Packrats are collectors. A packrat house, or castle, is usually laced with shiny objects: bleached bones, stones, tin cans, spoons, dung of other animals, rolexes ...

Just like real packrats, we're on the lookout for stuff that stands out, that sparkles against the dark, insidious middle-of-the-road principle that There Is No Alternative. That notion is a Dead End. No fun there. As Jim Hightower once said, "There's nothing in the middle of the road except yellow stripes and dead armadillos."

I remember an infantry route march along a remote Texan road. An armadillo ran across the road. Three of us broke ranks to chase that strange creature none of us had ever seen. We caught a glimpse! Excitement! Something new! Later we were called up by our sergeant, who had of course been reprimanded by commanding officer. Got a good raking down from the sergeant. I've got a fistful of other breaking ranks stories, but never mind, I'll just say this, it's time to break ranks.

We believe in alternatives and a much better world, one made of works and views we ordinary people find and bring back for sharing, for building ... a comfortable nest for encouragement, then a castle from which to get wider views, finally a world that lives.

We are collectors too. Yes, we sell books that Martin has written since our leaving academia, but we want to go beyond that, on a search, locally and around the world for thoughts and things and acts at the fringes of society, little off-track turnings that throw new light on old assumptions.