Marc Fischer

@marc-fischer

Artist publisher living in Chicago with Public Collectors, Half Letter Press, Temporary Services. Finds cultural voids; fills them. He/him www.publiccollectors.org, , www.temporaryservices.org,

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Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· 29d

PUBLIC PUBLISHING ACCOUNTABILITY BLOG: Tomorrow I'm sending a reprint of my Public Collectors book Protest Grim Reapers to press. This was 60 pages. Now it will be a 72 page book (I found 6 more photos in 4 years). I love this book and I can't wait for this new version. Check out the new cover!

The cover of the forthcoming Public Collectors book Protest Grim Reapers showing a death figure in the process of being arrested. Back cover text:

PROTEST GRIM REAPERS
The grim reaper is an enduring figure at demonstrations. The reaper—or sometimes simply an angel of death—appears at protests for any cause where the gravity of a death figure feels appropriate. The reaper traditionally carries a scythe and wears a black hood and a skull mask or skull face paint, but sometimes the scythe is replaced with a different symbolic object. In other cases the death figure holds a sign or presides empty-handed.

In around 2018 I started collecting press photos of grim reapers at protests against hunger, radioactive waste, animal abuse, the death penalty, the Vietnam war, the closing of a Chrysler plant, demands for clean air and water, restrictions on abortion and more. These older press photos are routinely sold on the secondary market by dealers that acquire the archives of newspapers, or others that have purged their file copies. The dates of these photos reflect the availability of darkroom prints and wirephotos, taken before digital photography became dominant at most news outlets.

In recent years, the grim reaper has been in the news when people wearing this costume attended protests against keeping beaches and schools open during the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, the reaper tells spectators: ‘I am here because this is a matter or life or death for someone or something. I don’t want to be here, but because of you, your corporation, your politicians, or your crimes against humanity, my presence is justified. If this wasn’t deadly serious, I would have stayed at home or worn something else.’

— Marc Fischer / Public Collectors

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jul 8

I’m very happy with our garden right now. Today I picked tomatoes, eggplant, two kinds of peppers and a ton of basil. I think I have picked 14 of these eggplants so far already.

Tomatoes, eggplants, Melrose and mole peppers, zucchini, and a pile of basil.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jul 4

Looking forward to grilling these eggplants from my garden tonight. This is the second batch I have picked already, and there are more on the way.

My hand holding five long skinny eggplants. I believe these are the Chinese variety.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jul 4

I just saw a call for donations to Doctors Without Borders to support people in Venezuela and thought the photo of a devastated landscape kind of looked like the Rush album cover for "A Farewell to Kings" from 1977. It's actually astonishing how close they are.

A message from Doctors Without Borders about the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela.

The cover from the 1977 Rush album "A Farewell to Kings"

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jul 3

Peanut paralysis!

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jul 2

As a Walgreens loyalist, I find that this move by CVS reeks of desperation. You'll never be Nice!™, losers.

A graffiti tag on the side of a brick building in Chicago that says "CVS" in a messy scrawl.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 30

I allow myself maybe four Slurpees a year and the rule is it has to be at least 90°. It’s 95 right now and this is Limited edition Blood Orange Kick. I feel pretty confident that no oranges bled to make this chemical concoction.

A photo of me being incinerated while drinking a Slurpee.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 28

I’m at the ALA conference in Chicago today at the zine pavilion and the McCormick Place indoor pigeon scene is pretty hot.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 22

Last month two library workers reached out to Public Collectors to ask about making a booklet version of Fobazi Ettarh's essay "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves" for a Celebration of Life event. We did, and it is now available for all: halfletterpress.com/vocational-a...

