REQUIRED READING
"I found myself cheering for these scrappy little newspapers, run off on old mimeograph machines by young people determined to make a difference..."
-Fran Withrow, North of the James magazine
"Both of Brumfield's [underground press] books are must-reads for any fans of independent publication and the history of the anti-war and pro-civil rights movements ..."
-Drew Necci, RVA Mag
"Katya Taylor’s foreword calls author Dale M. Brumfield “a master sleuth.” I think of him more as a butterfly collector.
Brumfield has enlightened us all, by pinning these awesome creatures to the display case that is this book. Some of us will cherish this book because we remember those butterflies as major players in our own life stories. Most readers will agree: we were all affected by the events described, and in more ways than we knew."
-Bonnie Atwood, on Amazon.com
Three Buck Naked Commodes
A humorous and reflective compilation of (mostly) true-life essays about growing up in a small town in western Virginia between 1968 and 1979.Remnants
Mystery, black comedy and horror story, Remnants is a harrowing journey of two men thrust unwillingly inside a benign old building that harbors an inexplicable and absurdly complex secret.The secret’s ramifications resound worldwide as Mac and Lou try to stop a hostile interloper who discovers it and sets off a deadly chain of events that threaten the world as they know it.
Bad Day at the Amusement Park
“The memo just came out . . . everything’s gone crazy.”Spend a bad day with Dale, Barnyard, Lump, Deet, Pot Roast, Beefalo and other park employees as they make no attempt to salvage the remaining ragged dignity of this family-owned amusement park, a self-described mashup of birthday party and torture chamber, where animals run for their lives, clown dunking tanks have disclaimers and the water is always polluted.
Trapped Under the Pack-Ice
The journal of Commodore Craigmont T. Amsterdam of the British Royal Navy who, in 1835, attempted to peddle a one-man bathysphere under the frozen Arctic in pursuit of the mythical Northwest Passage.Beset by faulty equipment, his own incompetence, isolation, brutal cold & exploding food, Commodore Amsterdam’s journey takes a bizarre turn when lonely madness and another life form deep beneath the crushing Arctic ice forces him to places he dare only dream.
Standers
Standers - currently out of printOUT OF PRINT
COMING IN PAPERBACK
Richmond Independent Press
During the political & cultural upheaval of the1960s, even the sleepy southern town of
Richmond, VA was not immune to the emergence of radical counterculturalism. A change in the traditional ideas of objective journalism spurred an underground movement in the press. Explore a forgotten history of a cultural revolution in the River City.
Independent Press in DC & Virginia
Underground publications in D.C. and Virginia sprang to document the radical change and question the "straight media" of the 1960s. 'Off Our Backs' led the charge for women's equality. 'The Gay Blade' fought for the rights of homosexuals. Even the FBI infiltrated the underground press by planting informants and creating fake magazines to attract suspicious “radicals”.Virginia State Penitentiary
A full history of the notorious facility that sat for 190 years on Richmond's Spring Street.Naked Savages
In 1970, an on-set accident ended Tom Desmond's career.In 1984, he was handed a chance to redeem himself by directing a documentary of a vanishing society of people living in that country’s Danakil Depression, where all hell breaks loose.
Coming March 1, 2019