Some good news! (Amidst all the bad news!) It's cover reveal day for my new book A FIELD GUIDE TO THE SUBTERRANEAN: A MEMOIR, coming out from @counterpointpress in hardcover on 6/10/25.
About the book:
A radically inventive excavation of one man’s life by the critically acclaimed author of THE GREAT FLOODGATES OF THE WONDERWORLD.
Justin Hocking grew up in a part of Colorado where so many things happened beneath the surface—mining exploits, underground nuclear testing just thirty miles from his family’s home, and geothermal activity that heats one of the world’s largest hot springs pools. His homelife, too, was plagued by an underground pattern of abuse and virulent masculinity. A Field Guide to the Subterranean charts the author’s lifelong process of unearthing the past and reclaiming his own identity and connection to the natural world.
How might we transform our wounds into deeper care for each other and the landscapes that sustain us? How do we transcend the mythos of the rugged American male so rooted in extraction and exploitation? And how far can we move beyond the self in a memoir? Hocking explores these and other vital questions by combining personal narrative with expansions into geology, ecology, gender theory, mining history, labor rights, and even skateboarding.
Abundant with historical research and teeming with birdlife—and ranging in location from remote caves and mountains to secluded surf breaks in Costa Rica—A Field Guide to the Subterranean heralds a boldly original and kaleidoscopic approach to the genre of nature writing.
#fieldguidetothesubterranean #justinhocking #coverreveal #indieauthor #indiepress #counterpointpress #memoir #nonfiction #bookstagram #tbr #creativenonfiction #geology #subterranean #mining #masculinity
Thrilled to announce my latest book, Reclamation: A Memoir, will be published by @counterpointpress in Spring 25. Grateful to my wonderful new editor @dansmetanka , my agent Matt, and anyone who read early drafts: @lisamaeproject@tessamichelet@gabriel.liston@gabriel_urza@ohaliciajo@joshuaamberson@andreastrolf@jessie_paige and many others.
#memoir #hybridmemoir #crossgenrebooks #lyricalmemoir #environmentalliterature #books #bookstagram #nonfiction #creativenonfiction #literature #literary #literarynonfiction #queerlit #mining #subterranean #birds #colorado #costarica
For my 50th bday this summer I challenged myself to film 50 tricks. They don’t all fit in the space of a reel (and most are pretty boring old-guy stunts), but here’s some highlights. Given the state of the world, I feel impossibly privileged for the physical ability, time and freedom to skate with so many good friends and in so many places—Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Mexico City. Skateboarding for me has always been about joy, creativity, collaboration, connection and freedom. I’m wishing all these things and more for all of us in 2024, and most especially those in war torn countries.
#skateandcreate #strongerskatepark #thankyouskateboarding #happyfeet #lgbtqskateboarding #skatecommunity #olddudeskatercrew #skatersover50
Our first full-length album, Set Up On the Leaves, drops today on all the streaming platforms and over on @antiquatedfuturedistro .
‘I love the atmosphere, the sense that anything can happen next . . . I am crushing on the mystery of it all, the melancholia and the possibilities.’ —American Pancake
Many thanks to our frontman & songwriter Oliver Stafford, bassist & producer @joshuaamberson , @headphonekid of YoYo studious for engineering, recording & emotional support, @fredthomas for mixing & mastering, and our label @antiquatedfuturedistro .
Many thanks to the talented @jeremiahhayden_ at @portlandmercury for the thoughtful interview and for plugging my memoir in advance of the Oregon Book Awards🙏🏽
GOLDEN TILES album release show coming up this Sunday!
Featuring TONE CLUSTERS and BLUE FACTORY FLAME!
$10 entry automatically scores you a CD of our new album, "SET UP ON THE LEAVES", featuring twelve brand new songs.
Stay gold, everyone!
Audiobook version of the memoir drops today! Available on most major audiobook platforms!
Highbridge Audio gave me the opportunity to choose the narrator; I went with Greg D Barnett, whose warm, nuanced approach I loved in other memoirs like Taylor Brophy’s Boys and Oil.
Please give it a listen! Let us know what you think via a review!
So yes, I’m in currently in Paris and actually walked right past the Louvre around the time of the heist. I also happened to be •inside• the Louvre in the summer of 1990 when Renoir’s Portrait of a Seated Lady was razor-knifed from its frame & smuggled out. So you tell me: could an international art thief pose as a mild-mannered writer/professor? ⬇️
