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518 pages, Hardcover
First published November 8, 2022
"In the first year of the Thirty-Third Dynasty, when He came to the planet where I was born and made of it a wasteland for glory's sake, my ten-times-great-grandfather's king and lover, Alekso Undying, built on the ruins of the gods who had lived before Him Alectelo, the City of Endless Pearl, the Bride of Szayet, the Star of the Swordbelt Arm, the Ever-Living God's Empty Grave.
He caught fever and filled that grave, ten months later. You can't believe in names."
"It has been a long time since that night, when I lay in the dark between Matheus Ceirran and the image of my god. I have thought of it often since, trying to make sense of it, of how vividly it stands out in my recollection. As I am telling these memories to you, I am turning them over in my hands, I am holding them up to the light. It is in memory that I am trying to find some kind of truth, if truth is anywhere to be found."
"Narcisa Cipon lives in her cups. Semfontan's friends live in disgrace. I'm sure a man can cramp himself to fit into an earring."
"Your hair is like wine. Your eyes are also like wine. Your mouth is like a serpent's. What a joy to die in your arms."
"As I said. Your scansion's off."
"When you are held in the mouth of a god, sometimes the best you can do is let yourself be swallowed and call it a homecoming."