This booklet is a standalone print publication of Fobazi Ettarh’s essay, in which she defined vocational awe as the ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries are inherently good and sacred, and therefore beyond critique. Fobazi first presented on vocational awe at the Identity, Agency, and Culture in Academic Libraries Conference in 2017. Later on, she fleshed out the idea into this essay, which first appeared in the journal In the Library with the Lead Pipe on January 10, 2018. It sparked immediate rippling conversations about dynamics of systemic underresourcing, undercompensation, job creep, and exploitation across the library profession. It was cited more than 500 times in her lifetime, and she presented dozens of invited presentations and keynotes on it. In 2020, she was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker; true to her own values, she voluntarily revoked the award to protest Library Journal’s awarding of a Library of the Year that had been widely protested for hosting an event with a virulently anti-trans organization earlier in the year. In this time, public scholars and intellectuals in fields such as social work, teaching, nursing, and technology began to engage with vocational awe, including Cory Doctorow in Enshittification, Anne Helen Petersen in Culture Study, Simone Stolzoff in The Good Enough Job, and more. At the time of her passing in January 2026, Fobazi was a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, furthering her research on vocational awe across domains, with a specific focus on tech work. May her memory politicize us all.

— Anastasia Chiu

The proposal to publish this text as a booklet came from library workers Mimosa Shah and Jorge López-McKnight. With the cooperation of Fobazi’s widow Elena Maris, Public Collectors has designed, printed and published this essay for that celebration, as well as more widespread readership.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 19

Summer Sale! The booklets seem to be multiplying in my basement as I sleep so it's time to have a sale to make way for new publications. I'm selling this set of six photo booklets for $40.00 postpaid in the US. Details in the ALT text. Purchase link: www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...

Summer Sale! The booklets seem to be multiplying in my basement as I sleep so it's time to have a sale to make way for new publications (like one that I'm picking up today). I'm selling these six photo booklets for $40.00 postpaid in the US. You'll get: Provisional Costumes, Wurstelprater in October, Affordable Housing in Avondale, Horror Decor, Legal Concealers, and News Photo Back Views. I'll add a few postcards to the mix as well. There are 20 sets available. Purchase link is here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/9WB6R9FG34ZB6

Affordable Housing in Avondale
This booklet is a meditation on the rapid transformation of my neighborhood in Chicago, as home prices and property taxes skyrocket and affordable housing becomes increasingly scarce. The first version of this booklet was printed in June 2023, just before my longtime next door neighbors were evicted from the subsidized three-flat they lived in for decades with other low income tenants. The building was soon demolished. The next owner planned to turn the property into two expensive single family homes, but then sold it to another developer who is now finishing construction on a five-unit condo building.

I took these photos of discarded dollhouses and toy houses in alleys in Avondale from 2022 to late 2024. Shortly after the first version of this booklet was published in 2023, Chicago suffered a massive rainstorm over the July 4th holiday weekend and many people returned from vacations to find their basements flooded. This resulted in tons of discarded furniture, toys, and dollhouses, including some that are documented in this edition. The writing inside this booklet is a collage of sales pitches and exaggerated claims from the websites of multiple real estate agents and firms that are currently operating in Avondale.

Summer Sale! The booklets seem to be multiplying in my basement as I sleep so it's time to have a sale to make way for new publications (like one that I'm picking up today). I'm selling these six photo booklets for $40.00 postpaid in the US. You'll get: Provisional Costumes, Wurstelprater in October, Affordable Housing in Avondale, Horror Decor, Legal Concealers, and News Photo Back Views. I'll add a few postcards to the mix as well. There are 20 sets available. Purchase link is here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/9WB6R9FG34ZB6

Horror Decor
Public Collectors publication #82 is a photo booklet surveying five years of Halloween decoration documentation in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood area. From the back cover:
Every year I watch as my neighbors in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood add gruesome details to their homes for Halloween. Some people are ambitious and assemble constructions that look like they took months to acquire or create, but it’s the smaller and cheaper decorations that I’m particularly drawn to: a severed finger here, a scattering of bones there, with maybe some Caution! tape, or a rubber rat chewing on a foot tossed in for good measure. Simple, strange gestures like these can heighten our attention to other overlooked additions to our built and natural environment, revealing not just someone’s Halloween play, but other details that we might have ignored. What else are you seeing and what are you missing?

