Sunday, October 24, 2010

Call for Submissions:



Emanations



The editors of Emanations seek 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, 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




Board of Editorial Advisors



Ruud Antonius


Horace Jeffery Hodges


Norman Spinrad, blog


Vitasta Raina


Michael Beard


Elkie Riches


Mike Chivers


Dario Rivarossa


Carter Kaplan


Kai Robb, 2


Tessa Dick


Michael Moorcock


Joel K. Soiseth


Mack Hassler


Darren R. Partridge





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.


Published By International Authors




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.


Intelligent people find themselves set between two fine-tuned extremes: the narcissistic communities made possible by the internet, and the micro-managed "fields" that are driven by an academic culture that forces people into narrowing corridors of specialization. Emanations is an artistic "way out" for intelligent people to create an exuberant, challenging and meaningful culture. We are pursuing a freedom of sorts, bringing liberty to intelligence. Whether this intelligence is human or perhaps something larger remains to be seen, but by looking into our emanations we might find an answer.



25 comments:

  1. Please advise -- should submissions be embedded int he email, or attached as Word documents? Some other format?
    Also, do you have any examples of stories, essays, etc. for people to view?
    ~~~

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  2. Word attachments, please.

    Good examples are to be found in the material Michael Moorcock used to publish in New Worlds. A few names come to mind: H. P. Lovecraft, Poe, Rabelais, Jorge Luis Borges, Karel Capek, Nabokov, Philip K. Dick, Norman Spinrad, J. G. Ballard, Dylan Thomas, Philip Larkin, Arthur Quiller-Couch, Thomas Love Peacock, Jack Broughton, John Milton, William Blake.

    I wonder, what kinds of writing do people wish to see?

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  3. Do you prefer any particular font, say Times New Roman, 12-point font?

    Jeffery Hodges

    * * *

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  4. Times New Roman 12-point, tabs set for three spaces.

    Elkie Riches sent me a few ideas:

    ...we don't want to be bombarded by rewrites of Lord of the Rings and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

    Originality is a must I think, and that is what we have to encourage (and which you have already stressed in the website)...

    ...avoid the various scenarios that have been done to death, i.e. the android who believes himself to be a man, vampire romances...the list could be quite extensive, and quite amusing. I don't think we should set out guidelines prohibiting drug use, sex, swear words, as so many magazines do; after all we're a progressive bunch, aren't we? ;-)

    ...we want something new, some fresh angle, an enlightened argument. Nothing tired and hackneyed...

    When it comes to specifying a genre, it gets a little tougher. I think we should encourage a literary slant full-stop, but I also think it important to mention science-fiction and fantasy...but with something new to say...challenging, dangerous, hallucinatory, rule-breaking, and (perhaps most importantly), difficult to categorize.

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  5. "difficult to categorize"

    Repeated for emphasis.

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  6. In fact, I'd like to widen the comment I made; regardless of the genre I think it must have something new, or different contained within it, whether in structure, symbolism, narrative perspective, plot. It must make people think, wonder long after they have finished reading it.

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  7. By "tabs set for three spaces," do you mean paragraph indentations? I know, I ought to know these things . . .

    Jeffery Hodges

    * * *

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  8. I have the intention to join in.

    Forewarned is four-armed... wow

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  9. Yes, three spaces for paragraph indentations.

    Welcome dhr.

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  10. What I would like to see: Words that conjure, stories that summon, and tales which evoke the keys to strange new vistas. The path has been laid in the past by linguistic artists like Clark Ashton Smith, Mervyn Peake, and HP Lovecraft, and authors such as Michael Moorcock and China Mieville are forging ahead today, uncovering new sights and species and wonders. Sometimes, these may be old sights, seen from another angle, or with a drastic change in lighting, so to say, but it's a good enough illusion that it appears to be new. This is quite alright, for, "there is no new thing under the sun". But, there are other suns. . .

    I do envision writing that would be likely to find itself categorized as fantasy, horror, science-fiction or a blend of these, but, I would hope that the stories being told are not aware of this. I like to see fiction that does not limit itself.

    What I don't want to see: The already-mentioned rewrites of Lord of the Rings and romantic vampires who cry over their food. Mary Sues. Stories and writing which have been diluted for fear of offending narrow sensibilities- we are indeed a progressive bunch.

    And on a much shallower note- I'd like to see some Very Cool Monsters. =D

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  11. Thank, Carter, and---

    >H. P. Lovecraft, Poe, (...) John Milton, William Blake.

    Is this journal an emanation of my wildest dreams?
    ;-)

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  12. yes, jhr, it is! Dream big, dream wild, dream yourself out, way out....

    More on robots who thing they are men, men who think they are robots, and men who wish they were robots: In The Confidence-Man Herman Melville shines light on every illusion, delusion and deception he can think of. The upshot seems to be that there is not much to be faithful about in this world, where he defines Man as "a losing animal." But towards the end of the book he adds that not having faith is also a kind of credulity, then in the novel's last line he says "Something further may follow of this masquerade." Nabokov does the same thing in Pale Fire--he plucks back the curtain and in revealing the artifice shows the way out.

