Natalie Halloway
Poetry · Kismet Chaos Publishing

All in on Empty

A debut collection by Natalie Halloway. Available now in paperback and ebook.

Front cover of All in on Empty: a grayscale portrait of a woman gazing upward, poker chips over her eyes, her hair dissolving into ink spatter

Paperback also orderable through your favorite local bookstore. The ebook is available exclusively on Amazon Kindle — buy it outright or read it as part of Kindle Unlimited.

About the Book

Recognition, Without Pretending Healing is Clean

All in on Empty is a raw contemporary poetry collection about reinvention, grief, anxiety, casino life, and the brutal quiet of starting over.

Inspired by Natalie Halloway’s move 1,300 miles from everything familiar, the collection unfolds beneath desert skies and casino lights, drawing from personal experience, close observation, and the shared realities of the people and places around her.

Through an intimate first-person voice, the poems move between the personal and the collective, giving language to heartbreak, displacement, exhaustion, complicated relationships, and the slow work of becoming someone new.

These are not polished reflections written safely from the other side. They are pieces shaped in the middle of the storm: on sleepless nights, after long shifts, beneath red desert sunsets, and in moments when survival had to become a language of its own.

For readers who have ever felt uprooted, heartbroken, unseen, or forced to begin again, this collection offers recognition without pretending healing is clean.

For readers of Amanda Lovelace, Andrea Gibson, and the confessional tradition of Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath.

“Not perfection.
Recognition.”

Quick Facts

Author
Natalie Halloway
Publisher
Kismet Chaos Publishing
ISBN-13
979-8-9967146-5-0
Format
5 × 8 paperback, 126 pages
Ebook
Amazon Kindle — buy, or read with Kindle Unlimited
Price
$16.99 paperback
Published
June 2026
Audience
Adult
Reader Response
“I am blown away… these poems tore through my years and struggles as a young adult. It touched many feelings I had tucked away. Really dynamic.”
— Missouri Reader, 5-star review
“I am not a reader, and I’m certainly not a writer, so it takes something truly special to hold my attention. All in on Empty did exactly that. I read it without putting it down. Natalie has an incredible gift. The poems made me feel like I was walking beside the author through her journey, and that kind of honesty is rare.”
— Illinois Reader, 5-star review

Reviewer names and personal information have been removed to protect privacy.

For Booksellers & Media

Wholesale terms, ordering details, and the trade sell sheet are handled by the publisher.

Kismet Chaos Publishing — Booksellers & Media