Emanations V: Call for Submissions

International Authors and the editors of Emanations are happy to announce a Call for Submissions:

Emanations: V

Emanations is an anthology series featuring fiction, poetry, essays, manifestos and reviews. The emphasis is on alternative narrative structures, new epistemologies, peculiar settings, esoteric themes, sharp breaks from reality, ecstatic revelations, and vivid and abundant hallucinations.

The editors are interested in recognizable genres—science fiction, fantasy, horror, political dystopia, satire, mystery, local color, romance, realism, surrealism, postmodernism--but the idea is to make something new, and along these lines the illusion of something new can be just as important. If a story or poem makes someone say, "Yes, but what is it?" then it's right for Emanations. Essays should be exuberant, daring, and free of pedantry. Length is a consideration in making publication decisions, but in keeping with the spirit of the project contributors should consider length to be “open.”

Our editorial vision is evolving. Contributors should see themselves as actively shaping the "vision" of Emanations.

Send files with brief cover note to Carter Kaplan:

IAsubmissions@hotmail.com

Deadline: February 15, 2015

Contributors should place their name in the subject heading, 
and they should include their name and contact information in the submitted file.

Emanations is a not-for-profit literary project and contributors cannot be compensated at this time. All proceeds from the sale of Emanations will support the efforts of International Authors to publish new voices from around the world. Contributors receive a copy upon publication.

Please post questions, suggestions and ideas. The project is a collaborative effort, and as we share ideas the "vision" transforms, evolves, and grows. When we write stories and poems we hope to bring to bear the entire battery of modern and postmodern literary devices. More simply: we like good, strong writing. Our essays are incisive, precise, keen, challenging, and driven by the writer's desire to advance an intelligent audience's understanding of important subjects.

The Fine Print:

1) Submit files as follows: double space, Microsoft Word, Times New Roman size #11.  Set Tabs for .2" and set spacing at 15. Use smart quotes. This will help reduce the workload as the editors format book for publication.

2) No simultaneous submissions (contributors should get fairly quick feedback anyway, especially if their submission meets our needs). Material that is obviously pulled from a file and has nothing to do with the goals of the anthology won't get any feedback beyond the initial acknowledgement.

3) Word count/line count? See details above. We're flexible, but contributors should be sensible when considering what they send in. A novella? Well, maybe, and so on.... Rules of thumb: a) Stories: very short to 20-30 pages. b) Poems: send in 5-10 pages. c) Essays: 5-10-30 pages.

4) Published as hard copy only—Emanations will be available on Amazon. Participants who make a substantial contribution of material, editorial work, or art will get a copy. It can take some time to get copies to contributors outside of North America. In the case of our first anthology, for example, it took forty-five days to get a copy to a contributor in to Nepal.

5) In the past, International Authors has made it possible for contributors to purchases copies “at cost” using coupon codes, and so on. International Authors is a consortium, and as such every contributor is a “member” or our community, and contributors are encouraged to help promote the anthology by sending review copies to newspapers, journals and relevant Web sites.

6) Copyright "reverts" to contributors upon publication. That is, after a piece appears in Emanations, the contributor can seek to publish their piece elsewhere. Contributors should understand that Emanations will remain for sale on Amazon indefinitely. All materials appearing in Emanations are under the exclusive copyright of the contributing writers and artists.

7) Note to poets: Please do not send poems as individual files. All poetry submissions should be sent as a SINGLE MircosoftWord file formatted in Times New Roman, size 11.  Please submit three to ten pages.

Published By International Authors

Board of Editorial Advisors

Ruud Antonius, Netherlands/UK/Spain

Steve Aylett, UK
Joolz Barry, UK
Holly Baumgartner, US

Michael Beard, US

Michael Butterworth, UK
Tessa B. Dick, US

Jason W. Ellis, US

Cedric Cester, Spain

Mike Chivers, UK

Mack Hassler, US

Horace Jeffery Hodges, South Korea

Sushma Joshi, Nepal

Carter Kaplan, US
Philip Murray-Lawson, France

Devashish Makhija, India
Aziz Mustafa, Kosovo
Michael Moorcock, US/UK

Vitasta Raina, India

Elkie Riches, UK

Dario Rivarossa, Italy

Kai Robb, US

Stephen Sylvester, US

John Arbuthnot "Jacky" Fisher, First Baron Fisher, First Sea Lord

In his illuminating book on British Battleships, 1892-1957 (London: Putnam, 1957) Commander Randolph Pears, R.N. (Retd.) relates this amusing anecdote about the future Sea Lord entering the Royal Navy of the mid-nineteenth century.  As Commander Pears relates, in those days prospective cadets wishing to become officers were subject to close scuritiny:

When the future Lord Fisher of Kilverstone entered the Navy himself in the 'fifties of the last century his examination mainly consisted of having to jump stark naked over a chair and to recite the Lord's Prayer, no doubt having to put his clothes on again for the second feat, but that is not related.  He was rewarded with a glass of sherry.

Fisher as Midshipman 1856-1860

International Authors in the Classroom

Here is the reading list/schedule for a course I am teaching this semester called "Exploring Literature."

 From Emanations: Foray into Forever, we will read stories by Jeffrey Falla and Chris Matthews. Also from International Authors, we will read Vitasta Raina's novella Writer's Block.

The course is divided into themes (in capital letters). Weekly topics/meetings are represented either with a list of readings or quotation marks. References to "Poetry Section" are poems from the corresponding thematic section in Literature: The Human Experience, Abcarion, Klotz, and Cohen. Perhaps we will look at poetry from Emanations: Foray into Forever as well. 

RESPONDING TO LITERATURE
Fiction
Poetry
Drama
Non-Fiction

INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE
“Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne
Young Goodman Brown film
Poetry Section
“

WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
Writing about Literature
LOVE AND HATE
“Leigia,” Poe (handout)
The Bride Price, Emecheta
Poetry Section
“
“

LIFE AND DEATH
“Begging on the Threshold of Eternity,” Matthews (handout)
“Circle of Quanij,” Falla (handout)
Poetry Section
“
Midterm

CULTURE AND IDENTITY
“The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman
“Virginia Act of Religious Freedom,” Jefferson (handout)
from The U.S. Constitution (handout)
“The Manning of Ships” from White-Jacket, Melville (handout)
from Animal Farm, Orwell (handout)
“Politics and the English Language,” Orwell (handout)
“Master Harold” …and the boys, Fugard
Poetry Section
“
“
“

CONFORMITY AND REBELLION
“The Lottery”, Jackson
The Lottery, film
THX1138, film
“A Modest Proposal,” Swift
Declaration of Independence, Jefferson (handout)
“The Town-Ho’s Story” from Moby-Dick, Melville (handout)
Writer's Block, Raina
Poetry Section
“
“
“
Final

considering the art of consideration

Melencolia § I  by Albrecht Dürer

Tessa Dick reviews Emanations: Foray into Forever

Please click HERE to read Tessa's review.

Michael Butterworth Exhibition in Manchester Begins Today

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation is holding an exhibition of Michael Butterworth's work at the Exhibition Centre, entitled The Use and Abuse of Books.

Read about it HERE.  And more HERE.

According to Michael:

The Anthony Burgess Foundation have asked us for books they can put on sale in the bookshop during the three weeks of the exhibition and I have sent them five copies of Emanations 4.

 He also says a copy of Emanations 1 is part of his display.

 

Michael Butterworth

International Authors Meeting in San Gimignano, Italy, August 9, 2014

I've just returned from Tuscany where International Authors had its second meeting.  (For a report on our first meeting in London, please click HERE).

Clockwise from left: Philip Murray-Lawson, Dario Rivarossa, Marzio Nieri (behind Dario), Eva Nieri, Elisa Papi, Leonardo Zaffera (Elisa and Leonardo run GuardaStelle Edizioni, a small press in Italy), Carter Kaplan. Photo by Nadine Muray-Lawson.

Dario was "master of ceremonies" as we discussed (in an "avant-garde" pidgin of Italian, French, American English, Euro-English, and Philp-Murray-Lawson English) International Authors, Guardastelle Edizioni, book production and distribution, Tasso, Dante, the book Dante era uno scrittore Fantasy  (see also HERE), Milton, the Italian Renaissance, the middle ages, Tuscany, Umbria, Moby-Dick, The Scarlet Letter, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, fantasy, science fiction, translation, anime, art, illustration, and so on. The keynote subject was Dario's progress translating Tasso's Creation of the World, which IA should bring out early next Spring. Much of Dario's work with the text is finished, and over the next few months he, Eva and Tiziana Grassi (the "Magic Trio") will create the illustrations. There should be about 60 illustrations, and the book will be around 400 pages long--same size as Emanations.

San Gimignano

International Authors Tuscany HQ near San Gimignano

A person could get used to this sort of thing.

Highbrow Advice from Xenophon

Xenophon instructs his captains to encourage the Greek soldiers, now lost in Persia:

But there will be a great rise in their spirits if one can change the way they think, so that instead of having in their heads the one idea of "what is going to happen to me?" they may think "what action am I going to take?"
                                                                                                   --Xenophon, Anabasis

"Xenophon" by Selkis

Please click HERE for more highbrow advice.

More Blogosphere Commentary and Observations

Once again, Dario Rivarossa has blogged on Emanations: Foray into Forever.  Please clock HERE.

Professor Hodges, Emanations, and the Art of the Family "Daycation"

Professor Hodges is reading Emanations.  Please click HERE for his trademark multivalent jesting (includes lively holiday pictures).

It looks like he is scrutinizing the book very carefully.  I look forward to hearing his critical impressions in some future Gypsy Scholar report.

