Cirrus@Austlit

'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.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This volume collects 28 stories by Lee Battersby, Deborah Biancotti, Trudi Canavan, Robert G. Cook, Rowena Cory Daniells, Terry Dowling, Thoraiya Dyer, Marion Halligan, Dmetri Kakmi, David Kernot, Margo Lanagan, S.G. Larner, Martin Livings, Kirstyn McDermott, Claire McKenna, C.S. McMullen, Juliet Marillier, David Thomas Moore, Faith Mudge, Ryan O'Neill, Angela Rega, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Nicky Rowlands, Carol Ryles, Angela Slatter, Anna Tambour, Kaaron Warren, and Janeen Webb.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.