The Dirt in Our Skin

"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