Encounters with Unexpected Animals by Bret Anthony Johnston

Here’s some exciting news for all the literary skateboarding nerds out there! Earlier this week, on February 24^th, Bret Anthony Johnston released a new collection of stories called Encounters with Unexpected Animals (Random House), and while the act of skateboarding doesn’t dominate the book, it does garner mention. The promo blurb states that it is an “imaginative, moving collection of stories infused with the magic and enigma of the human condition and drenched in Texas heat, from the best-selling author of We Burn Daylight.”

On Johnston’s author site, it’s evident that he’s a heavy-hitting, legit author, with five books published. He also directed the creative writing program at Harvard University for over a decade and is now at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. Even his list of literary appearances and translations in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories (etc.) is bound to make an emerging writer’s jaw drop. And yet, his author photo includes his skateboard and a statement that, “After selling his television to buy his first board over 40 years ago, Bret has yet to outgrow skateboarding.” Dude is committed! Check out his Brief Note on Skateboarding for LitHub contained with an essay on creating a story’s foundation and you’ll get a sense of how present skateboarding is for him.

I loved his words of wisdom for skater writers, shared in an interview for RIDE Channel back in 2019. Johnston said that skateboarding and writing have “always gone hand in hand for me. And, you know, the relationship is that the more I skate, the more I write, the more I write, the more I skate, the better I write, the better I skate… there’s a synergy between the two without question.” He goes on to describe the creative elements in both pursuits, and the persistence and repetition required to either stomp a new trick or complete a chapter, alongside that sense of satisfaction when you’ve landed bolts and articulated a scene just right.

I also appreciate a short story collection because they tend to be compact, insightful, and manageable in length. And combined with Johnston’s style, his humour, gritty observations, and thoughtfulness, I have full confidence that Encounters with Unexpected Animals will be a highlight of 2026.

– Porter

See Spot Shred by Dylan Goldberger

Skateboarding and picture books are a perfect symbiosis, if you think about it. Both were created for use by children but have expanded to delight all ages. Both rely on bold, eye-catching aesthetics. Both lean heavily into a creativity that seeks to perceive the world differently from a contemporary societal standard. It’s no surprise, as the experience of leading through a skate mag and delighting in the photos is very similar to the childhood joy of a beautifully illustrated book.

“See Spot Shred” by Dylan Goldberger is an earlier entry in this lineage, mashing up a few classic picture book genre staples.  It features bold, masterful wood-cut illustrations of dog breeds – one for each of the 26 letters in the Latin Alphabet – paired with onomatopoeic skateboard mag-style captions. The details, from the tell-tale fur textures of specific dog breeds to the cohesive color-scheme throughout, give the self-published endeavor a well-earned professional feel. The word play goes beyond a child’s vocabulary, using words like “vault” to describe the regular action of airing over a spine, or referencing the DIY character of certain sects of skating, such as “Queensland Heeler Quietly Quikretes a Quirky Quarterpipe.” This makes “See Spot Shred mind-expanding for the right-aged youth and equally enjoyable for minds that already know the words and grammar concepts within. And did I mention the beautiful, masterful woodcut print illustrations? I did. It would be worth it for those alone and will fit perfectly on your coffee table, bookshelf, or zine collection.

– Abada

People: And the Skatebpards They Belong To by George Cutright

I heard about this book on the always solid, Mostly Skateboarding podcast. They interviewed Mr. Cutright, dove into the details – you can listen for yourself.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I’m sitting at the zine fair at Slow Impact in Tempe, Arizona, and who’s sitting next to me? No other than Mr. George Cutright himself. I was already planning on featuring the book here. The concept alone is awesome: a portrait of a skater and a photo of their board, shot with a split frame camera. The book is even better in your hands.

Pick up a copy from George’s website.

– Freeborn