Freaks. Femmes. Punx.
EMP Books makes books and zines.
It’s not complicated
Books
Perfect Bound
Ezhno Martin & Damian Rucci –
The Former Lives of Saints
Damian and Ezhno live across the country from each other and both work dead end night jobs. Every morning, they stare at the same rising sun and contemplate martyrdom for causes they haven’t found yet. They almost – but not quite – want to switch places. Ezhno is from New York, but is stuck in Kansas City, and craves the chaos that mirrors sanity. Damian has never been able to escape New Jersey, but has his sights set on Kansas City and bills he can afford to pay . They are lost souls who have lost most of what they’ve ever loved – this has pushed Ezhno into lunacy. They want to find purity like they think they used to have. They want to find a home that feels like it. They want to find a way to make the past stop kneeing them in the groin. They probably won’t find it, but they’re looking. All that’s for certain is that you’ve found them. It’s very important to Damian that you remember his name.
Jeremiah Walton & Christopher Morgan-
Needle // Shards
A slick sharp poetry split with enough punk rock swagger to make Puma Pearl proud, and sufficiently sweet to have even Elvis swooning. Two sides of a coin mixing fatalism and fantasy with the fantastic and defective.
What Sits Between My Veins –
Samantha Slupski
‘What Sits Between My Veins’ is a look into the most broken parts of Samantha Slupski, but it is also how she is mending those broken parts. Samantha has always struggled with feelings of abandonment and loneliness, and writing this book was a way to be okay with existing and holding all of that pain. Along with her own healing, she recognizes that we all have emotions that are real and valid. She hopes her book is a tool for people to recognize that they are in no way alone in this world, and that although existing can be hard, there is someone also going through that pain who is existing alongside them. She wants this book to be a reminder that no one is alone. And existing is okay and necessary.
Chaps
Our chapbooks can be bought in person, or by request through our Contact Us section. You paypal us $5 per book, and we’ll mail you a copy. Don’t be a stupid-head and forget to mention which books include a mailing address when you do.
Ezhno Martin
#Beer
Truth is, making this book – the first in the series – was just an experiment to see if it could be done. A book about drinking away the pain of managing to always make the wrong decision that was written, edited, printed out and stapled together while trying to drink away the pain. Each book is soaked in beer to optimize the readers experience, these twelve poems will make you think you are (back) in a cramped un-insulated apartment contemplating all the things you can do to yourself with sharp objects and just the right amount of time.
Jason Ryberg – Ten-Foot-Tall And Bullet-Proof
It’s a rollicking, beer soaked hell-ride through the winding backroads maze of the author’s mind, but that’s beyond the point; this is essentially a collection harvested from Jason’s wastebasket over a three year friendship. One day Ezhno just shows up and says “Hey look, I made a book about your problems with women and drink
ing every day of your godamn life.”
James Benger – As I Watch You Fade
As I Watch You Fade by James Benger is a collection of fifteen narrative poems that touch on love and loss, cows and cars, strippers and suicide, and all the other important topics that shape life in the middle-class Midwest. The poet strives proffer pieces which are plainspoken, devoid of poetic pretension, and honest and fair to the subject matter. Though the majority of the pages are dark in tone, most seem to have just the hint of a wry smile beneath the surface, the hidden humor readily available for those who can relate to the experiences therein.
Mark Luke Seawood – It’s Too Late Now, Little Brother
After four years clean and sober, Mark finally releases this collection about the years that almost killed him, and the woman he struck at 85 miles-an-hour on the highway after he passed out drunk behind the wheel of a stolen car. This haunting and grim look back on addiction reveals that sometimes, when you’re too far gone, you might as well pay the ransom for the sins of others.
About
WE ARE:
Ezhno Martin: Editor-In-Chief
Jeanette Powers: Acquisitions Editor
EMP sprang from the question: “Really, how hard is it to make a decent looking book from start to finish and print it off at this desk?”
About as hard as the average person is resourceful. Took 11 hours. Start to finish. From getting out of the shower and deciding to ignore my phone for the rest of the day to finally figuring out that annoying first/last, second-to-last/second, third/third-to-last formatting and holding a printed book soaked in beer. (#Beer)
After the novelty of the first book wore off – and it had been foisted on everyone in town – the only logical conclusion was to start making books for other people. Not just to keep the addicting habit of making, printing, and selling books going, but because people’s words deserve to be on a page, not on some godawful screen (printed copies of this website are available, just send us a self addressed envelope).
“Really, how hard is it to make a decent looking book from start to finish and print it off at this desk?”
Our production methods have improved a lot (we pay the kind of people who are capable of coloring in the lines to print the books for us these days), we finally agreed to get a website, we allow people to pay us in actual money and have forsaken the barter system. We still believe with all our (broken) hearts, though, that books are sold mano a mano because reader and author are making a connection. If you’re buying one of our books, it’s because you’ve already bought into one of our authors.
EMP makes minimalist books with a punk rock, DIY ethic because books are important, damn’t, and people deserve something tangible and enduring
Contact
Talk to us about books. We also like telling potential authors that, even if their website is better than ours, we don't want to publish their books. But really, you can send us submissions and we'll read them. We don't promise we won't berate you for it, though
