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Emergency Press publishes books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and hybrids of these. Manuscripts are selected in an annual contest open to members who contribute to the Emergency Almanac the previous year. No open submissions are accepted at Emergency Press. However, the Emergency Almanac is always looking for dedicated writers who are interested in becoming Emergency reporters, those who sympathize with our vision, and are receptive to the challenge of applying their craft to both the expansion and definition of the emerging Almanac style. If this sounds like you, we invite you to send us a short letter (1-2 pages) which introduces you to us, and addresses specifically why, and what, you would like to write for the collective. Along with this letter also attach a short sample of your writing (3-30 pages) which you believe would be an appropriate first publication for you in the Emergency Almanac. All such introductions should be emailed to the Emergency Almanac. The Emergency Almanac is written by 'reporters' who cover pressing events/issues in a rigorous, high art, journalistic manner. Our reporters are often given assignments by other Collective members with the reporter's agreement, of course. Reporters may work certain 'beats' if they like, beats defined by issue or location, i.e., the aesthetic of garbage/recycling or East Harlem. Reporters are the Collective members, their reportage the Collective vision. Collective members are encouraged to contact would-be 'reporters', put them on 'the beat', and solicit material for the Emergency Almanac. To some extent, then, the Emergency Almanac is a literary magazine modeled on The Farmer's Almanac,a text which is meant to be, above all, useful. Collective members can work on whatever private projects they like, but when writing for the Emergency Almanac they must make sure the writing is useful,in that it could at least suggest more ways to be 'creaticritically' observant of the world and, at best, inform citizens in a way that the combined actions of writers and readers might affect public policy. The principles of the Emergency Almanac might be summarized in a few informal guidelines:1. Make it relevant (to the reader's daily life).2. Be familiar with the friction and gravity of the rhetorical situation. Physically engage with the direct object of the reportage (if you are going to write about doorways, hang a door,don't recede to using the door as a vehicle of metaphor for the tenor of, say, love). 3. Avoid clichéd dualities (which don't seem to aid humans in an evolution toward anything better than they already are,avoid tired dualities which imply whole systems of old thought, such as splits between mind/body, work/pleasure, art/politics, etcetera). Emergency Press books share similar aesthetics as those outlined for The Emergency Almanac. All members are asked to read and score manuscripts submitted to the annual Emergency Press book contest. To remain active, members must read and score for the contest at least once every three years.