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Evil Twin Publications Pt.2
You've read about who they are, what they do and why loved by so many in Part 1 of the interview. Now it's time to get onto the real dirt behind the Evil Twin Publications girls. Who's seen a ghost and who's had zany twin experiences and yes, still asked by their lovely loving mega-star collaborators!
Jesse Pearson (co-editor of 'Catholic No.1: CATS' released by Evil Twin in 2004): Has either one of you ever seen a ghost? Tell the story. If not, make one up.
Stacy Wakefield Forte: More than one person has told me that Henry James' 'The Turn of the Screw' is "the first ghost story" but it was published in 1898 and Wuthering Heights was around for 50 years before that. So was A Christmas Carol'. With all due respect to Henry James, people are always crediting him with being first at things. Speaking of Wuthering Heights, I just read 'Somerset Maugham’s essays about his 10 favorite books (No Henry James. Though I'd argue for 'The Ambassadors' if I was making the list) and his essay on 'Wuthering Heights' was a great read. He has a convincing theory about Emily Bronte being a frustrated lesbian and he doesn't believe her brother wrote her book for her and also he points out how it was completely weird and out of style when it came out and is shockingly badly written and the fact that it works so well is miraculous.
From Grrrrt: (co-author of 'Not For Rent: Conversations with Creative Activists in the U.K.' published by Evil Twin in 1995) How has your motivation to do Evil Twin changed over the course of time?
Stacy: We've been doing Evil Twin for 14 years now, so it’s true that our motivations have evolved! In the beginning, a huge priority was getting our work to as many people as possible as cheaply as possible. While we cared a lot about making things look special, overall cost was a huge concern. Now with the internet and blogs, it’s all different. People can get all the information and entertainment they need for free, so the need to produce cheap ’zines is sort of gone. In the last few years I've focused on more unique handmade and material-based artists' books. I’m more interested in having some freedom to experiment with materials and printing techniques, and less dogmatic about making sure it will only cost $5 in stores.
Amber Gayle: Though we have published books with other writers, for me, Evil Twin has been largely about my trajectory as a writer. When we were working on our first book and ’zine in 1994, I felt very alienated from mainstream culture. I wanted to shout about my experience in the world. When people read and responded to the books we made, it was incredibly empowering. Feeling heard, and I guess growing up in other ways, has changed my motivations. I thought at one time, when I was overwhelmed with all the ideas and words I wanted to get out, that when I finished writing my own stories, I might write fiction. But instead, I find that my urge to articulate perceptual and emotional experience is non-fiction oriented. The last Evil Twin book I wrote, 'The Twin Survey', was based on a research project I did when I was finishing my BA That motivated me to continue with social science, and now I am halfway through a PhD in Research Psychology. Maybe I will end up writing non-fiction books for Evil Twin. For now, Stacy is the main force behind Evil Twin projects and I just assist her with business things.
Jamie Berger: (Author of 'Bo's Arts', Evil Twin 2006) Have you had any of those zany twin experiences during the ET venture-like, say, do you both come up with the same idea for one of your titles at the same time and pick up the phone to call each other at the same time but then it just goes straight to voicemail because you're both calling each other at the same time or else one of you picks up the phone to dial the other and starts pushing the buttons but she's actually just unwittingly answered the phone when the other was calling before it even rang and the other is on the other end of the line shouting, "Hey hey, twin sister of mine, quit dialing-- hey!" and then you both laugh and laugh?
Amber: I think this kind of synchronicity with communications and in the little details of our lives is so chronic and typical that it doesn't seem zany to us, it’s just normal.
SS: You pretty much like being invisible with your designs. But what if you could go all the way, what would your fantasy book design look like?
Stacy: That is fun to think about! The problem with design being prominent is that it makes the book look dated really soon. I’m so impressed by classic design that gets used over and over and always works. Like you don’t even think about the pages of a Penguin paperback being “designed,” they just look like the way a page of a novel ought to look. If you design a page that people notice as “designed”, you’ve basically failed to make it look obvious and natural. So it would be an achievement to create a look for something that is so above-reproach that it becomes the standard and it never crosses anyone’s mind to ask who designed it.
Fritz Haeg (Author of the forthcoming book 'Sundown Salon' to be released by Evil Twin in Spring 2009): If you could only have one book with you on a deserted island, what would it be?
Stacy: All the volumes of 'Casanova's Memoirs', bound in one book. Is that cheating? It’s the longest thing I can think of. If I had to choose for Amber, I would give her the 'I Ching'. In Chinese.
Nick Zinner (whose photographs appear in 'No Seats on the Party Car' and 'Slept in Beds' and whose book 'I Hope You Are All Happy Now' was co-published with Evil Twin and St. Martin's Press in 1995): What are the biggest advantages for you guys as an independent press now?
Stacy: Not having to make money to cover salaries or overhead! We always just break even. If we started counting on Evil Twin to make a living, we'd have to make decisions based on what would make money, and I think that would take the fun out of it.
Read Part 1 of the interview here.
Photography: Stacy Wakefield Forte
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