Plankton Press (zines/chapbooks)

Plankton Press is a micropress that currently puts out four zines, GRAPH(feeties), Tiny Joys, Wordlings & Dear Luna, and one chapbook, Water Marks.IMG_20160902_154233As the press evolves, I hope to produce books that push the boundaries of genres/forms to explore ways people live positively on this planet. Like the tiny plankton that inhabit the world’s oceans, little drifters that may seem aimless yet help make life on earth livable (did you know phytoplankton provide 50-85% of Earth’s oxygen?), the press plans to stay small and wandering, while making a contribution (hopefully meaningful). I want to provide a place for artists/writers, who tell true stories in mixed visual and literary forms, to have their exploratory work published. My dream is to someday publish small books with covers printed on my Multigraph Press.

Regarding buying zines/chapbooks from Plankton Press, you can find my zines to buy online at Wasted Ink Zine Distro. You can also e-mail me at fishewan “at” gmail.com about ordering zines/chapbooks.  Or message me on Venmo (rfishewan). You can also sign up for my e-mail newsletter in the sidebar to get updates on the goings on at Plankton Press and with me and my zines/art/book/writings/cartoons. Also, some copies of my zines may still be at Fantastic Comics in Berkeley, CA, and More Fun Comics in Ashland, ORE. Wasted Ink also takes them on the road to awesome zine fests. I also table them at Phoenix Zine Fest.

New chapbook! In an effort to figure out how to publish chapbooks, I made Water Marks, a hybrid-form creation of ink, watercolor, poetry and prose I’ve been making for years. It includes drawings I made while listening to water music (playlist included, cover below done while listening to Led Zepplin’s When the Levee Breaks). (Making it into a chapbook was hugely aided by taking Ariel Gore’s online chapbook workshop in the Literary Kitchen.)

Regarding submitting to Plankton Press. I am working up to publishing chapbooks by other writer/artists. For the moment,  writers/artists interested in submitting work, can send hybrid work  for GRAPH(feeties), a submissions-based zine dedicated to walking and hybrid-form storytelling.  This link takes you to submission info. I’d love to see your poetry comics prose photos on walking!

Issue 1, stickers and bookmarks

The digital version of GRAPH)feeties) issue 1 is free, because I’m hoping it will inspire more submissions to future issues: GRAPH(feeties) 1 online. It features awesome pages by Jason PayneCait ScudderThea GavinChip SullivanCarmella Guiol and some by me too. (note: the TOC flips Thea and Carmella’s page numbers. This was me learning InDesign and having my brain)

Issue Two: features poems by Heidi E. Blankenship, Rick Kempa and John Yohe; comics poetry by Paul Jeter (@pjet); prose by Peter Fish; Photographs by Matthew ‘Matty’ Carras; and my cartoon shenanigans.

Other Zines I Make

Tiny Joys has multiple issues. For Wordlings and Dear Luna,  I just made the one issue and am now done.

A page from Tiny Joys issue 1, June 20162016
A page from Tiny Joys issue 1, June 2016

Tiny Joys is a 1/4-size zine of words and cartoons about things that bring me (and hopefully readers) joy. Issue 1 is on butterflies and includes my imaginings of people whose work I enjoy as butterflies.

Issue 2 focuses water, one of my favorite elements on Earth.

Issue 3 is all about Big Things, like Giant Sequoias and the Cosmos.

Issue 4 is on Trees, the oldest living organism on Earth.

 

 

Wordlings is a 1/4-size zine about drawing for writers, especially those intimidated by drawing. It has prompts and room to doodle. And comes with a mini Dixon Ticonderoga pencil!


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Dear Luna is a 1/4-size zine. I made this zine in response to the approach of the 40-year mark since her murder. Our friendship is the subject of my cartoon/verse memoir, By the Forces of Gravity.100% of the proceeds from the sale of Dear Luna will be donated to Kids for the Bay (www.kidsforthebay.org) an organization that connects kids to nature in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Luna and I spent most of our time together.

 

All my zines are available through Wasted Ink Zine Distro in Tempe and the Distro’s online store.

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