BMX and literature go together about as well as, I don’t know, but it’s really hard to read the New Yorker while you’re rolling in a hitchhiker or digging trails, so let’s just say that BMX and literature don’t often mix. There are always exceptions though, from Andy Jenkins I Check The Mail Only When Certain It Has Arrived to Mike Daily’s Valley to Roy Christopher, who just happens to be a BMX flatland rider that has also written a handful of books ranging from hip-hop theory to sci-fi.

Writing about BMX, from a fictional point of view, that draws heavily from real-life experience is not a well traveled road though. Enter J.J. Anselmi, a Long Beach, CA based writer and musician that has written for publications such as Vice, Revolver, The A.V. Club and The New Republic. He also wrote the liner notes for the 2017 reissue of Sepultura’s classic thrash record, Chaos A.D. and plays drums in a band called Drainage.

And now, 7 years on from his debut BMX related novel, he’s back with a new project - The Dirt in Our Skin, a novel inspired by the vibe of the 2018 Jonah Hill film Mid90s, but with East Coast trail riding and building taking the place of skateboarding. Instead of the skate shop, they’re just hanging out at the Superdome studying photos of Ground Chuck and pining for a new STA. Considering the recent demise of Posh and the amazing scenes that East Coast trail riding produced over the years, the subject is prime for novelization.

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