This novel is an origin story for a collective of zine activists. It is the first-ever novel to feature an entire zine community, and so far the only.

"...captivating...doing all the things a good book is supposed to do." --Billy McCall

"...a page-turner...every zinester should have this book..." --Bratty Bre Upton

"...admirable...a zine fest utopian society where misfits support each other unconditionally." --Razorcake

From the desert to the streets to the beach to the border: A novel of the Southern California underground.

These six artists together reveal the spirit of the zine community, and how it embodies the resilience within all human beings. They're trying to make a difference. They're trying to save themselves. And they're on a collision course with each other.

Ezekiel exposes police abuse with drones. His zine is called SlapDown. Clare decides to challenge her own privilege. Her zine is called Moon Bloom. Blossom refuses to let insults slide. Her zine: The Man Who Booed Littlefeather. Viola uses fairy tales to break down stereotypes with her zine O'Kindred. Rocky rewrites the boundaries of gender in Shake Me the Boom Boom. And Stanley looks for ghosts in traffic jams until he makes his first zine: Untitled (Sad).

Once every two weeks over the course of a zinefest season the story drops into these characters' lives. You see what's happening to them on that day. Sometimes their separate scenes run sequentially; sometimes all of the characters are together in the same place; and sometimes their scenes are held together through motifs. Follow these six artists through a season of Southern California zinefests and get an insider's look into the folks trying to shape a 'New America.'

This is their manifesto: There is only dignity in revolt.

308 pages.

Etsy (free shipping)

Big Cartel (free shipping + free mini zine)

Bookshop.org

Amazon

You can also order The Zinester Manifesto: A Novel of the Underground through any brick-and-mortar retailer of new books -- virtually worldwide.

My zine and writing cred

I made my first zine in 2017. My "Zine from the Future Describing the End of Civilization" was a finalist for Best Political Zine of 2021 at Broken Pencil Magazine's International Zine Awards. I have tabled my zines at more than three dozen Southern California zinefests. My plays, stories, poems and essays have appeared in scores of zines and literary journals around the world, touching virtually all genres.

Please support these independent bookshops
that have generously granted my novel shelf space

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA::
The PopHop in Highland Park (LA)
Beyond Baroque in Venice
Small World Books in Venice
Verbatim Books in San Diego
Page Against the Machine in Long Beach
Art & Bodega in Claremont
Ediciones Caradura Cafeteoria in Tijuana


Available to borrow at:
Cafe con Libros (Pomona)
Los Angeles Public Library (Pacific Palisades Branch)



OUTSIDE SOCAL:
Quimby's Bookstore (Chicago)
Quimby's BookstoreNYC (Brooklyn)

Available to Borrow at:
Sherwood Forest Zine Library (Austin, TX)
Bend Zine Library (Bend, OR)
University of San Francisco Library
Reed College Library (Portland, OR)

Or read it at:
The ABC No Rio Zine Library (NYC)
Bird's Nest Zine Library (Spokane, WA)