"Death and What Comes Next" is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

short story by British writer Terry Pratchett, part of his '' Discworld'' series. It tells the story of a discussion between

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and a

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, in which the philosopher attempts to use the many-worlds interpretation of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

to argue that death is not a certainty. The story was written in 2002 for the now-defunct online puzzle game ''TimeHunt'' and the text contains a hidden word puzzle, also devised by Pratchett, which provided a codeword for the game. Like "

Theatre of Cruelty The Theatre of Cruelty (french: Théâtre de la Cruauté, also french: Théâtre cruel) is a form of theatre generally associated with Antonin Artaud. Artaud, who was briefly a member of the surrealist movement, outlined his theories in ''The Theat ...

", another of his short stories, Pratchett allowed it to be put on the L-Space Web.

External links

*
The "Death and What Comes Next" L-Space page
including various translations {{Terry Pratchett Discworld short stories Fantasy short stories

See also

External links