Volume II of Emanations,
International Authors’ engaging anthology series is now available. Edited by the ever-intrepid Carter Kaplan, it follows
the tripartite plan of its predecessor, showcasing English language fiction,
poetry and prose from around the world.
Resolutely battling the fads and fashions of academia, Emanations: Second Sight plots a
perilous path through the morasses of postmodernism, as it seeks to discover what
might constitute the avant-garde in this rapidly-changing age. Readers fazed by Dr Kaplan’s somewhat inconclusive
introductory manifesto (the fruit of an impromptu online symposium) will gain much
from persevering, as the collection features some solid and original contributions,
supporting the good doctor’s assertion
that “the avant-garde announces that there is before us something actually
original.”
Fictional highlights include “Sequences”, a haunting short story
by Michael Butterworth and “The Bottomless Bottle of Beer” a Bulgakovian satire
carried out with aplomb by Horace Jeffery Hodges. Verse occupies over a third of the volume and
includes substantial work such as Dario Rivarossa’s self-illustrated Milton-influenced
piece "PL575". The non-fiction section is
shorter, but traverses a diverse range of themes from the decline of American technological
supremacy observed through the prism of an artistic “Space Program: Mars”
installation, through to an interesting appreciation of Gaston Leroux’s “Phantom
of the Opera”.
Emanations: Second
Sight is available from US and UK Amazon and the call is already out for
submissions to Volume III!
