The Zinester Manifesto - John Dishwasher - Bog

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 little-known 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.

Zines are informal, self-published booklets.

Ezekial 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). Follow these six artists through a season of Southern California zine fests 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.