In early 1983, Neil Blender and Stacy Peralta found themselves sitting in a meeting with the staff of the skateboard company Tracker Trucks to launch TransWorld Skateboarding magazine. As the meeting dragged on and on, Neil and Stacy became bored. So, they started passing wry, funny notes back and forth to each other, sharing them with no one else. They laughed and became un-bored. After the meeting, for years the notes were followed by a volley of full-length letters, which in turn were eventually succeeded by emails, and then text messages. We're talking over three decades of correspondence. And they kept it all secret…until now.

First, I Used to Build Giant Thorns collects the best of the original scanned letters, typed emails and text messages and presents it all on 148 black and white pages, including plenty of unseen artwork by Neil and Stacy, plus vintage photos and a few Powell-Peralta ads. At its core, First, I Used to Build Giant Thorns is a book full of random, surreal humor largely based on non sequiturs. (A non sequitur is a conversational or literary device that, because of its apparent lack of meaning relative to what preceded it, seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing.) Ranging from hilarious to puzzling, often within the same sentence, First, I Used to Build Giant Thorns is a thought-provoking read, and an inspiring peak into the minds of two of skateboarding's greatest thinkers.

Edited and art directed by GSD. File under: Humor, surrealism, skateboarding.

Note: This is the hardcover edition. Check out the softcover!