Summer Sale! The booklets seem to be multiplying in my basement as I sleep so it's time to have a sale to make way for new publications (like one that I'm picking up today). I'm selling these six photo booklets for $40.00 postpaid in the US. You'll get: Provisional Costumes, Wurstelprater in October, Affordable Housing in Avondale, Horror Decor, Legal Concealers, and News Photo Back Views. I'll add a few postcards to the mix as well. There are 20 sets available. Purchase link is here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/9WB6R9FG34ZB6

Legal Concealers
This publication explores efforts by photojournalists to capture the faces of people as they experience being arrested, transported to and from court or jail, or appearing in court. I have only included photos where the subject has concealed their face from the camera. These photos include suspects, people who have been charged with or convicted of crimes, witnesses, law enforcement agents involved in sting operations, and informants.

Summer Sale! The booklets seem to be multiplying in my basement as I sleep so it's time to have a sale to make way for new publications (like one that I'm picking up today). I'm selling these six photo booklets for $40.00 postpaid in the US. You'll get: Provisional Costumes, Wurstelprater in October, Affordable Housing in Avondale, Horror Decor, Legal Concealers, and News Photo Back Views. I'll add a few postcards to the mix as well. There are 20 sets available. Purchase link is here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/9WB6R9FG34ZB6

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 19

There’s some really good little bird shenanigans happening in my neighborhood this morning.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 15

My dog riding in the car is a mix of excitement, nervous, and demonic possession. Sound up to hear him using his words.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 12

"ISBN? No Thanks and Other Notes Before Starting a Publishing House" - A fresh new Public Collectors booklet from Eric Schierloh of Barba de Abejas! Eric drops tons of wisdom in this generous list of thoughts, positions and ideas. Just $6.00 from: halfletterpress.com/isbn-no-than...

ISBN? No Thanks and Other Notes Before Starting a Publishing House
By Eric Schierloh
Public Collectors, Chicago, IL, 2026
Pages: 16
Dimensions: 5.5 in x 8.5 in
Cover: Paper
Binding: saddle stitched
Process: Digital printing
Color: Color cover with black ink interior
Edition size: 650
ISBN: none

A fresh new collaboration between Public Collectors and Eric Schierloh of Barba de Abejas! This 2023 text from Eric drops lots of new wisdom on the old problem of how to start a publishing house. It's jammed with excellent and suggestive ideas and insights. From the back cover:

ISBN? No Thanks and Other Notes Before Starting a Publishing House was originally published by Barba de Abejas in July 2023. The translation is by the author Eric Schierloh. The ¿ISBN? No Gracias graphic on the cover is by the Mexican graphic artist Rafael Rodríguez Pachiclón (@pachiclon); thanks to Ricos Jugos from Guadalajara, México for allowing us to use it. This publication has a PEER PRODUCTION LICENSE that allows sharing, adaptation, and commercial use as long as authorship is attributed, the same license is maintained, and the commerce is conducted directly by independent workers who manufacture the publications.

Eric Schierloh was born in La Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in 1981. He runs the artisan publishing project Barba de Abejas. This booklet is the second English translation of Eric Schierloh’s writing that Public Collectors has published. The first was How to Prepare Yourself for the Collapse of the Industrial Publishing System in 2022.

Print or die!

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 11

My Lexus! (Not actually mine)

A black Lexus heavily smashed after last night‘s storm in Chicago. Photo taken in the Avondale neighborhood.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 10

A selection of drawings by Dwayne Hollingsworth that I acquired from an auction last month. Many were part of a series called The City that he seems to have envisioned becoming a book. I've been trying to track him down but have had no luck so far. See ALT text for more background and questions.

An example of a colored pencil and pen drawing from over 40 drawings by Dwayne Hollingsworth that I acquired from an auction late last month. Many were part of a series called The City that he seems to have envisioned becoming a book. I believe these were made while he was living in Chicago (circa 2013). He later relocated to Los Angeles and was making music. There are a number of videos online of Dwayne singing and playing electric guitar. One shows him performing on the street. I've been trying to track him down through multiple email addresses, social media accounts, and two phone numbers but have had no luck so far. Do I know anyone that knew him when he was in Chicago? Or in Los Angeles? Or elsewhere in California?

