Of all the beings that have lived on Earth, what if just a few had the power to make new realities, according to their desires? What would they create? The Second Emanation. A shadow world where ancient creatures persist, where humanity's dominance is far less certain, where wonder competes with horror. A world like an autumn forest, its realities as multiple and layered as fallen leaves. The world that gives us our gods.
In "Nolander," the Second Emanation crosses paths with a seemingly ordinary young woman from the American Midwest. It'll never be the same again.
Amateur photographer Beth Ryder sees plenty wrong with her life. At twenty-three, she feels trapped in her small Wisconsin town. The guy she's been seeing lately wants nothing more to do with her, and her sister-in-law is doing her best to push Beth out of the family.
Then one day, Beth takes a picture no one can explain. Her quest for answers leads her far from her small-town roots and opens her eyes to the unseen world around her. Sucked into a dangerous organization responsible for policing visitors from Earth's shadow world, Beth discovers that humanity is far from alone, and that its fellow creatures, many endowed with disturbing abilities, do not wish it well.
As events spin out of her control, Beth must leave her restrictive but safe life behind. Thrown into a frightening new world, she struggles not to surrender more than she can bear to lose, and not to become something she can't bear to be.