56 very short stories about death from Giller Prize finalist John Gould

The End of Me is an astonishing set of sudden stories about 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 mystery of their finite being. A marooned astronaut bonds with a bereft cat; kids pelt a funeral procession with plums; 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 shimmers with compassion and vitality.

John Gould is the author of The End of Me – a collection of 56 sudden stories about mortality – and of two previous collections in the same form, including Kilter, a finalist for the Giller prize. He’s also written a novel, Seven Good Reasons Not To Be Good, and published fiction in periodicals across Canada and abroad. As an arts administrator he created and coordinated writing programs for the BC Festival of the Arts and the Victoria School of Writing, and was a member of the collective that founded the Victoria Writers Festival. A freelance editor and nonfiction writer, he served on the editorial board of the Malahat Review, and taught creative writing at the University of Victoria. He lives on unceded Lekwungen territory in Victoria, BC. Website: johngould.ca.

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"Smart and funny, filled with deep affection, regret, love, and sorrow... I was ambushed by these stories, taken places I never expected to go. In the end, I lost count of the times I shook my head at the sheer pleasure of reading this marvellous book."

Eve Joseph

"John Gould's skill with the short form is miraculous in the way of bonsai, the grand made to bloom within the small. And who knew death could be so wise, invigorating, playful — so richly alive?"

Bill Gaston