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Jun 10

Chicago! Come hang out with Josh MacPhee and I this Friday, June 12th, 6:30 - 8:30 PM at Walls Turned Sideways to listen to and discuss records of music recorded in Midwestern jails and prisons. FREE! Details in the ALT text.

Join us for a listening session with artists, archivists and designers Josh MacPhee and Marc Fischer. Josh and Marc will share their collection of records recorded in IL jails and prisons and chat with the audience about the recordings. The collection includes recording from Cook County Jail and prisons in Indiana and Pennsylvania, and spans from the early 1970s to the early 1980s when incarcerated musicians were allowed to record, and communities outside of the prison were invited in—to perform, play sports, and more.

WHEN: Friday, June 12th from 6:30-8:30pm
WHERE: Walls Turned Sideways, 2717 W. Madison St. Chicago, IL

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 30

This is my new favorite squirrel.

A squirrel all splayed out on the sidewalk taking up as much space as possible with a whole peanut in its mouth.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 22

Chicago! I'll have a half table of Public Collectors photo booklets for sale at this great event. FOTOmercado will be held from 11am to 6pm on Sunday, May 24, 2026 at Chicago Art Department at 1926 S. Halsted Ave in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. I might bring some other collectible goodies as well.

FOTOmercado will be held from 11am to 6pm on Sunday, May 24, 2026 at Chicago Art Department at 1926 S. Halsted Ave in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

FOTOmercado is free admission. The flier here is designed by Jose Garibaldi. Socials are: Instagram - @foto_mercado & @ZINEmercado , #FOTOmercado and #ZINEmercado.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 21

Menards sells 6 Kale seedlings for $2.99 but only about 2 seedlings per carton were healthy so my mom had the idea to stand there and break them apart to get the best set of Kale seedlings and just put the shitty ones in other cartons. Fun times with mom in Chicago!

Four healthy kale seedlings planted in my garden

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 17

Peanut chompin’!

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 6

Seattle! You're next on my random Spring tour of places (Syracuse! Madison! Ann Arbor! Seattle!). I'll be at the Temporary Services / Half Letter Press table at the Seattle Art Book Fair on May 9th and 10th. I'd love to see you! I'll have Public Collectors stuff too. www.seattleartbookfair.org

The Seattle Art Book Fair is a FREE festival that celebrates independent publishing, book design, and artist books. The nonprofit event hosts 85+ local, national, and international artists, designers, and organizations and includes talks, activities, art installations.

Seattle Art Book Fair
Washington Hall
153 14th Ave.
May 9–10, 2026
11am–5pm Sunday mask hours 11am–1pm

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 6

Sound up! New ASMR video just dropped of our dog getting the last bits of peanut butter mixed with antibiotics that we added to stave off a possible tooth infection (it seems fine now, we are just finishing up the dose).

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· May 1

I made a new Public Collectors postcard! The text is extracted from something I posted here about 6 months ago. The design came to me in a dream (or night of bad sleep). Mail them to friends who need a creative nudge to self-publish. They are 4 for $3.00 from halfletterpress.com/leave-a-reco...

A stack of postcards with white text on a purple background that reads:

MAKE A ZINE IF YOU CAN'T
MAKE A BOOK.
MAKE A FLYER IF YOU CAN'T
MAKE A ZINE.
MAKE A POSTCARD IF YOU CAN'T MAKE A FLYER.

LEAVE A RECORD.

The back of the postcard says:

SELF-PUBLISH TO TELL FUTURE PEOPLE ABOUT THE PRESENT.

What do you mail to your friend who needs a reminder that their voice is worth publishing, no matter how small the format? This postcard! Hand them out to students too. The text is from a post Marc made on his Bluesky account (@marc-fischer.bsky.app) where he regularly writes little notes about self-publishing. Four of these cards come in a $3.00 set.