Il Mondo Creato Progress Report

I have finished the preliminary edit of Tasso's Il Mondo Creato, Day III.  Meanwhile, Dario Rivarossa has reached a benchmark: He has finished his translation of Day VII.  That is, he has finished the preliminary translation of the entire poem. It now goes to Professor Salwa Khoddam for her enhancements (I believe she is now working on Day V).  I expect to catch up with Dario and Salwa over the next three months.  By November the book will enter the production stage, which will include bringing the front matter and introductory materials together with the poem, further editing, and then preparations for publication.  Some of my earlier reflections on this project can be read by clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Dario will be working with Nivalis and Selkis (the three of them comprising "The Magic Trio") to produce the cover and the illustrations.  After much deliberation, soul-searching and head scratching, we have determined that the book will have about 60 illustrations. Altogether, the book will be about 400 pages long.

Dario sums up as follows:

A barbaric YAWP! The new, or rather, the only unabridged English translation of Torquato Tasso's long poem Il Mondo  Creato (1592) has just been completed -- i.e., the first draft, while the text is still in the process of being edited by Prof. Salwa  Khoddam and Prof. Carter Kaplan.

Day or Canto 7 should be of a particular interest to Paradise Lost readers and scholars insofar as Tasso "fills in the gaps" in the narrative of  Genesis (e.g. God leading Eve in front of Adam after creating her), that probably was the main source that inspired Milton for his own reworking of the Biblical text.

As to the "role" of the original sin in the "economy" of salvation, according to MC, well, it is very interesting, but it will not be revealed here

Writing thousands of footnotes on language, literature, Renaissance society, sources, and "the legacy" (especially Milton and CS Lewis) has been as exciting as translating the verses.

Now the funniest stage begins: illustrating it together with Nivalis and Selkis, the Magic Trio. The number of pics should be about 60.

The 400-page volume may be published by International Authors in -- say, next Spring?

I agree with Dario's projection for a Spring 2015 launch.  Click HERE to view his original blog post on these matters.

πρᾶξις

Captain Tomorrow climbing aboard the newly-minted squat bomber: machine in 3/4 profile, man the creative force, concept in action.

Texts to be looked at, pictures to be read

Dario Rivarossa has put together an intriguing set of images and some clever text for his initial blog post on Emanations: Foray into Forever.  Please click HERE.

"Milton? John Milton? He was not a philosopher! Or are you being facetious? I can't tell."

I recently posted the following on a facebook page dedicated to the subject of Analytic Philosophy:

I do not believe there is a philosopher who thinks as deeply, or--more importantly--as clearly as Milton. A person looking for philosophical insights is choosing the wrong field if he or she skips studying Milton for a program in Philosophy--indeed, isn't that the very conclusion that analytic philosophy itself must necessarily come to?

Was I being disingenuous or mischievous?  No, not at all. I meant it.  One interlocutor didn't quite know what to make of my statement:

Milton? John Milton? He was not a philosopher! Or are you being facetious? I can't tell.

My response was to direct him to one of my Highbrow posts on Milton's Project.

And then to a post concerning Bernard Bailyn's book on The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, which can be read by clicking HERE. Then I found myself jotting down my thesis concerning Milton's Paradise Lost as an expression of Analytic Philosophy:

The end of this post [on Bailyn's book] segues into the subject of Paradise Lost as an expression of Milton's anthropology of human understanding. Paradise Lost presents a synoptic overview of a variety of propositions concerning knowledge, human nature, language, politics, gender relations, consciousness, myth, mythographic representation, human identity, intellectual mythology, insight and illusion, apophatic theology, and so on. Unfortunately, the Miltonists don't know enough about analytic philosophy to read his satire at this depth, and the philosophers are unfamiliar with the grammar and literary traditions Milton parodies to construct his arguments.

Well, I might observe that when it comes to Milton's satire and philosophy, people can't tell if Milton is being facetious either.  To cut to the chase, he is, and that's Milton's point concerning everything, from the human condition to what have you.  Something more on this may follow.

Vitasta is reading Emanations

Highbrow or just mid-sixties British TV? (but Anthony Burgess is right: "real life needs an excuse..." ha ha ha, ahem)

"Hurrian Hymn no.6"

International Authors Web Site Updates

The International Authors website has been updated to include Emanations: Foray into Forever, and Aziz Mustafa, who has joined the editorial board. Please click HERE to view the description of the new book.

Highbrow Heroes

When asked, "Who are your highbrow heroes?  Xenophon?  Peacock?  Anscombe?" I will nod and say, "Yes, but of course!" Then catching myself, I will tilt my head to the side and add, "Truth be told, however, Highbrows are actually men (and women) of action.  Indeed, it is a little known fact that in order to enter the Highbrow Commonwealth, you must first get out in the world and hone your thinking abilities (or highbrow-ness) by doing something BIG.  And it doesn't matter if you succeed or fail--the true measure of your highbrow-ness is the degree to which you observe how your thinking responded to and integrated with the situation you were in.  William Wordsworth has something like this in mind when he reflects that the proper subject matter of poetry should be "strong emotions recollected in tranquility."  Therefore, in addition to Xenophon, Thomas Love Peacock and Elizabeth Anscombe, I'd like to add the names Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, Jr. to the list of heroes that I consider worthy of recommending to the highbrow community, and to posterity:

Radio Free Albemuth

Tessa Dick's interview with Radio Free Albemuth director/screenwriter John Simon has been archived. Please click HERE.