This Is How You Die

This Is How You Die Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death

If a machine could predict how you would die, would you want to know? This is the tantalizing premise of This Is How You Die, the brilliant follow-up anthology to the self-published bestseller, Machine of Death. THIS IS HOW YOU DIE Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death 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.
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Reviews

Photo of Ken Gagne
Ken Gagne@kgagne
4 stars
Sep 30, 2021

I was hooked on the first Machine of Death anthology and wasted no time picking up the sequel. I enjoyed these tales as well, from the first one that made me cry ("Old Age, Surrounded by Loved Ones"), to the short, humorous ones ("Made Into Delicious Cheeseburger"), to the chilling ("Two One Six"), to the alternative settings ("In Battle, Alone and Forgotten"). But I felt that there were a few too many alternative settings. Whether it was set millions of years in the future, a cyberpunk reality, the French Revolution, or as an invasion of aliens posing as vending machines, some of them were just too weird, which distracted from what I felt should be the focus: the consequences of knowing how you would die. Fortunately, there were enough good, clever, thoughtful, and creative tales in this set to make it a worthy follow-up. Should they pursue a third, I wouldn't hesitate to grab it.

Photo of Ewan
Ewan@euzie
3 stars
Sep 18, 2022
Photo of Vanessa
Vanessa @nasa
5 stars
Aug 19, 2022