Available from: https://halfletterpress.com/leave-a-record-postcards/

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 30

Michigan! I'll be in Ann Arbor on Saturday and Sunday, May 2-3 for the Paper Paper Art Book Fair. Find me at the Temporary Services / Half Letter Press table with lots of Public Collectors stuff too. 11 AM -5 PM at Cluster on 307 N. Main St. FREE! More info here: www.paperpaperartbookfair.org

A green and blue graphic advertisement for the Paper Paper Art Book Fair.

I'll be in Ann Arbor on Saturday and Sunday, May 2-3 for the Paper Paper Art Book Fair. Find me at the Temporary Services / Half Letter Press table with lots of Public Collectors stuff too. 11 AM -5 PM at Cluster on 307 N. Main St. FREE!

More info here: https://www.paperpaperartbookfair.org

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 29

I had some time yesterday, and had a partial ream of thrift store yellow cardstock, so this happened. 140 more copies of the original design of "Why Self-Publish Under Fascism?" Lovingly handmade and just $3.00 as before. Purchase link here: halfletterpress.com/why-self-pub...

The assembly process of making the covers of Why Self-Publish Under Fascism? Shown are the yellow cardstock covers with blue RISO-printed text, hand-initiated and date stamping, and a rubber stamp of a police car.

This publication was prompted by an invitation from Mariame Kaba to join her in a discussion titled: Why Make Zines in 2025: Information Control Under Fascism, which was held at the space Walls Turned Sideways on 2717 W. Madison street in Chicago on May 22, 2025. Also in conversation were K Reynolds and Lewis Wallace.

The booklet includes a 4-page list of answers to the cover question. Some examples:

To write words and print images and make creative decisions that a corporate newspaper or publishing imprint would never allow to see the light of day under fascism.

Because we know that people have always created, and written, and made art, and even self-published during wars, in prisons, and in concentration camps.

Self-publish to produce something in a way that lets you direct its distribution through whatever channels you prefer.

To make something that can’t be easily wiped off the web, like a website, blog, or social media account when the web host caves to fascism or obeys in advance.

To reconnect with the spirit of samizdat, where Eastern Bloc dissidents reproduced censored materials—sometimes by hand—to evade censors.

To attack and humiliate Neo-Nazis and use publications to grow an atmosphere of hostility to their bullshit.

Because writing and editing and designing and self-publishing are all life-affirming things. We need you alive, not them.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 26

Postcards! I recently found a hidden box of these LOSERS ATTACK OUR LIBRARIES postcards AND I recently discovered that I accidentally made them invisible in the webstore. Oops! Still 10 postcards for $3.00 plus shipping. No reprint planned so get em while you can. halfletterpress.com/losers-attac...

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 25

Madison Print & Resist at the Mifflin St. Madison Public Library runs until 4 PM today. Come and get it!

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 23

The ability to sleep through anything, including “Circle of the Tyrants” by Celtic Frost, is my dog’s superpower.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 21

Self-publishing is a lifelong thing if you make it that. Yesterday in Syracuse I met Robert Conrad who published the first zine that I can remember ordering through the mail back in 1987! Here are the two of us (me on the left). More story in the alt-notes. Amazing to connect after almost 40 years!

I visited Chris Wildrick’s Punk Zines class at Syracuse University yesterday and talked about my history with zines and showed a pile of publications. The previous night, before the class I learned that my old zine publisher buddy Robert Conrad works at Syracuse University. Back when he lived in Trenton, NJ, Bob published This Zine Sucks, which I believe is the first zine I ever sent money for in the mail. I think I learned about it from Maximum RocknRoll. In addition to visiting the class, which was the first time that Bob and I have ever met in person, Bob also brought the masters of multiple issues of his zine so students could see the source material they were copied from. Chris took the first photo which has me on the left showing a reproduction of the second issue of my teenage zine Primary Concern, and Bob holding the masters for This Zine Sucks number five, which was the zine that I ordered from him back in 1987 or so.

Marc Fischer@marc-fischer· Apr 15

I'm going to assume that most people would enjoy seeing a photo of this creature. This is Cocoa, who belongs to my neighbors down the block. Her main expression is a mix of concern and terror. She stays very close to home and does not go on walks. I think she's a long-haired Chihuahua.