The thirteenth Tarot card is Death, and he is a symbol not of the end, but of transformation and rebirth. This is the genesis and root of Thirteen: Stories of Transformation. The twenty-eight authors of this collection are voices—new and old—who are not afraid to explore what comes next. Whether it be a life after death, a life without love, a life filled with hunger, or the life shared by a ghost. These are stories of the weird, the mythic, the fantastic, the futuristic, the supernatural, and the horrific.

The ghosts of the past have been eaten by the children of the future: this endless cycle of birth, death, and renewal is the magic of thirteen.

Do not fear change. Embrace it. Let Thirteen be the handbook for the new you.

The alphabetical table of contents is as follows:

• Liz Argall - "Augustus Clementine"
• M. David Blake - "The Soldier Who Swung at the End of a Thread"
• Richard Bowes - "Oh, How the Ghost of You Clings"
• George Cotronis - "Blackbird Lullaby"
• Amanda Davis - "Why Ulu Left the Bladescliff"
• Julie C. Day - "Pretty Little Boxes"
• Jetse de Vries - "Follow Me Through Anarchy"
• Jennifer Giesbrecht - "You Could Go Anywhere"
• Daryl Gregory - "Digital"
• Rik Hoskin - "Slow Shift"
• Rebecca Kuder - "Rabbit, Cat, Girl"
• Claude Lalumière - "The Thirteenth Goddess"
• Marc Levinthal - "The Math (a fairy tale)"
• Grá Linnaea - "Two Will Walk With You"
• Alex Dally MacFarlane - "Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints"
• Lyn McConchie - "The 13th Ewe"
• Juli Mallett - "Creezum Zuum"
• Fiona Moore - "Selma Eats"
• Gregory L. Norris - "Occupy Maple Street"
• Adrienne J. Odasso - "Skin and Paper" & "The Still Point of the Turning World"
• Cat Rambo - "The Ghost-Eater"
• Andrew Penn Romine - "We All Look Like Harrie"
• David Tallerman - "Twilight for the Nightingale"
• Tais Teng - "With Musket and Ducat"
• Richard Thomas - "Chrysalis"
• Fran Wilde - "A Moment of Gravity, Circumscribed"
• A. C. Wise - "Letters to a Body on the Cusp of Drowning"
• Christie Yant - "Eidolon"