56 very short stories about death by Giller Prize finalist John GouldThe End of Me is an astonishing set of sudden stories that explores the experience of mortality. With an ear attuned to the uncanny and the ironic, John Gould catches his characters at moments of illumination as they encounter the dark mystery of their finite being. A marooned astronaut bonds with a bereft cat; kids get caught pelting a funeral procession with plums; a woman’s dreams swarm with victims of the new age of extinction; a young girl ponders the brief brutality of her last life, and braces herself for the next one.

Rife with invention, with fresh ideas and arresting voices, this collection of flash fiction - funny, sad, absurd - draws from the imponderable a great compassion and vitality.