“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” The words of composer Gustav Mahler animate this collection of sixteen tales from award-winning author Marie Brennan, inspired by mythological and folkloric traditions around the world. Here you will find flames of revenge, immortality, and grace, as a valkyrie seeks peace, a queen weaves and unweaves her own fate, and a goddess vanishes from mortal memory—but never from the page. TABLE OF CONTENTSThis Is HowSerpent, Wolf, and Half-Dead ThingThe Waking of AngantyrSilence, Before the HornDaughter of NecessityYour Body, My Prison, My ForgeFor the FairestThe Wives of ParisThe Me of Perfect SightThe Gospel of NachashSalt Feels No PainAt the Heart of Each Pearl Lies a Grain of SandCenturies of KingsThe Old Woman and the TeaGhost and FoxSpeak to the MoonStory notes