When Ryan and Jason discover the destructive beauty of freestyle BMX, it's a definitive before-and-after moment for them.

The two riders gravitate to the freedom and raw aggression of trail riding as a way of coping with their tumultuous home lives: Ryan's domineering father and Jason's father's suicide.

The boys prove themselves within the exclusive East Coast BMX scene. They're drawn deeper into the culture when they fall in with a group of older pros who are part of a subterranean world of bisexuality and sadistic humor. As Ryan and Jason fight to preserve their relationship, they must navigate their own emerging sexuality and feelings for one another. The death-drive urge to ride massive jumps makes perfect sense to them, but life outside of riding spills over at the edges.

The Dirt in Our Skin is a coming-of-age novel and artistic tribute to an activity that's more lifestyle than sport. It's a book of blurred lines: between friendship and love, humor and abuse, art and sport, fiction and nonfiction, and much more.

About the Author
J. J. Anselmi is the author of Out Here on Our Own, Doomed to Fail, and Heavy. He grew up riding BMX in Wyoming and now lives with his family in Southern California.

Reviews

"Anselmi's debut novel jumps with a muscular, gritty and graceful grief."

-Antonia Crane, author of Spent

"A unique coming-of-age story set in the hyper-masculine BMX subculture. Anselmi's exploration of sexual identity and confrontation of toxic masculinity is as gnarly as the tricks the riders pull and the trails they ride."

-Jim Ruland, author of Make It Stop and Corporate Rock Sucks

"Through characters that ground us in the literally gritty details of jump building and face-planting, the wooded trails as well as the commercial arenas of freestyle BMX, Anselmi digs deep into the contradictions that define human experience: the relationship between genuine camaraderie and profound cruelty, hyper-masculinity and the complexities of sexual attraction, and the murky frontier bordering landscapes of creativity and destruction."

-John Hales, author of Shooting Polaris

"With language as earthy and well-sculpted as the jumps, berms, and rollers that his young characters carve from the dirt, J.J. Anselmi has written an unforgettable BMX bildungsroman. Packed with references to late 90s-era and early-aughts DIY culture, it's a blast to read. Yet the true pulsing heart of The Dirt in Our Skin is the indelible pattern of connection between two young men as they navigate grief, loss, homophobia, and misogyny. I love this book and its heartening vision for new American masculinities."

-Justin Hocking, author of The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld

Book Information
ISBN 9781644283752
Author J. J. Anselmi
Format Paperback
Imprint Rare Bird Books
Publisher Rare Bird Books