"I'm harping on the family and loved ones and living rooms and personal space and the home here because a good many of the stories by Brett, Seth and Gary in this book touch on those themes. 'Touch on' might be too weak a term, come to think of it. 'Reach into' is better. 'Probe the way a surgeon does for a lump' is better still. A lot of these stories hurt. They hurt real bad. This is not a bad thing. Hurt can affirm life, and remind us we're not alone."--Michael Marano, from his introduction

A blood disease plagues the insectan elders of the Underworld. Desperate to save them from extinction, the golem Doctor Grave infuses the soul of his dying Queen into the blood of a human artisan, Lord Ante Lysis. Her soul passes through Antes blood into his offspring, thus the Lysis bloodline carries the diseased Queens soul until the Doctor can execute a grand necromantic rite to resurrect her. Endenken Lysis of Gravenstyne, last lord of his Clan, journeys to the Underworld Forge to extinguish the elder plague consuming his soul. Accompanied by the ghosts of the family whom he failed and...