Michael McAloran's latest book is a selection from his body of writings, spanning the decade 2010 to 2020."Those who look for meaning in Obsidian Flowers may think in terms of Obsidian glass, the sharper than cut diamond material used in the manufacture of surgical instruments that is derived from emissions from the volcano. They could argue that Obsidian Flowers is the sharpened essence of a flawed tradition that has suffered its Shivaistic fate, the birth of a literature built on the embers of one overtaken by events."from the introduction by Dr. Arthur Broomfield