Firestorm Books

08/09/2026

TODAY: Storytime! 📚 Water Balloons!! 💧🎈 Puppets!!! 🪼🎭🐢

We're pulling out the stops for our summertime story hour with local authors Constance Lombardo and Shannon Hitchcock! They will be sharing two books to remind us to follow our hearts and appreciate our local waterways. We're thrilled to report that we will also be joined by some aquatic puppets from Street Creature Puppet Collective!

After the read-aloud we'll safely stash the books and then head out to the patio to toss around some water balloons. Rain or shine, prepare to get wet!

(-Frog)https://firestorm.coop/events/3645-dont-get-the-books-wet-a-splashy-summer-storytime.html

Image description 1: In the foreground a hand holds three filled water balloons, two blue and one purple. Two picture books are visible but blurred in the background, "Itty Bitty Betty Blob Makes a Splash" by Constance Lombardo and "Of Words and Water" by Shannon Hitchcock.

Image description 2: An event graphic features the covers of two picture books against a background of splashing water. Pink text reads "Don't get the books wet!" in large font. Smaller text reads "A splashy summer storytime" and "Aug. 9th/ 1pm-2pm." The graphic also includes Firestorm's logo.

08/08/2026

Next Saturday, Firestorm will be hosting Ashanti O. Alston, author of new "Anarchist Panther," with co-editor William C. Anderson, to celebrate the release of his collection of essays, interviews, and speeches from AK Press!

Gathering works that have influenced generations of radicals the world over, "Anarchist Panther: The Selected Writings of Ashanti O. Alston" traces Alston's ideas and influences, including those on psychology, political prisoner support, feminism, the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the Zapatista rebellion, and Black anarchism. Anarchist Panther brings to life the beautiful movement expression "all power to the people!"

Find your copy of "Anarchist Panther" and join the conversation at https://app.hi.events/event/9730/anarchist-panther-virtual-book-launch. Can't make the event live? Sign up anyway and we'll send you a video recording to stream at your convenience!

Image description 1: A photo of Alston's book sitting upright on a patio table in front of Firestorm. The book features a photo of the author in a hoodie and wide brimmed hat over a green background.

Image description 2: A promotional graphic for the Anarchist Panther Book Launch, a virtual event hosted by Firestorm and AK Press on August 15th at 5pm ET. The image features the book cover alongside headshots for Ashanti and William over a newsprint image from The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service.

08/08/2026

Calling all punks!

Author Kevin Dunn discusses Belfast punk, The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and Stiff Little Fingers' groundbreaking debut, "Inflammable Material." He will be joined by Asheville-based music journalist Bill Kopp.

Stiff Little Fingers' "Inflammable Material "explores the band's complicated and controversial relationship with the Belfast punk scene, a scene that actively defied violent social divisions to create important non-sectarian spaces through which an “Alternative Ulster” was imagined and put into practice.

(-Frog)
https://firestorm.coop/events/3623-belfast-punk-the-troubles-and-inflammable-material.html

Image description: A promotional graphic made to look like a vinyl album cover. Large text reads "BELFAST PUNK, THE TROUBLES, AND INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL." The time listed for this in-person event is August 13th at 6pm ET. The image includes a historical photo of a person crouching with a firearm and a child with their hands clasped together and their mouth open.

08/05/2026

EDIT Today's notary is at 6pm!!!

We're making fetch happen 🐶🪾

TODAY @ 6pm – Drop-in Community Notary Service
Stop by Firestorm on the first Wednesday of each month for free, friendly, no-judgment Notary Public services!

Saturday @ 12pm – Harm Reduction Kit Packing Party
Want to take action to improve community health and show solidarity with people who use drugs? Help Steady Collective package harm reduction kits that will be distributed at upcoming outreach events!

Sunday @ 11am – Sacred Anarchy Book Club
Exploring connections between occult, spiritual, and political paths to personal and collective liberation. This month we're discussing "Racism as Zoological Witchcraft," a scintillating combination of critical race theory, social commentary, veganism, and gender analysis by media studies scholar Aph Ko.

Sunday @ 1pm – Don't Get The Books Wet!: A Splashy Summer Storytime
Local authors share their water themed picture books followed by water balloons on the patio!