    I can't think of anything to say about vampire romances. What about vampires who have romantic relationships with inanimate objects, houseplants, or careers? And what kinds of vampire romances do vampires read? That is, do they read about "healthy" relationships among mortals? Leave it to Beaver, The Brady Bunch, and Ozzie and Harriet might be for the vampire a kind of escape into an ideal world of connubial harmony, or maybe a kind of pornography? And what would a vampire make of 60 Mintes, My Three Sons, The Daily Show, C-Span, MTV, or religious programing?

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  13. to Kai Robb: hope you will find some cool monster at

    http://www.uraniamania.com/forum.php?board=24&action=display&threadid=4353
    (and following pages)

    http://www.uraniamania.com/forum.php?board=24&action=display&threadid=4729
    (and following pages)

    :-)

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  14. Depends on what vampires are. Are they former humans? Or a separate species? Or supernatural creatures, often thought of as demons? Their interest in books and other media would differ accordingly.

    As former humans, their interest would be nostalgia. As a separate species, it would be like our interest in nature programs. As demons, perhaps like our interest in them -- we may be the monsters since we're out to get them.

    Jeffery Hodges

    * * *

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  15. we may be the monsters

    Richard Matheson, "I Am Legend".

    I am fond of the version according to which they come from Lilith, the pre-human anti-Eve.

    Or, maybe Satan in Eve's Dream (Paradise Lost)

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  16. There is that viewpoint of vampires being manifestations of our fear of disease and pestilence (note the rat teeth on Nosferatu, so perhaps there's a twist there waiting to be realised? Variations on themes such as this would be a helpful way of understanding what we are about. Perhaps, another way of thinking about it would be a decoding of the symbols and archetypes that we ourselves have created. Jungian science-fiction anyone?

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  17. Archetypes . . . yes . . . archetypes driven by our fears and the intelligence that reveals (or creates) the things we find ourselves frightened of. Thus, as our understanding of nature, our intelligence and our science progresses, we perceive (and, yes, create) new threats, new monsters...

    Thus early humans fear animals, and perhaps ghosts, and so on up the line of progression:

    Real animals
    Bullies, sociopaths
    Other tribes and races
    Animals "amplified" by our imagination, the sense of the unknown and superstition
    Spirits
    Ghosts
    Gods
    Demons
    Vampires - brigands and "aristocratic" warlords; sociopaths
    Animal-Men - werewolves
    Zombies - brain-washed or diseased individuals
    Followers (and leaders) of "other" religions
    Frankenstein - artificial monsters (biological)
    Mr. Hyde - the monster within
    Victorian Vampires - repressed sexuality; amoral, ruthless and backward "aristocrats" from Eastern Europe...
    Atomic monsters - Godzilla
    Monsters from space
    Aliens
    Robots
    Computers
    Bureaucracies, Institutions
    Corporations
    Professional Politicians
    And so on: what ever human imagination and sensibility can perceive and fear....

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  18. I've updated the Call for Submissions. Please see above....

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  19. A great list, Carter. We can see examples of a lot of these in Hieronymous Bosch paintings...and that includes amalgamations.
    It is helpful also to consider Freud's theory of Eros and Thanatos.

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  20. OT: how come all of your "Followers" (top right) are gals?

    Then, there're people who despise culture---

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  21. Oh, the gals? They're the angels of Avalon.

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  22. I've posted some ideas here for generating narrative structure:

    Something . . . Anything

    By no means a complete list, but a few ideas, anyway....

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  23. just a few questions: (1) should short stories and/or poems be double spaced between each line,single spaced, or does it not matter. (2) Do you accept simultaneous submissions (material also submitted to other places.) (3) is the a line count for poems or word count for short stories, essays? (what are your deadlines, and if accepted how do you contact us, and do you contact the writer to acknowledge submission. (4) when published, will it be printed in a a hard copy (if so, will accepted authors receive a copy, or in a down loadable format? ((5) will I as author retain copy right, if and when published?

    Cordially,

    Keith H. seymour,
    Freelance Writer media consultant, poet

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  24. Hi Keith:

    1) Prefer double space Micorsoft Word Times New Roman 12 pt. It will be formated before publication.

    2) No simultaneous submissions (you should get fairly quick feedback anyway, especially if it is good). So far everything that has been sent in has been acknowledged. Stuff 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 in the "Call" above. We're felxible, but contributers 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--it will be on Amazon. Participants who make a substantial contribution of either material, editorial work or art will get a copy. It could take a while to get it to you if you are overseas, though I am not sure.

    If it is not crass saying so, I would prefer to send copies only to unemployed people or students, as the idea here is to put all proceeds into the production and promotion of the anthology, and anything else will go to International Authors to support our projects: currently Emanations, a play from the US, a novella from India, and a novel from England.

    Every copy that goes to a contributer is a copy that does not go to a review, to a journal, to a newspaper, to a library, and so on. I don't know what the other editors think, but I'd rather see the money spent on promoting the anthology. If a contributer is pulling in a six-figure salary, well, I think such a contributer might help the effort by picking up the cost of a copy. But, to answer your question, by hook or by crook, contributers will get a copy, by gum.

    Finally, I have to look into this, but I think perhaps it might be possible to make discounted copies available to contributers using coupon codes, and so on.

    5) I'm not completely sure how this works, but I believe copyright "reverts" to contributers upon publication. That is, after a story appears in Emanations you can publish it elsewhere.

    Notice: None of this is to be taken as contractual or legally binding.

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