Set Sytes – författare

A public restroom even more horrific than most, with a stained toilet that can swallow a man whole, sending him to a sewage-filled hell. A riverbank lined with swaying mops given faces and philosophies. A secondary school that seems to waver in and out of reality not only in dreams, but also upon wakeful visitation. An isolated grotto, home to trolls and the posthumous shadow form of Elvis Presley. These are all settings of peculiar, often unnerving events in How Not to Kill Yourselfauthor Set Sytes's collection of short bizarro fiction. It features the longer story 'The School of Necromancy,' in which a school buried deep in the Catacombs of York teaches subjects much less innocent than math or language arts.

A girl begins to question why she and her parents wear monstrous masks they have never, ever taken off, though she may have been better off not knowing. An insomniac spends every night watched by a dark, silent figure in the bedroom, and while this figure disappears by morning, he seems to be growing stronger and bolder. These and several other horror stories await in Set Sytes' new collection, which includes 'The Violet Dark', an unsettling, dreamy (or nightmare-y, rather) novella revolving around an addictive drink.

When scientists finally discover the Ultimate Secret of the meaning of life, existence, and everything, it's time for the universe to do some Reshuffling on Earth. Reshuffling is a fairly standard procedure for momentous times likes this - destroy order by moving some minds to different bodies, hit the reset button, and continue on as if nothing's changed. But as happens with even the most careful processes mistakes are made, and one man finds himself on an entirely different planet, old memories largely intact, with a gun pressed against his head. His new name is Jay Wulf, and he's got a lot more to figure out about his new self - fast.

The only really interesting thing about the little port town of Eyeless is that once every ten years, the mysterious Ship of the Dead arrives, carrying a crew of skeletons who dance and drink on shore before sailing away once more. No one is more excited for this event than thirteen-year-old India Bones, who, having spent his whole life on Mexico Island, is desperate to leave and explore the great wide rest of the world. When he paints his face and sneaks into the midst of the dancing dead, he ends up plunging straight into the adventure he craves. With an undead crew at his side and a magic ship beneath his feet, maybe India can finally find the father he's never known. But these sorts of quests are never straightforward, especially not in the first book of a young adult fantasy series.

Are you inclined to escape the crumminess of everyday life into fantasy worlds? Are you definitely misunderstood, likely angry, and almost certainly depressed? Set Sytes, hailing from the UK, would prefer you stay alive and sort things out rather than the alternative, thanks. He figures there are better opportunities for you out there and lays it all out in a way that's compelling, funny, sharp, and useful. This book (please don't call it a self-help guide, asks the author) is ultimately about how to be a person in the world. It can be done non-miserably, we promise.