This Is The Way The World Ends (Gollancz SF collector's edition) - Softcover

When George Paxman, a contented tombstone engraver in a sleepy Massachusetts town, is offered a bargain, he doesn¿t hesitate long. The deal is that his beloved daughter gets an otherwise unaffordable scopas suit to protect her from radioactive fall-out and all George has to do is sign a document admitting that, as a passive citizen who did nothing to stop it, he has a degree of guilt for any nuclear war that breaks out. George signs on the dotted line. And then the unthinkable happens. The world and everyone in it (scopas suit or no scopas suit) is destroyed in nuclear Armageddon. Except for George and five others who must now face prosecution from the great mass of humanity who will now never be born. And George Paxman stands accused in the name of all the people who stood by and never raised a finger to stop the horror of nuclear war.

James Morrow was born in 1947. He has lectured and taught and worked in the fields of magazine publishing and television, as well as writing for children. His sf novels include The Wine of Violence, The Continent of Lies and Only Begotten Daughter.