Book excerpt: The world's greatest sorcerer is losing his mind, and all the nations wait in fear for his next move. The faces of the future gaze forward and back, and sirens don't always sing the songs you expect. Deserts speak with the voices of girls, mothers and stepmothers are two pages of the same book, and churches house things stranger than angels. But in the afterlife, you never know when an absinthe spoon will come in handy . . . . The second volume in the critically acclaimed fantasy anthology series from Mythic Delirium Books, edited by Rhysling Award-winning poet Mike Allen, with new writings by Leah Bobet, Richard Parks, Cherie Priest, Catherynne M. Valente, Lawrence Schimel, Sonya Taaffe, Steve Rasnic Tem, Jo Walton and more.