Monday (8/10) @ 6:30pm – Neurodivergent Reading Group
The Neurodivergent Reading Group is a welcoming and inclusive space for neurodivergent individuals to come together and connect through shared reading and conversation. The current read is "Something in the Woods Loves You" by Jarod K Anderson.

Tuesday (8/11) @ 5:30pm – Weekly Trans Writing Circle
A creative writing and co-working group for trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people with independent long and short form projects.

Tuesday (8/11) @ 6pm – Zine Assembly
A drop-in space to have conversations while assembling free zines for community distribution.

(-Frog) https://firestorm.coop/calendar.html

Cover image description: A photo of a Firestorm collective member posing besides a felt event board with book shelves in the background. The person has an illustrated beagle head holding a stick in their mouth. There is a light colored dog standing between their legs, also with an illustrated beagle head.

Additional image description: All other images are promotional graphics for the Firestorm events this week.

08/03/2026

Mercury Stardust is returning to Asheville!!! This time to promote her latest offering, "Lost and Found: A Compassionate Guide to Homeownership" 👩‍🎤🛠️🪚🔧🪛🏡

So many folks came out to see Mercury the last time she was in town (someone even flew all the way from Germany??) so we are borrowing AB Tech's Ferguson Auditorium to make sure that we have plenty of space for Mercury's one-woman show! The show—blending comedy, the trans experience, and DIY knowledge—will be followed by a short audience Q&A. You'll need to register for the event with an option to pick up a copy of the book while you're at it!

After the show we'll adjourn to Firestorm for a meet & greet and book signing 📖✍️

If you love Mercury from her online presence, you'll definitely want to experience her genuine and joyful disposition in person! Mark your calendar and we'll see you then!

(-Frog) https://firestorm.coop/events/3651-mercury-stardust-comedy-diy-show.html

Image description 1: An event graphic features the cover of "Lost and Found," a book by Mercury Stardust. An illustration of Mercury is on the cover, as well as a house with a "sold" sign. The text on the graphic advertises an event in Asheville on Sunday, October 4th. It also includes the Firestorm logo.

Image description 2: A promotional headshot of Mercury posing with a tool box, tools, and wearing an apron that says "Handy Ma'am." The graphic includes more information about the comedy show and meet & greet that can be found on the event page our website.

08/02/2026

Big Listeners! The Firestorm collective shares our current reads on libro.fm! 🎧📖

Every month our collective meets for a potluck brunch and a discussion topic. This month we ate delicious local produce (hold the cyclosporiasis 🤢) and yaked about the audiobooks capturing our attention:

Beck: "The Original" by Nell Stevens
Frog: “Belly of the Beast” by Da’Shaun Harrison
Junk: "You Weren't Meant to Be Human" by Andrew Joseph White
Julius: "The Conquest of Treats" by Kropetkin
Koko: "The Edge of Space Time" by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Libertie: "The Singing Hills" cycle 1 & 2 by Nghi Vo

If you've been looking for an alternative to Amazon's audible, consider getting an account with libro.fm! You can choose an indie bookstore (maybe even Firestorm!) to support with each audiobook purchase. And if anyone tries to tell you that audiobooks don't count as reading, you can drown out their nonsense with your new favorite book - perfectly narrated by the author themself!

(-Frog)

Image description: a photo of the Firestorm collective in a park posed in front of a tree. Each of the collective members has an illustrated animal head: a frog, a badger, a beagle, a raccoon, a chipmunk, and a dachshund. They each have on a different colored libro.fm shirt featuring an animal wearing corded headphones and the phrase "Big Listener."

07/31/2026

From the article:

With or without explicit 287(g) agreements, city, county, and state law enforcement still get the message: If your mayor or governor doesn’t have your back, Trump does…

Critically ICE is not the only problem. The city and state’s sanctuary laws, meant to bar local police from cooperating with ICE, are only as powerful as the people holding police to account… noncooperation can hardly be sufficient against a lawless, violent deportations force empowered by the Supreme Court to racially profile.” Is “noncooperation” even enough?

While attempting to maintain a relatively lower profile, ICE is managing to arrest record numbers of people. Here’s how it’s doing that.

07/30/2026

On Monday we'll be in virtual conversation with contributors to "Living, Together: Reimagining Community in the Age of Disconnection," a new anthology on communal living. The panel—featuring editor Samantha Paige Rosen, Elizabeth Hart Bergstrom, and Mary Anne Adams—will be moderated by freelance writer and reporter Rainesford Stauffer.

