In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents Stefon Mears's "Conjure Man."

A crossroads has to be a lonely place. It has to be a real choice point. When you stand at a crossroads and pick which way to go, that decision has to mean something. It can't be a decision you can change your mind about a few hundred feet later, or even a quarter mile.

the feathers molt from my shoulders / to reveal red skin, red hair, / raptor turns to rapture