Gleanings: Arc of a Scythe

I have yet to read any of the novels in the Arc of the Scythe, but I think I have a pretty good understanding of the series after reading these short stories. They are set in the universe of the novel and provide small vignettes of characters and experiences. 

A futuristic world has "conquered death". Through technology, just about any illness can be cured and "death" can be reversed. This would lead to endless life. But it would also lead to overpopulation if people could still reproduce. Enter the Scythe. They have the special role of "gleaning" people and killing them permanently. (They will also "self glean" to take themselves out.) Some people have special identifiers that say they cannot be gleanded for some time.

The stories cover some scythes as well as some people that are related to them. There are some hints of the politics between the world and some conflicts with the "powers" The society has also gone out on interplanetary missions. Sometimes people are made "deadish" to limit excess resource consumption. In another story, an AI destroys a ship (making everyone really dead) after all humans are "deadish".