"Living Together" invites us to imagine what opportunities for connection exist when we push through the walls society has built for us. The panel will discuss their own experiences as well as the book, which contains essays on chosen family, mutual aid, living with friends, living with siblings in adulthood, multigenerational households, transformative neighbor relationships, homes on wheels, drag houses as historic models for community, artist and immigrant communities, and more.

Register for the event and find your copy of "Living Together" at https://firestorm.coop/events/3614-reimagining-community-in-the-age-of-disconnection.html (link in bio). Can't join the conversation in real time? Sign up anyway and we'll send you a copy of the recording to stream at your convenience!

(- L)

Image description 1: A photo of the book taken in front of a large ZZ plant inside Firestorm. The book has a multicolor cover that is reminiscent of a patchwork quilt with many of the square depicting windows, doors, and roofs.

Image description 2: A promotional graphic for Reimagining Community, a virtual event taking place on August 3rd at 7pm ET. The image includes the cover of "Living, Together" alongside panelist headshots.

07/29/2026

Trashy cute 🐿️🩷

Saturday @ 10am – Neighborhood Pickup
Showing our neighborhood some love with a trash pickup. Now with CUSTOM VESTS!!!

Sunday @ 10am – Asheville PFLAG
A monthly coffee support group open to all parents, families, friends and allies of gay, le***an, bisexual, and transgender youth.

Sunday @ 12pm – Tranzmission Prison Project Packaging Party
An open, monthly volunteer event to help prepare books and zines for mailing to prisons across the United States.

Sunday @ 1pm – *VIRTUAL* Don't Breed on Me
Author Madeline Quasebarth is joined by researcher Lee Hasselbacher for a virtual conversation about her new book on the millennia-long story of abortion.

Sunday @ 3pm – Political Prisoner Letter Writing
Letters save lives! Join Blue Ridge ABC each month for an evening of solidarity with incarcerated comrades. Celebrate their birthdays by sending words of encouragement and support.

Monday (8/03) @ 7pm – *VIRTUAL* Reimagining Community in the Age of Disconnection
Join editor Samantha Paige Rosen and contributors to Living, Together, a new anthology on communal living that invites us to imagine what new opportunities for connection exist when we push through the walls society has built for us.

Tuesday (8/4) @ 5:30pm – Weekly Trans Writing Circle
A creative writing and co-working group for trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people with independent long and short form projects.

Wednesday (8/5) @ 6pm – Drop-in Community Notary Service
Have documents that require notarization, like advance care directives, name change paperwork, custody arrangements, etc.? Stop by Firestorm on the first Wednesday of each month for free, friendly, no-judgment Notary Public services!

(-Frog) https://firestorm.coop/calendar.html

Cover image description: A photo of a Firestorm collective member posing besides a felt event board with some greenery in the background. The person has an illustrated chipmunk head . They are wearing a pink high visibility vest with a "Circle A" printed on the back.

Additional image description: All other images are promotional graphics for the Firestorm events this week.

07/28/2026

This Sunday we're hosting a virtual conversation with Madeline Quasebarth, author of the new book "Don't Breed on Me," and health policy researcher Lee Hasselbacher. Together they'll be discussing the millennia-long story of abortion and the fight for reproductive justice today.

"Don't Breed on Me: A Short History of Abortion" is a defiant, funny, and unflinching dive into a practice as old as humanity and as contested as ever. From medieval Europe to Ming Dynasty China, from women enslaved in the American South to German nuns smuggling herbs, abortion has always been here. And so have the people who provided it.

Register for the conversation and find your copy of Madeline's book on our website at https://firestorm.coop/events/3642-dont-breed-on-me.html (link in bio). Can't make the event time but don't want to miss the discussion? Sign up and we'll send you a recorded copy to stream at your convenience!

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Image description 1: A photo of "Don't Breed on Me" sitting on the metal frame of our store sign. Firestorm's green building is visible in the background and the book features a monochrome photo of a sliced papaya.

Image description 2: A promotional graphic for our virtual author event with Madeline Quasebarth and Lee Hasselbacher on August 2nd at 1pm ET. The image features the book cover alongside headshots for the panelists over a photo of a wide green papaya leaf. Smaller text designates this event as part of PM Press' All We Have is Each Other speaker series.