Siren Songs from the Heart of Austin does new and vibrant things with narrative. Magical realism adds its rainbow colors to the twenty-two first person pieces that interweave to tell the story of a group of people living in Austin, Texas. The six main narrative threads overlap and entwine around the idea of love in its myriad forms. Aqua Vitae Cafe, in turn of the millennium Austin, is the central connection-although the settings range from Austin to New Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras. And through it all, the Prophet Mudcat sings his siren songs, trying to usher in the Age of Aquarius by returning humankind to the water . . . .