This Is How You Die

Machine of Death is a collection of short stories selected from 700 submissions, all based on a very simple premise. A machine can tell you how you will die, but the answer it gives you will turn out to be a Twilight Zone kind of twist.

The problem with the machine is that nobody really knew how it worked, which wouldn’t actually have been that much of a problem if the machine worked as well as we wished it would. But the machine was frustratingly vague in its predictions: dark, and seemingly delighting in the ambiguities of language. OLD AGE, it had already turned out, could mean either dying of natural causes, or shot by a bedridden man in a botched home invasion. The machine captured 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.

It was put together by two of my favorite webcomic creators and a third guy, who may also be a webcomic creator--I haven't actually looked into that.

The stories don't typically explore the premise through stories through a "who can make the best twist" method. Instead, they focus on how the machine changes society. They range from thought-provoking, to funny, to really dark. And since it's all about death, I think you guys will like it.

The first book beat Glenn Beck's new book to #1 on Amazon, which pissed him off enough to talk about it on his show. On Tuesday the sequel This Is How You Die came out. I just bought my copy. The creators are running a campaign to get to the New York Times bestseller list, so they want you to buy it by Saturday. I think you should.

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

Also, buy Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die