The machines started popping up around the world. The offer was tempting: with a simple blood test, anyone could know how they would die. But the machines didn't give dates or specific circumstances-just a single word or phrase. DROWNED, CANCER, OLD AGE, CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. And though the predictions were always accurate, they were also often frustratingly vague. OLD AGE, it turned out, could mean either dying of natural causes, or being shot by an elderly, bedridden man in a botched home invasion. The machines held onto that old-world sense of irony in death: you can know how it's going to happen, but you'll still be surprised when it does.
This addictive anthology-sinister, witty, existential, and fascinating-collects the best of the thousands of story submissions the editors received in the wake of the success of the first volume-and exceeds the first in every way.
"Old Age, Surrounded by Loved Ones" (in the anthology THIS IS HOW YOU DIE: STORIES OF THE INSCRUTABLE, INFALLABLE, INESCAPABLE MACHINE OF DEATH).
$18.00
Paperback
Pre-order (Ships Jul 2013)
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BOOK DETAILS
- Paperback
- Jun.16.2013
- 9781455529391
Nathan gives an overview of the book:
The machines started popping up around the world. The offer was tempting: with a simple blood test, anyone could know how they would die. But the machines didn't give dates or specific circumstances-just a single word or phrase. DROWNED, CANCER, OLD AGE, CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. And though the predictions were always accurate, they were also often frustratingly vague. OLD AGE, it turned out, could mean either dying of natural causes, or being shot by an elderly, bedridden man in a botched home invasion. The machines held onto that old-world sense of irony in death: you can know how it's going to happen, but you'll still be surprised when it does. This addictive anthology-sinister, witty, existential, and fascinating-collects the best of the thousands of story submissions the editors received in the wake of the success of the first volume-and...
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About Nathan
‘Nathan Burgoine grew up a reader and studied literature in university while making a living as a bookseller—a job he still does, and still loves. His first published short story was “Heart” in the collection Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction. Since then, he has had over a dozen...
Published Reviews
Dec.31.2010
For Nathan Burgoine everything of importance was present in the first touch. For him, it was done in black marker – at once dazzling, fear-filled, permanent – and then used as a yardstick for the rest of...
Dec.31.2010
“Heart” is one of the more poignant stories in this anthology and captures the essence of what we wouldn’t do in our power to keep the one we love in our arms and by our side. This story is most beautiful...
"Old Age, Surrounded By Loved Ones" is two things to me. First, it's the first "mainstream" item I've had published (in that it's not a gay genre story). Two, it's making my inner fan-boy squee. And my outer one. I loved MACHINE OF DEATH. Being a part of the sequel is phenomenal!