"Mortimer Gray's History of Death" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...

published in 1995 by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

. It was nominated for the 1996

Nebula Award for Best Novella The Nebula Award for Best Novella is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novellas. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 4 ...

. The story takes place in an updated version of Stableford's 1985

future history A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors of science fiction and other speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction. Sometimes the author publishes a timeline of events in the history, whi ...

,'' The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000-3000''.

Plot summary

The story follows Mortimer Gray, a man who has extended his life for several hundred years. It begins as Mortimer is involved in a ship wreck and narrowly escapes death. This experience prompts him to write several volumes about the subject of death and humanity's war with it. The novella is divided into several small chapters which alternatively describe the adventures of Mortimer's life and the reactions of the public to his latest volume of ''The History of Death''.

References

External links

* {{isfdb title, 40309 1995 short stories British speculative fiction works Speculative fiction novellas Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction