#CoopsNotCops

2025-05-26

Firestorm is turning seventeen 🎂✨

That's right! Our co-op is old enough to see an R-rated movie and operate a vehicle — and wise enough to know the most dangerous knowledge can be found in the pages of a book 😈

Drop by this Saturday to enjoy 17% off everything in our store! Or use the promo code HAPPY17TH on our website.

At 5pm we'll bust out sugary treats (v + gf options) and grill up some vegan hotdogs.

Want to bring us a birthday present? We'd like to hear about a book you loved that came from our shop! Write us a short review (just a few sentences is fine) that can be printed for our shelves or posted online. You can read it out loud at the celebration or simply give it to us to read later.

#QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

A photo of the outside of Firestorm Books. The front of the building is adorned with a mural of rebel critters reading books and holding flaming torches. A text overlay on the photo reads, "We're turning 17! Celebrate with us on May 31st / a cookout! a cake! a book sale!"
2025-01-20

Our bookstore is no stranger to unwanted government attention; we’ve been threatened by city officials, visited by the FBI, and surveilled by police. Historically, the investigation and prosecution of activists has aimed to disrupt our movements for change, sow fear and isolation among participants, break intergenerational bonds, and criminalize struggles for freedom. But we can overcome these attacks through principled action and uncompromising solidarity.

Firestorm has made the following commitments:
• We will minimize non-required collection and storage of information about customers, authors, event participants, and others who engage with our co-op.
• We will resist, and publicly disclose, any attempt to obtain such information when it exists.
• We will decline to answer questions from police and government agents.
• We will fight any court or government subpoena, process, or demand for records, testimony, or evidence.
• We will support those in our community who face state repression, regardless of “guilt” or “innocence.”
• We will retain legal counsel to defend our freedom to not cooperate with the State.

We know that these actions cannot guarantee safety for our members or community, but to cooperate in the face of our own repression, or the repression of others, would be a profoundly unsafe betrayal. Noncooperation is both the ethical and strategic position for those who want to build a new world, but must contend with the old one.

Find our entire statement, including linked references, at firestorm.coop/noncooperation..

#FreedomToRead #StateRepression #CoopsNotCops #Anarchism #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop

📸: Daniel Barlow

A photo of five masked humans and an elderly dachshund, all members the Firestorm Collective, standing in front of Firestorm Books on Haywood Road. Behind them, the metal store sign is visible in front of a mural depicting a bespectacled skunk reading "The Dispossessed." In the left lower corner, bold text reads "Statement of Noncooperation."
2025-01-05

If you are looking to deepen your political and spiritual practices in 2025, join the new community-led Sacred Anarchy Book Club to meet like-minded folks and explore the roles that magic, animism, and spirituality play in our movements for liberation.

Why are some ideas hidden, suppressed by the state? How do we harness these ideas for both personal transformation & collective liberation? Discuss these questions and more in this monthly space. No prior reading is required for this introductory session. The first book discussed will be "Occult Features of Anarchism: With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples."

Pick up a copy at firestorm.coop/products/12487- and use the promo code BOOKCLUB10 to save 10% at checkout.

#BookClub #OccultFeaturesOfAnarchism #QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #AbolitionNow #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

A promotional graphic for “Sacred Anarchy,” an in-person reading group taking place at Firestorm Books on Saturday, January 11th at 11am. The image features the covers of several books exploring the connection between anarchism and magic+spirituality including "Occult Features of Anarchism." The graphic specifies that "no prior reading is required for this introductory session."
2025-01-04

Last chance to get cozy at the bookstore this weekend before we close for a mini winter break next week! ❄️

Asheville is experiencing a cold front AKA ideal book browsing weather. Hang out, have a cup of tea, and disappear into the pages of your first 2025 read. We're open today and tomorrow from 3-7pm. We'll be closed January 6 - 9 to do our own hibernating. Never fear, we will be back with extended hours next weekend!

#QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

The Firestorm storefront has a light dusting of snow. The building is green with a mural of anthropomorphized animals. A large sign says "Firestorm." An inviting glow shines through the windows of the garage door.
2024-09-25

We're pretty sure everything that surrounds us is queer, and so are the contributors of this breathtaking collection we just got in all the way from Switzerland 🌸

God is trans and mesmerizing monsters abound in these essays, poetry, and stunning photographs exploring the unmistakable queerness of the natural world. We have a limited number, so snag a copy for the ecology lover in your life before they get gone! "Pretty Sure This Plant Is Queer" is available from our co-op at firestorm.coop/products/22066-.

#QueerEcology #GodIsTrans #QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

3 copies of "Pretty Sure This Plant Is Queer," edited by Pauline Baudon , are surrounded by green ferns. The cover of the book is purple with lavender text and green squiggle designs. The cover also features a photo of mushrooms on a tree trunk.A copy of "Pretty Sure This Plant Is Queer" is open to a photgraph of two snails winding around each other and a human hand.A copy of "Pretty Sure This Plant Is Queer" is open to a photograph collage of flowers, an angler fish, and a person wearing a shirt that says "God is Trans."A copy of "Pretty Sure This Plant Is Queer" is open to a photograph collage of a fish, an axolotl, a blob fish, and the outline of bigfoot. Text above the artwork reads "After all, is nature not full of monsters too?"
2024-04-05

Hi neighbor! 😻👋

If you frequent our new location, you're likely becoming familiar with Firestorm’s latest quirky cast of regulars. You may have wondered, who is this striking silver fox? That is none other than Mr. Squishy No Bones! 👨‍💼🧽🙅☠️

Living up to the name, this floppy feline has sauntered onto the scene and melted our hearts in the process. While a bit unsure at first, she has grown confident supervising our bookstore like she owns the place. Squishy likes to check in with our guests to ensure they are feeling adequately welcome and voicing her thoughts about everyday decisions related to space management (door propped open or door closed?) It's a wonder we ever got anything done before!

And how is Julius reacting to this interloper? While they aren't besties quite yet, we fear that in no time we may have a cuddly coup on our hands...

#NoBonesNoWorries es #QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

A grey house cat wearing a silver collar and a bell sits on our front list table and rubs up against a human hand. She looks pleased as a peach!
2024-02-17

In case you missed it, we're officially back from winter break!

Thanks to everyone who sent us sweet messages and placed online orders over the past few weeks. We're getting back into the swing of things and working on sending out all of the books and emails you are awaiting so patiently.

We hadn't planned to go "offline" right when our collective was receiving so much coverage for the Banned Books Back! campaign, but ain't that just the way! Welcome to the new followers who stumbled across our queer little bookstore through the Washington Post and hugs to the folks who have been here since day 1. We hope to see any and all of you this weekend! Drop by and tell us about the last good book you read! 💓📖

#QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

Collective member Esme nestles amongst the stacks in our bookstore. She has blonde hair and is wearing silver framed glasses, a blue sweater, a grey KN95 face mask, and dark wash jeans. She is holding an "open" sign and smizing at the camera.
2024-01-24

We will be closed today for our annual inventory reconciliation! Web orders are also on pause while we finish counting up all these stacks of books. Julius wants you to know that we miss you and look forward to seeing you on Thursday! How tragic for them — to be such a perfect little baby without any teeth or their usual adoring audience of bookstore browsers. They will accept likes and comments of praise to tide them over 💻💓

In the meantime, stay warm and please keep amplifying Palestinian voices this week! 🍉🖤

#QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)

Collective member Julius, a black and tan dachshund, sits on a table next to several stacks of books and a barcode scanner. By their feet sit two rolls of painters tape and a black sharpie pen.
2024-01-07

Still recovering psychically from 2020? Same. On Sunday, January 14th from 3-5pm we'll be hosting a 2024 vision board party so we can all get our heads on straight for the year ahead ✨✂️

Whether you've never made a vision board before or you consider yourself practically clairvoyant, this low-stakes, drop-in session will be a space to set your intentions for the year alongside like-minded folks. Let's trouble the "resolution" framework and envision a year of restoration, a free Palestine, and a more just future for us all.

We will provide construction paper, writing utensils, magazines, modge podge, example vision boards, and gentle prompts if you'd like them. Please BYOScissors if you can!

Call it manifesting, call it arts & crafts, call it a cute date night — whatever the phrase "vision board" means to you, we hope to see you there!

#QueerBookstore #CoopsNotCops #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (-Esmé)
firestorm.coop/events/3137-202

Image description: An event graphic reads "2024 Vision Boards/ In-person event/ Jan. 14th, 3:00pm ET" The background is a pile of magazine pages. A pair of blue and white scissors looks to be cutting into the text.

Abe GruswitzAbe@social.coop
2022-11-18

@LucyStag @nonserviammedia I love hearing her talk about it. She talks about building community self-determination through co-ops as part building alternatives to policing.

This is a panel event that I organized through the GEO collective #coopsnotcops
youtu.be/wc6YKNpV3zg

Abe GruswitzAbe@social.coop
2022-11-11
2019-10-25

@frickhaditcoming @gcupc woah you weren't kidding. The plan specifically includes #coops and bans big tobacco
berniesanders.com/issues/legal
Never has it been more appropriate to say: #CoopsNotCops

Client Info

Server: https://mastodon.social
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