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A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

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What's New at Arcadia

Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock

Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!

Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca

Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.

Announcements

Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok

An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!

Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.

A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.

Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.

Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers

For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman

Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark

Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Taphophilia Library: Living by the Dead
Title:      Living by the Dead
Authors:      Ellen Ashdown
ISBN-10(13):      0979270057
Publisher:      Kitsune Books
Publication date:      2008-09-01
Edition:      1st
Language:      English
Rating:      5 
Picture:      cover
Click on the picture to get further information about this book!

Description:      "When is the last time you read a fresh, intelligent perspective on death, dying, and the dead? This book about a cemetery seduces with delight—by turns moving, funny, bitter, inventive, melancholy, playful—until it delivers its last wrenching blow. Ellen Ashdown weaves the story of her family through the graveyard in which some of them are buried, and beside which she abides, bringing thoughtfully and finally heartbreakingly to life those who pass by, pass through, and pass on. Here is new proof that America abounds with first-rate writers who do not reach the imprints of New York and Boston. We must be grateful for literary presses like Kitsune Books for bringing them to print." ―Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction, Raw Silk, Cutting Stone, Opening Nights, and forthcoming Bridge of Sand

Ellen Ashdown is a writer now living at St. George Island, Florida. A Florida Fiction Fellow, she has published feature articles on art, dance, and education in regional and national magazines. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida, is Phi Beta Kappa, a former dancer, and a writer for major textbook publishers, advertising agencies, and universities.

   
Reviews
Living by the Dead
2009-04-11 09:46:25 DeadGirl 5 
“Life and death in a cemetery: This is a charming, brave, and funny book, with a sad heart." ―Bailey White, regular NPR commentator, Sleeping at the Starlite Motel, Mama Makes Up Her Mind, Quite a Year for Plums

Living by the Dead
2009-04-11 09:47:22 DeadGirl 5 
“Ellen Ashdown's Living by the Dead is a compact and mesmerizing memoir more about life than death. Ashdown takes us like friends on her forays into Tallahassee's Roselawn Cemetery where we giggle and gape at the weird whimsy of humankind—both alive and not—while she teaches us to respect and honor it at the same time. It's Ashdown's observations on the blurry line between the living and the dead who, from the grave, give us some of the secrets of life.” ―Marina Brown, freelance writer, RN and Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse

Living by the Dead
2009-04-11 09:47:49 DeadGirl 5 
“Ellen Ashdown’s moving memoir chronicles one woman’s walk on the edges of life’s great unknown–death. She and her husband move into a house near a cemetery that one by one takes those she loves. Yet she keeps observing with clear eyes and a heart that aches, yes, but never shuts itself off from the beauty that surrounds her. This is a luminous meditation on death but more than that an affirmation of the deep and quotidian glory of the world.” ―Barbara Hamby, The Alphabet of Desire, Delirium, Babel

Living by the Dead
2009-04-11 09:48:16 DeadGirl 5 
“Living by the Dead is a book about life and memory—and walking through a cemetery. Writing with the soul of a poet and a ravenous curiosity, Ellen Ashdown interrogates the cemetery’s stones and herself, wondering about the bluebirds or the raging grief that possesses her. Through the simple act of taking one step after another, Ashdown travels through her own inner journey of loss, grief, and love.” ―Sally Sommer, dance historian and critic, New York correspondent for Le Monde, dance editor for Encyclopedia of African-American History and Culture

 

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