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

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1455529397 ISBN 13: 9781455529391

Verlag: Grand Central Publishing, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

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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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Matthew Bennardo is a writer and editor from Cleveland. His short fiction has been appearing in print and online for over a decade, with pieces in Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, and Shimmer, among others.

David Malki is the Los Angeles-based author of Wondermark, a comic strip available online and in collections from Dark Horse Books, one of which was nominated in 2009 for the Eisner Award (the highest honor in comics) for Best Humor Publication. He also holds the distinction of having written the longest article ever published by Poets & Writers Magazine.

Ryan North is the Toronto-based author of the online Dinosaur Comics, one of the internet's most popular comic strips. He's also currently the writer of the Adventure Time comic book from BOOM! Studios, based on the television show.

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This Is How You Die

Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death

By Matthew Bennardo, David Malki, Ryan North

Grand Central Publishing

Copyright © 2013 Matthew Bennardo David Malki Ryan North
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4555-2939-1

CHAPTER 1

OLD AGE, SURROUNDED BY LOVED ONES

The "coming soon" sign was gone, and in its place stood a shining silver booth.Leah stopped, fascinated, looking at the machine.

For a brief moment, she waffled over the decision, but it wasn't in her natureto be indecisive. Leah got things done. Every performance appraisal she had everreceived had said so—though sometimes there was a gentle hint that shedidn't always have to act immediately, that she could allow herself to thinkthings over a little more.

But even that slight criticism had never been partnered with any real examplesof when she'd made the wrong decision.

Leah had instinct.

Had anyone who'd known her been nearby when Leah Cole stepped into the smallbooth, they wouldn't have been surprised. She read the instructions, swiped hercredit card, agreed to the terms and conditions without really reading them, andthen watched as the machine ran through its cleaning cycle and presented herwith a single sharp needle.

She pressed her thumb against it, feeling the slight sting of the needle. Themachine beeped, and she pulled her thumb away. The needle retracted.

A moment later, there was a slight hum and a small piece of paper clicked withfinality into the tray. Leah reached down and picked it up with her other hand,tucking her pricked thumb into her mouth. Just as she pulled the small whitepiece of paper free, there was another hum and a second piece of paper clickedinto the tray.

Leah blinked, then took the second piece of paper as well. She read them both.

After work, Leah dialed the 800 number on the back of the slips of paper andwaited.

"Alexandria Corporation," a gentle-voiced man answered the phone. "This isNicolas. How may I direct your call?"

"I took the test this morning at the new booth in the Byward Market," Leah said."But I think your machine is defective."

Nicolas didn't sound bored exactly, but he certainly didn't sound worried aboutthe state of the machine. "In what way do you think there's a defect?"

"It gave me two contradictory results, on separate papers."

Nicolas paused. When he spoke next, he sounded interested. "Two results?"

"Yes," Leah said. "And it wasn't someone else leaving a copy behind in themachine—they both printed out after I gave my blood sample. I checked yourwebsite—the ID codes printed at the bottom of the paper are identical. Itgenerated two results for me."

"I'm going to transfer you," Nicolas said.

Leah waited.

Nicolas transferred her to a woman named Alia, who then transferred her to a Dr.Lindsay Brine. Leah was growing impatient—not an unusual state—butshe forced herself to take a breath and explained everything to the doctor.

Again.

The response sent a shiver up her spine.

"Are you a twin?" she asked.

Leah swallowed. Her throat felt tight. "Yes."

"Identical, I'd assume?" Dr. Brine pressed.

"We're mirror twins, if you know what that means."

"I do," Dr. Brine replied. "This has happened once or twice before. If you askyour twin to take the test and you get the same results, I'm afraid that's theonly answer we can give you. I'll have my assistant, Audrey, refund youractivation fee."

Leah said nothing. Her mind spun.

"Miss Cole?"

"Yes," Leah said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dr. Brine seemed anxious to end the call.

Leah obliged.

Then she called Julia.

"Not on your life," Julia said.

Leah sipped her latte, looking at her sister with the same mix of feelings shealways had: love, protectiveness, and total frustration.

Julia had kept her hair long once the twins had been old enough to make theirown decisions. Their mother had always dressed them in matching outfits andgiven them the same short haircut, and while that hadn't bothered Leah, it haddriven Julia crazy. Now that they were adults, Julia's chestnut hair fell justpast her shoulders, unlike Leah's chic Hepburn style. Julia wore soft pastelswhere Leah favored rich jewel tones. Julia wore no jewelry aside from herwedding band. Leah decorated her ears, throat, wrists, and fingers with simplesilver pieces she'd had made personally for herself.

And still the waitress had exclaimed, "You two are twins, right?"

"No," Leah had said. "This is my girlfriend." The waitress had flushed andstammered and taken their order.

Julia had given Leah a rare smile of conspiracy. "You're terrible."

Leah had shrugged and then launched into her reason for calling. "So. Here'swhat happened."

Julia had listened, frowning with distaste when Leah had begun the tale and thenglaring by the end of the description of what had happened.

"And that's the problem," Leah said. "I've got two results, and they're mutuallyexclusive, so the doctor asked if I was an identical twin, which would mean thatone of them is for me, and one is for you."

"I don't want to know what either of them says," Julia snapped, holding up ahand.

Leah sighed. "You don't?"

"Don't sigh at me. And no, I don't." Julia put her coffee down with finality. "Idon't know why anyone would want to know. It's ... morbid. What if it saidsomething like 'childbirth'? Tristan and I are trying for a child—you knowthat. It would change everything."

"Well." Leah had frowned, thinking that Julia was missing the pointentirely—you couldn't avoid death, she felt. Knowing ahead of time atleast meant you could live accordingly. "It helps you plan ahead."

"Some of us like surprises."

Leah crossed her arms. "The doctor said that if you took the test and it gavethe same two answers, then I'd know that this was the reason for the tworesults."

Julia hadn't taken any time to ponder the question. As she shut Leah down, Leahcouldn't help but think that this was one instance where they were indeedidentical.

Left with no way to confirm a flaw in the machine—or to confirm that she'dhave to be happy with two options for her life's ultimate end—Leah hadgone back to work, tucking the two slips of paper into her purse and pullingthem out every now and then to look at them.

Just in case, she decided to stop drinking alcohol, though the rational part ofher mind reminded her that so far, no one had ever managed to avoid what wasprinted on the little pieces of paper the booths handed out. They were alwaysright. But if that particular result was hers, there was no way to know if shecould at least delay things. She decided to try.

Life went on. Her sister and Tristan had her over for dinner for the bigannouncement and then e-mailed her pictures of Julia's ever-expanding belly overthe weeks that followed. Leah immediately bought expensive clothes that Juliainsisted were too much and too stylish for a baby to wear—especially sincethe baby would grow out of them so quickly.

Leah helped her sister decorate the nursery once they'd learned they were havinga little boy and tried not to comment too strongly on the stereotypical bluecolor or the cowboy theme. After they'd finished putting up the borders, the twosisters had moved to the kitchen and sat down at Julia's table.

"Being pregnant suits you," Leah said with a smile.

Julia burst into tears.

Leah jumped up, embracing her sister out of habit, but lost as to the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Grand Central Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1455529397
• ISBN 13: 9781455529391
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 512
• Herausgeber: Bennardo Matthew, Malki ! David, North Ryan
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar