Mortimer Gray's History of Death by Brian Stableford

"Mortimer Gray's History of Death" is a 1995 science fiction novella by Brian Stableford. It is about a nearly immortal man, living in a far future Earth, who writes a life defining Magnum Opus about - you guessed it - death. Mortimer Gray is an emortal - a person who has undertaken the nearly universal practice of extending his life for a long time. How long? No one knows for sure, because people who have subscribed to the Zaman view of emortality by having nano-machines constantly fight off disease and regenerate their bodies, are still alive after living for hundreds of years. The story begins as Mortimer is involved in a shipwreck when a tectonic plate beneath the Pacific ocean breaks and the Earth's internal heat nearly boils the sea. As one of only two survivors, he sets out to write a definitive history of mankind's battle with death. The story splits and alternatively discusses each of the ten volumes in his series, as well as the events of his own life in between writings. I…