plain wrap press

from September 23, 2011, 3:05 am

deb olin unferth, writer of revolution: the year i fell in love and went to join the war (henry holt), vacation (mcsweeney’s), and minor robberies (mcsweeney’s), lets plain wrap get to know her better. this is the twenty-seventh installment of plain wrap’s interview series in which plain wrap interviews all its facebook friends. thank you deb olin unferth.

1. Tell us about yourself?

1. I seem to keep changing living locations and I’m getting sick of it. Seems like someone my age should be a little more rooted by now. Seems like someone my age should have a couch. Also: I’m a vegan. Also: I’m trying to draw a graphic novel all by myself and it is really fucking hard. My God. Who knew? A few little drawings, a couple of jokes, is that what you think? No. Bow to the graphic novelist. Bow to Sisyphus. 

2. Have you read any good books lately?

2. Oh yeah, man. That’s what I do. A few recent favorites: “Drawing Words and Writing Pictures,” “Parrots for Dummies,” “Leaving the Atocha Station,” “Just Kids,” “Nothing” (Henry Green), “The Abortion: An Historical Romance,” “Important Artifacts.”

3. Why did you leave your last job?

3. I loved my last job. I left because I applied for another job and I got it. Both jobs are good jobs, so it was moving from one good thing to another. Why do we do that? I don’t have an answer for you.  

4. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year?

4. I read a lot of books and I listened to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks. I learned a little about Buddhism this year, enough to understand that there’s a lot to understand that I don’t understand and would like to. For a book I’m working on, I learned a lot about the egg industry, lots of reading about the egg industry, and what I learned: don’t eat eggs, ever. I did a lot of reading about parrots and what they’re like, also for a book I’m working on. Also I did yoga four times a week for the past year and now I can stand on my head and do many other strange, interesting things.

5. Tell us about the most fun you have had in life?

5. That’s a big question right there. I’ll have to think about that.

from August 4, 2011, 5:35 pm

meg pokrass, writer of damn sure right, editor of blip magazine and facilitator at fictionaut five, asks: “what is ‘generic’ writing exactly?”

plain wrap: plain wrap publishes consumer products such as books and magazines that have no brand name or registered trademark. this fall we will publish two books and a magazine. these products are written in plain language. their style uses several clear words, rather than one complicated word, to enable the reader to: find what they need; understand what they find; and use what they find to meet their needs.

plain wrap believes it has discovered within generic writing a space for literature.

Plain Wrap’s Interview Series is back. Plain Wrap wants to interview you. If you want to be interviewed by Plain Wrap, reach out to us on facebook or here: plainwrappress@gmail.com

from November 11, 2011, 3:07 am

beach sloth, blogger, beach sloth, and human wannabe, lets plain wrap get to know him better. this is the forty-sixth installment of plain wrap’s interview series in which plain wrap interviews all its facebook friends. thank you, beach sloth.

1. Tell us about yourself?

1. I’m simply a sloth writing lengthy blog posts on the internet. Originally my idea for starting the blog came after I sent music reviews to people in the hopes of getting my name in big shiny letters on the internet. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I could start my own blog and cut out the middleman.

My interest in literature came about from the interesting things writers like Steve Roggenbuck, Poncho Peligroso, and Tao Lin were doing on the internet, actively interacting with their audiences. Before I discovered them I read quite a bit but I hadn’t explored poetry at all. All of them helped ‘ease’ me into poetry and showed me it can have popular appeal, rather than collecting dust on someone’s bookshelf.

2. Have you read any good books lately?

2. What a loaded question! I read a lot of books. I’d love to answer this question, but honestly there are way too many people I could namedrop here. And despite the amount of name-dropping and due diligence on my part, there would still be people I forgot.

Suffice it to say I’ve been digging a lot of stuff lately. Towards the end of the year there tends to be an influx of things to read, followed by a quiet winter to mull over everything. I’m pretty happy with the quality of things you can find on the internet. Writing on the internet gives me the perception that we’re all living in the same city, just different geographical locations.

3. Why did you leave your last job?

3. Uh, I perfected the art of Google image search, so my job was basically over. Besides Google image search (which I use quite liberally) I figured out how to fax and scan things. I went to many Christmas parties and learned how to pretend to be interested in what old, boring rich people said. At work I mastered finding free food for conferences and avoiding having to bring/pay for lunch most of the time.

Sometimes I’d even work, but that was rare. Everything I wanted to accomplish at my old job I accomplished so I felt no obligation to stay there. Years passed and eventually people caught on to the fact that I was somewhat intelligent but bored. I had to leave before they realized how smart and bored I was. Glad they never figured it out.

4. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year?

4. Currently I’m in Grad School for blogging. I realized it was time to turn my blog into money, kind of like Rumpelstiltskin spun hay into gold. Thus I dove headfirst into what’s a fairly math-intensive program. Math is a serious weakness I have, so I’m glad I’m being subjected to it, however much I protest.

Besides that I’m busy studying the habits of humans. I want to become a human someday. Pinocchio did it, and Pinocchio was some stupid piece of wood carved up to look nice. I’m a sloth; I’m already a living thing. To me, making the jump from sloth to human doesn’t seem as far-fetched as that pugnacious puppet’s desire.

5. Tell us about the most fun you have had in life?

5. The most fun I ever had in life was at an amusement park in Riverhead called “Splish-Splash”. I love that place. You drive forever and there’s this park, in the middle of nowhere. “Splish-Splash” is a pretty inspiring sight to see after passing by so much nothing.

At Splish-Splash there are all these cool rides, a wave pool, and a ton of junk candy. Next to the wave pool is a giant tower of a side. I can’t remember the name of it; it probably has some unbelievably simple name like ‘Super Slide’ or something. I love that slide. Literally it is one of the best things I’ve traveled down. Most kids didn’t even bother climbing the ridiculous amount of stairs to get to the top. Each set of stairs would deter another child from growing. Once you got to the top you’d realize how short the line was and how scared most people are. When I slid down it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had. That giddy feeling in my stomach may have been the first time I remember thinking ‘this is awesome’. I have gotten that feeling a few times since then, but that may have literally ‘set the bar’ for my life.

And it was such a simple pleasure, that’s the best part.

Gumdrop Series chapbooks are 5.5’ x 4.25’ in size. They do not exceed 40 pages in length. They are staple bound. Each book cover in the series is a different color. All covers contain a French fold. All covers provide blurbs, title of text, writer’s name, very short writer bio, Plain Wrap motto, and maybe something about writer’s methodology.

Plain Wrap publishes writing that’s generic.

Plain Wrap is open for submissions for our Gumdrop Series every Saturday. If you have a chapbook length manuscript, or any questions about the series, send it to: plainwrappress@gmail.com.

plain wrap is a small press.

plain wrap publishes simple, little books.

plain wrap likes fiction and poetry.

plain wrap is located in oakland, california.

plain wrap publishes books and chapbooks.

plain wrap’s books are part of its marshmallow book series and includes or will include books by: janey smith (animals), chad redden (thursday), and sarah fran wisby (the heart’s progress).

plain wrap’s chapbooks are part of its gumdrop series and includes or will include chapbooks by: walter mackey (i want to die).

plain wrap is open for submissions for chapbooks for its gumdrop series all year round.

plainwrappress@gmail.com