About this item
In 1996, everything about Joe Biel's life seemed like a mistake. He was 18, he lived in Cleveland, he got drunk every day, and he had mystery health problems and weird social tics. All his friends' lives were as bad or worse. To escape a nihilistic, apocalyptic worldview and to bring reading and documentation into a communal punk scene, he started assembling zines and bringing them in milk crates to underground punk shows. Eventually this became Microcosm Publishing. But Biel's head for math was stronger than his ability to relate to people, and it wasn't until he was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome that it all began to fall into place. This is the story of how, over 20 years, one person turned a litany of continuing mistakes and seeming wrong turns into a happy, fulfilled life and a thriving publishing business that defies all odds.
About the Author
Joe Biel is a writer, activist, journalist, filmmaker, teacher, and publisher. He founded Microcosm Publishing and the imprint Cantankerous Titles, which have published over 300 titles and sold over one million "classic format" paper books. He cofounded the Portland Zine Symposium and is the author of Beyond the Music, Make a Zine, Bipedal By Pedal, and The CIA Makes Science Fiction Unexciting. He has been featured in Time Magazine, Broken Pencil, Maximumrocknroll, the Oregonian, Portland Mercury, Punk Planet Magazine, Readymade Magazine, and the Utne Reader. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
