian Sindri “Sparkle” Freyr.

If you’re LGBTQ, you’re likely familiar with your community flags, but you’re not the only ones! Kinksters, bears, sex workers, and drag performers—there’s a flag for you. If you’re nonbinary, intersex, agender, genderqueer, disabled, polyamorous, two-spirt, ace-aro, or demi—you’ve got a flag, too. These flags and the motives behind them show us that there really is room for everyone. With both queer visibility and heteronormative hatred on the rise around the world, this bold, stylish celebration of vexillology (the study of flags!) shows how these symbols can help us share who we are, how we define ourselves, and where we find community.

Keep reading to learn more about pride flag history in this first-of-its-kind guide, shipping now from our site or available June 2 at your local Microcosm dealer.

(more…)

Action!: An Illustrated, DIY Guide to Making Your Own Movies

May 13, 2026

The classic guide to movie-making fundamentals

Who says you need a film degree, fancy equipment, or studio backing to fulfill your filmmaking dreams? Pick up your phone or the video or film camera you found at an estate sale, and make your own movies, music videos, documentaries, vlogs, and more.

Charmingly hand-written and -illustrated, this revised and updated edition of the beloved classic fits in your pocket and provides all the essential information you need, free of jargon or elitist obstacles. You’ll learn why movies move us, how film and video cameras work, how to light and expose shots, how to create eye-catching compositions, how to record crystal-clear sound, and more.

Whether you’re a content creator, journalist, artist, director, fundraiser, or activist, movies are a more powerful storytelling tool than ever. This book will help you improve your technical expertise on any equipment and any budget so you can achieve your dreams and reach the world with your story.

Want to know how you and your friends can make movies? Read on for an excerpt of this new and updated edition of Bill Brown‘s Action! Preorder your own copy from our site, shipping May 19, or find it at your preferred Microcosm peddler after its official release, August 25 🙂

(more…)

Indigenous Punk: A Definitive Guide to the Native, Aboriginal, and Pacific Islander Metal and Rock ‘n’ Roll Musicians Who Changed Music

April 13, 2026

Adapt the dominant culture on your own terms

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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!

(more…)

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!

(more…)

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 🙂

(more…)

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 🙂

(more…)

Self Care Won’t Save Us: How to Fight Burnout with Solidarity and Social Change

February 06, 2026

Get off the hamster wheel and into the streets!

Is the daily grind getting you down? You’re not alone! More than half of working adults in the U.S. say they’re experiencing at least some degree of that dreaded late-stage-capitalism affliction: burnout. But workplace well-being needn’t remain out of reach. With a focus on actionable alternatives, Self Care Won’t Save Us examines the mash-up of money and morality that got us into this mess alongside practical ways we can get ourselves out of it.

Author Caroline Moore digs into hustle culture’s takeover of the way we do business, how its rise has allowed work to creep into every aspect of our daily lives, and how we can re-envision what work is and what it should mean to us. Exploring possibilities like co-op models, shorter working weeks, policy changes in the workplace, and other simple adaptations to help you to thrive, this book offers real tools to battle burnout, rather than burning you out with more burnout facts. Whether you’re a business owner, a union steward, a new employee, or a freelancer, this is the working person’s guide to making positive change for ourselves and each other.

Read an exclusive excerpt of Self-Care Won’t Save Us, shipping now from our site or from a shop near you!:

(more…)

How to Survive in the Woods: Camping, Fires, Trailing, Tramping, Getting Lost, and Finding Your Way Home

December 04, 2025

Connect to nature and live to tell the tale

Connect to nature and live to tell the tale with this camping guide packed with practical knowledge from a time before ultralight backpacking gadgets, synthetic rainwear, and cell phones. The emphasis is on preparation and survival, starting with how to plan your trip, pick your companions, how to get to your campsite, and what gear, food, and clothes to bring along. You’ll learn to choose a good campsite and set up your tarp or build a lean-to, and navigate on your backcountry trek. There’s an extensive section on wilderness first aid, plus guides to backwoods housekeeping and cooking, blazing a trail, starting a fire without a match, sending smoke signals, and choosing the best axe.

In the words of the author, “Camping calls for old clothes, lack of luxuries and conveniences, primitive life, and unfailing good temper and cheerfulness under all conditions, as well as plenty of hard work and a willingness to do one’s share of anything and everything without being asked.” If roughing it is more your style than glamping, this guide will spark your imagination and help you plan your next trip.

Keep reading for an excerpt of Elly Blue’s foreword to How to Survive in the Woods, our new edition of A. Hyatt Verrill’s Book of Camping, first published in 1917. Shipping direct from the Microcosm site starting December 8th, or available from your favorite local Microcosm purveyor in April 2026!

(more…)