Today everything is symbolic, and this symbolic world is the real world. This pseudoself is the real self.

The future and a present filled with dark magic meet in the theme of the bureaucrat, courtesy of Swanwick and Stross.

A dying world's value / borne in a shoulder sack

"They tossed away a million of their fry." Bitterness clawed her lungs; it was always a mistake, discussing this with kids. The words coughed out in spurts, like blood.