Myths of Dying
an excerpt

The reason that Irina picked up the book was much the same reason you picked up this book; but Irina is very different from you, as you will soon discover. However, if you find that she is very similar to you, I would suggest writing to the author of this book and demand royalties for ripping off your life story. I assume this situation is highly unlikely.

Irina Merkling was a librarian. She was not a very good librarian. She didn’t read a whole lot, and the regular patrons learned to not ask her for advice. She didn’t enjoy her job, but she was so afraid of change that she refused to look for a new one. In fact, Irina hardly changed at all in her short life. She lived in the town she was born in. She was forced to move out of her parents’ house momentarily until they died, so she moved back in. She wore her hair the same way every day and her closet was full of the same mixture of colors and styles—brown mostly, and collared shirts and slacks. Her life was filled with routine and sameness, which was the way she liked it.