Thatâs all he knows. Doesnât know the how or the whyâ just the when.
Meet Ramsay Carnes. Known to his friendsâlike the one he told was gonna die todayâas "Ram."
Ramâs a process server, a reaper, for the Death Notification Agencyâthe DNAâwhich is now the biggest government organization in the world thanks to a mysterious and highly-guarded technology that can determine the time of anyone's demise, right down to the minute.
Thatâs where Ram comes in. Itâs his job as a reaper to deliver death notices to soon-to-be-deceased citizens 24 hours before they give up the ghost. Thatâs it. Nothing complex about it. Heâs assigned to District 598.4A. Hollywood. Not that one. The other one, in Floridaâhis own sunny armpit of the world.
And life ainât that bad for Ram. Besides a wrecked marriage and kids that barely talk to him, Ram floats through his days letting people know when their lifeâs about to go belly up, then heads to Nasty Nateâs Tavern in his aloha shirt for a drink. As he sees it, at least heâs giving people a chance to put their affairs in order and say goodbye to their loved ones.
Itâs definitely not the most glamorous job, but hey, itâs a job. And since the DNAâs never been wrong in predicting a death, he works with the confidence of knowing heâs doing his part to help people in their final hours.
But Ramâs simple life is about to get a lot more complicated when one nightâŠ
He receives his own death notice.
The Reaper is the first volume of six in the Death Notification Agency series.
Illustrations by Mad Dog Jones
Variant cover by WBYK
Julian Oliver Meiojas is an electric film and television writer/producer and author who specializes in crime, thriller and science fiction. Heâs currently writing and co-executive producing Amazonâs award-winning JACK RYAN. Prior to that, he wrote and co-executive produced HBO MAXâs series Raised by Wolves for director Ridley Scott (Alien, Bladerunner) and creator Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners) while also developing an original real-time thriller with HULU for director David Leith (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) and a crime drama series for filmmaker David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury). Julian is a first-generation American who taps into his multicultural background to find unique points of view for his fast-paced genre storytelling. He has been involved in the writing and production of over 100 episodes of television across all major outlets. Julian lives with his wife, daughter, and terrier in Los Angeles. Death Notification Agency, Volume One: The Reaper and its five subsequent volumes will collectively be his first published novel.
Canadian-born visual artist launched his artistic career as MAD DOG JONES in 2017. His works, presented at his world premiere show âAfterl-ife Worldâ in Tokyo and via Instagram where their popularity spread quickly. MAD DOG JONESâ works deftly interweave cyberpunk elements with the beauty and freedom of nature. As a lover of the wilderness, which was ever present where he grew up, he brings a fresh thematic to the metropolitan aesthetic, done up in citrus and neon tones of technology somehow rendered as a space naturally human. Having grown up around Thunder Bay, MAD DOG JONES draws constant inspiration from the Canadian wilderness, as well as from Japanese animation, SF films, and cyberpunk, pulling together a rare and powerful fusion of two worlds sometimes deemed irreconcilable. His dual affinities with music and art have led him to create cover art and other works for Maroon 5, Jabbawockeez, Chromeo and more.