Reviews

Quitter #8 reviewed by Pioneers Press: Quitter #8 is a quiet, elegant look at passing storms and coming sadness. In a lean and beautifully-written voice akin to Willa Cather (but all his own), Trace Ramsey shows us a tangled kind of life–deep-burrowed hurt, love and belief in (and need for) good creatures, a tinge of wildness in city blocks. A zine about depression and children and childhood and dreams, the eighth issue of Quitter (though brief) is one of the most substantial pieces of literary work in the Pioneers Press catalog. It’s sweet, sad, good-hearted, and smart. We are honored to carry this zine.

Quitter #7 reviewed by Pioneers Press: “Quitter #7 is a hard and devastating piece of personal American history. Through abuse and poverty, blood and snow, we see Quitter author Trace Ramsey giving us something true and painful and beautifully-told. We look forward to future work from Ramsey, a great and powerful new voice in American writing. We can’t vouch enough for this. It’s well worth your time. One of the best zines of the year, hands down.”

Quitter #7 reviewed by Rust Belt Jessie: “This is the sort of writing that smacks you in the face. These stories will hollow you out. I’d compare Trace’s style a bit to Flannery O’Connor’s, in that neither one of them romanticizes anything, softens anything, and their takes on life are completely unsentimental. Life, the way Trace Ramsey tells it, is cruel and unforgiving; humans are cruel animals burdened with a consciousness that makes us try to deny and dissect our animal natures even as we give into them. Life, in Quitter, is depression and death and people brutalizing each other. There is nothing romantic or sentimental about it, yet I didn’t feel depressed or gloomy after reading it. Because the words themselves are so beautiful and evocative (even if the things they’re evoking are ugly) that they are the saving grace, in and of themselves. Life isn’t pretty but we have language, and we have people like Trace who can use that language masterfully, to show us ourselves in all our shit and sorrow. It is unsparing, it is unromantic, but it is what we have.”

Quitter #4 reviewed in Zine World #26: “Every once in a while you read a zine written in beautiful prose. It’s great, you don’t have to commit to read beautiful and complex descriptions for a whole book; instead you get a brain massage for just a few moments while waiting for the bus. My favorite story was on the author’s experience living out in nature for three months studying birds: ‘Early on in the study I passed the time chewing on birch twigs and inventing commentaries, developing arguments against the domestication of humans, and settling philosophical disputes between pebbles and sticks, using a slow flowing creek as the adjudicator.’”

Quitter #4 reviewed in Zine World #25.5: “Everything about this is impressive. The writing is stellar, and the packaging very polished. Trace (Quitter) gives us four vignettes on varied topics, woven into a common, flowing theme. The subject matter is intimate and stark. With precision word-smithing, Trace ventures into parts of the emotional landscape we normally avoid, and engages us by tapping the common well of humanity with an unflinching examination of his personal experience. Inspirational.”

Quitter #3 reviewed in Zine World #23: “Through a series of images expanded into personal vignettes, Trace tells the story of a child becoming an adult in a world increasingly more complicated and disturbing. Simple counting becomes the foundation of a culture that treats everything like machines. Told from a dark and accusing ‘we’ POV, this seems to be a lament for the future of the human race.”

Quitter: Good Luck Not Dying (2008 edition) reviewed in Xerography Debt: “The object itself is a little jewel, with a great color cover and color and b/w illustrations throughout. And then there’s the writing, of course. Put it simply, I believe that the best writing is the kind that 1) manages to be engaging regardless of the subject; 2) makes me think; and most of all 3) makes me feel like I want to take highlighter and pen and cover the pages with comments and orange marks. Quitter managed to do all these things.”

Quitter: Good Luck Not Dying (2008 edition) reviewed in Zine World #27: “Compendium of the first five issues of Quitter zine, in a nice hand-sewn hardback, with dust jacket and stickers. Trace’s essays wander appealingly and wittily around, as he searches for something real in our cosmetic world. Issue #2 is the standout: Trace flies over the Midwest, musing over cultural impermanence.”

From the forward to the 2014 edition of Good Luck Not Dying by Jessie Duke, owner of Pioneers Press: “Dejected and suffering from a bout of blinding depression, I stayed up all night on the eve of my birthday reading Good Luck Not Dying. With each page I felt less alone. Trace’s writing reminded me why I’d always wanted to run a publishing house. It reminded me of the incredible power that art and literature can have, even in the face of deep despair. Trace never gives it to you easy: His words will bust you open and make you feel like a coward for wincing.”

News Articles and Interviews

Zine-makers, comics artists and other print-lovers converge (Independent Weekly) – February 18th, 2015

Crop Mob raids 66 cities nationwide (Independent Weekly) – July 18th, 2011

Crop Mob – not afraid to get their hands dirty (CNN) – October 7th, 2010

Crop Mobs build community on the farm (NPR – Marketplace) – August 6, 2010

Field Report: Plow Shares (Crop Mob) (New York Times) – February 24th, 2010

Local “Crop Mob” tackles farm chores in group raids (Independent Weekly) – October 21st, 2009

On tiny plots, a new generation of farmers emerges (USA Today) – July 14th, 2009

Locavore takes his passion to the next level (Wilmington Star News)- September 3rd, 2008

Meet your friendly neighborhood anarchists (Wilmington Star News) – August 5th, 2008

WHQR public radio interview (NPR Wilmington, NC) – June 24th, 2008

Local couple lives their ideals (Wilmington Star News) – February 29th, 2008

Winter’s bounty: Fresh advice for locavores on surviving winter (Wilmington Star News) – February 6th, 2008

Go Local: One Man’s Efforts Inspire a Community (Encore Magazine) – February 5th, 2008

Movement to eat locally grown food gains momentum in Wilmington (Wilmington Star News) – October 18th, 2007