RIGHT NOW: NJ state troopers with riot gear are forcing protesters supporting the hunger strikers of Delaney Hall and media ppl down the street. They’re firing flashbang grenades at the ground to force people to disperse, per the @statuscoupnews.bsky.social livestream www.youtube.com/live/yTlpCYk...

Book haul from @firestorm.coop 💕 My partner's story is in Death in the Mouth: An Anthology of Original Horror From the Margins. And ofc, I couldn't resist getting other goodies 💙🖤 I adore the bookmark 🥰 #booksky

The detainees who are on hunger strike inside the Delaney Hall Detention Center are heroes. They are fighting for everyone's freedom. The same goes for those who are standing up to ICE outside Delaney Hall tonight. Thank you for your courage.🖤 The mercenary scum who serve ICE are beneath contempt.

Next Monday we're teaming up with Asheville Food & Beverage United to host Daniel Gross, author of "Unions of Our Own" for a discussion on the state of labor organizing in Asheville and how workers can build unions that are led by members, powered by direct action, and aimed at fundamental change!

Happy birthday, Julius! Happy birthday, Firestorm! Today we're all turning 18 ✨🦴🌺🌭

It's giving "The Leopards Eating People's Faces Party was actually started by animal lovers who only wanted to spread joy."

Asheville, and grassroots opposition to surveillance in our town, gets a lot of space in this article from @truthout.org! Including quotes from @patrickconant.bsky.social and @kimroney.bsky.social.

Thrilled to finally visit Firestorm, a revered community space I've admired from afar, and to be in conversation with the creative, rank & file organizers of Asheville Food & Beverage United (Monday, June 1st is the date) firestorm.coop/events/3603-...

Author Daniel Gross argues that challenges to the ruling class will emerge when workers themselves—not union officials—design and refine unions that actually work for them. We'll be hosting @dgorganize.bsky.social alongside local organizers on Monday, June 2nd!

🎶 Who-oa! We're halfway theeere! 🎶 🚩🏴 Support anarchist labor organizers and help us meet our goal. chuffed.org/project/1765...

Hey Asheville, come hang at DayTrip on Memorial Day. I'll be doing a Q&A with your next mayor, and I've even talked her into joining me in DJing for you. Doors at 4pm, Q&As at 7pm. DJing will come after. Additional Q&A guests are @colonelpanichacks.bsky.social and plenty of others.

I promise you none of the people who manage your local bookstores would say the same. www.nbcnews.com/business/ceo...

Do you know Liz and Ines Soto, or any of the Prairieland defendants? Have they positively impacted your life? If so, please write a character letter on their behalf.

"Mayor Manheimer launches reelection campaign inside locked down building surrounded by cops"

The mayor didn't let critics of mass surveillance speak at city council last week, so now they're showing up to her campaign kickoff! 📣

Our co-op's recent solar battery project is briefly profiled in this article from @appvoices.org 🌞

#Asheville aprueba la creación de un Centro de Inteligencia en Tiempo Real (RTIC) para la policía local. Pese a las protestas ciudadanas y tras una sesión que terminó a medianoche, se aceptaron $1.1 millones en fondos federales para monitoreo masivo. enlacelatinonc.org/concejo-...

Ever wondered why so many indie bookstores have masking policies to prevent #covid? We asked them! Read our new article “Indie Bookstores Promoting Masking and Covid Consciousness in 2026” 📚💙https://www.whoevenreads.com/indie-bookstores-promoting-masking-and-covid-consciousness-in-2026/

Most local media treated "the library incident" as shocking and unprovoked, but @avlblade.bsky.social did their homework and exposed the history of bigotry, harassment, and physical violence from Moritz and the other provocateurs. See ashevilleblade.com?p=5118

A big win for author and professor Idris Robinson, and perhaps free speech on (and off) campus! This Texas story should be getting coverage in Asheville, since it starts right down the street from our bookstore. 1/

meanwhile, asheville: “Bullshit!” one resident repeatedly shouted amid the general consternation. “This is not democracy!” yelled another. “Your constituents don’t want this,” added a third. www.bpr.org/politics-gov...

Good morning to everyone who started destroying Flock cameras in Asheville months ago rather than wait for last night's city council vote.

Members of our collective, and more than 20 others who turned out against surveillance, weren't allowed to speak at tonight's city council meeting. Here are the unheard remarks one of us had prepared.

