V. Vale is a writer and publisher. He is also a keyboard player and, as Vale Hamanaka, was a member of the initial configuration of Blue Cheer, prior to that band becoming famous as a power trio. He is the publisher and primary contributor to books and magazines published by his company, RE/Search Publications. Vale, who is the host of the television talk show Counterculture Hour on public access channel 29 in San Francisco. studied English at UC Berkeley, and is a Japanese-American.

In 1977, while working at City Lights Bookstore, with $100 donated by Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, he began publication of Search and Destroy, a San Francisco-based zine documenting the then-current punk subculture. In 1980, he began publication of RE/Search, a tabloid format zine focusing on various counterculture and underground topics, with financial help from Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and actress/film director Betty Thomas. At the same time he also started his own typesetting business, allowing for a day job to fund his publishing exploits and guaranteeing high quality typography and design for his magazines and books.

The 1980s saw the expansion of RE/Search from a tabloid format zine to a publisher of books. Vale published and contributed to many books on the subjects of pranks; obscure music and films; industrial culture; authors J.G. Ballard and William S. Burroughs; modern primitives; and many other underground topics. In 1991, Vale sold his typography business to focus on publishing full time.

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