City councils are temporary, zines are forever!! But tonight we're rescheduling our Zine Assembly so that folks can turn out against a mass surveillance vote by Asheville City Council. Hope you'll join us next Tuesday (5/19) at 6pm to make free zines—including materials on resisting surveillance!

City Council: Sure your against fascism, but what if we only use mass surveillance technologies that respect your pronouns and don't see race?

Our collective endorses the "Sunshine Over Surveillance" open letter published by Sunshine Labs, which urges Asheville City Council to vote NO on a $1.14M DOJ grant to expand surveillance, and the authorization of a separate 7.5-year contract with Axon. 🚫🙅‍♂️👎🙂‍↔️❌

The anti-data center movement isn’t just about limiting local development—it represents a new front in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism. Where else can people push back on job-eating algorithms, distorting deep fakes, and autonomous drone strikes? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

All you have to do to understand the actual purpose of prisons in this country is to look at the aftermath of Jan 6. I will leave it there.

Uninionized REI workers, in coordination with REI members, call for boycott in response to scorched-earth labor tactics by the consumer co-op ✊

I will not do propaganda for the enemy, and *I* certainly will not give them the gift of my publicly-expressed terror, giving them for free what they lack the ability to coerce by force.

Check out more of our interview & audience q&a with @vickyacab.bsky.social at @firestorm.coop about her new book "The Extended Universe" ( @haymarketbooks.org ), intellectual property, capitalist monopolies & how it intersects with reactionary politics thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2026/05...

Not unrelated, but Boyle also viewed pride flags as a sign of extremism, praised far-right racist Carl Mumpower (whom the Fox News scare piece quoted), backs a trans sports ban and last year treated a SPLC-designated hate group as a non-partisan think tank: www.patreon.com/posts/ashevi...

John Boyle, the local journo singly most responsible for pushing a yearslong anti-homeless crime panic in Asheville, appears to be having regrets now that Fox News is bludgeoning the local tourism industry with the same talking points.

I’m looking into making a lesson plan for my book Black Arms to Hold You Up. Are there any guides people like for doing this?

Hey, do you publish zines?? 👀 We mail zines to our sustainers each month—and we're always looking for exciting new material! If you've got a recently published zine that you think would appeal to our community, send us an email about it: [email protected] 💌 1/3

A live recording of @vickyacab.bsky.social (at @firestorm.coop) speaking about her new book on Disney ( @haymarketbooks.org ), film history, nostalgia, intellectual property as enclosure plus capitalisms attempted capture & control of our imagination thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2026/05...

YouTube has started restricting most of our recent videos. You can still watch them if you turn off "Restricted Mode," but this may result in the material being inaccessible within libraries, universities, and other public institutions 🫤 1/

Damn y'all, we watched the first chapter of The Elements of Mutual Aid last night for May Day and it was incredible. Gather some friends and stream it now at www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0sp.... Additional chapters are being released weekly through the end of the month!

Last chance to register! app.hi.events/event/7167/g...

Our first strawberry of the year! We're basically a farm now.

Asheville residents have mobilized against a new surveillance center, but city council doesn't want to hear from them. They're bringing in industry lobbyists.

Excited to be hosting @vickyacab.bsky.social tomorrow night for an author event on this fantastic book!

This Saturday at 6pm ET, join contributors to a groundbreaking new anthology from @pmpress.bsky.social about on navigating trans pregnancy and family planning. Sign up for free at app.hi.events/event/7167/g... 👶

Not in the Atlanta area, but instead near Asheville? Lucky girl! I'll be at @firestorm.coop on Wednesday, recording a live episode of @thefinalstrawradio.bsky.social. now that's what I call synergy! firestorm.coop/events/3561-...

Regardless of what really happened in Washington, DC tonight, the Trump administration will attempt to use this to call for more repression. Remember: anything you hear from anyone in the entire administration is likely a lie. That goes double for Kash Patel's FBI. crimethinc.com/Safeguarding

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Order a book for an incarcerated reader via this wishlist and a donor will give Asheville Prison Books a matching cash donation for postage! (Matching good through 5/1)

LOL Fox did a hit piece on Asheville but used this adorable photo of oogles with banjos and a puppy that must have been taken 15 years ago.

Last chance to sign up for Sunday's conversation with Jarrod and Eman!! app.hi.events/event/7035/e...

You can order books from Firestorm and support a great mutual aid hub. ✨📚✨