Amanda Downum

If your child falls into the gorilla enclosure you’re gonna need a new child. We only have the one gorilla.

I once worked with an embalmer who was so paranoid about bodies leaking that I used to joke I'd come into work one night and find she'd cocooned all of day shift in plastic wrap and hung them from the ceiling.

This is now me and mold.

Ask a Necromancer: C’est ici de l’empire de la Mort - PSYCHOPOMP.COM Like any necromancer, I’ve dreamed of building an empire of the dead.

"A job for every corpse; a cadaver for every school!"

join us, beloveds, for a very special Ask a Necromancer with @stillsostrange.bsky.social

C’est ici de l’empire de la Mort

read on!

psychopomp.com/deadlands/is...

Today's the day! I've added this photo to my Funeral History slides. Sometimes the internet was almost worth it.

NON FICTION

Bible Verses for the Dying and the Heathen by Robin Wheeler

Ask a Necromancer: C’est ici de l’empire de la Mort by @stillsostrange.bsky.social

OH MY FUCKING GOD this is so good

for renaissance music reasons

for arranging reasons, DAMN

for 'it's One Night in Bangkok as if Kit Marlowe wrote opera' reasons, especially

Adding this to my slides on holy relics next semester!

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

I need to set the arterial system to music so my students remember it.

I think the difference is going to them vs having them rushed past you like career speed dating.

8th graders aren't really the age group I'd choose to talk to about a career in mortuary science, but it turns out they enjoy playing with modeling wax.

Me holding the book against a blue sky. Hair needs a trim. Cat sweater is cute though.

Me holding both Deer Hill Anonymous books against a blue sky. I'm looking...somewhere. Not at the camera.

What happens in the group chat stays in the group chat…until it doesn’t.

CONFESSIONS FROM THE GROUP CHAT IS OUT NOW!

Want copies of my cozy Deer Hill Anonymous books of your own? You can order from anywhere, request at your library, or get a signed copy from my friends at One More Page.

This week I'll be working a career fair for thousands of 8th graders. Pray for me.

As someone on day 3 of a migraine, this is a little too close to the bone

A Philosophy of Thieves by Fran Wilde - BookBub Leverage meets Parasite meets Six of Crows in multi-award winning author Fran Wilde s thrilling, high-tech adventure heist wrapped in a gaslamp fantasy where thieves are entertainment for the wealthy....

Book bub deal for A PHILOSOPHY OF THIEVES! www.bookbub.com/books/a-phil...

The handsome skeleton on the left is Fred. His friend with the hat doesn't have a name yet. Suggestions?

photo by @stillsostrange.bsky.social

Still So Strange by Amanda Downum is only $1.99 - BookBub Discover the magic and supernatural creatures that flourish in the dark corners of seductive worlds Indulge in this breathtaking fantasy anthology from an author whose prose is intoxicating, sensual, ...

The WFA-nominated collection of weird fiction by @stillsostrange.bsky.social is $1.99 in ebook currently!

www.bookbub.com/books/still-...

Norwegian home invasion.

Ask a Necromancer: Fun with Formaldehyde - PSYCHOPOMP.COM To be clear, a dead body in and of itself is nothing to be afraid of, even a smelly one. We’ve moved beyond the miasma theory of medicine. Dead is not the problem; it’s the pathogens that may still be...

today we learn about formaldehyde with @stillsostrange.bsky.social in today's Ask A Necromancer!

"To be clear, a dead body in and of itself is nothing to be afraid of, even a smelly one. [...] Dead is not the problem; it’s the pathogens that may still be alive."

⬇️💀🖤

psychopomp.com/deadlands/is...

The things I find in my classroom.

How to Not Get Poisoned in America The minute I saw that Robert Kennedy Jr., a notorious disease-loving health crank, was going to be responsible for the nation’s health—and the health of its...

"You know, as an example, red lead was used to make cheddar... A can of coffee could be coffee, but it could be ground bone, or charred shells, or dirt." Deborah Blum on our bad food past -- and how to avoid it being our future:
buttondown.com/theswordandt...

To All the Morbid Children | Amanda Downum Get more from Amanda Downum on Patreon

I'm sharing some of my early Ask a Necromancer essays on Patreon, and hopefully answering new questions. Check it out, all you morbid children.

www.patreon.com/posts/130698...

I forgot to share the final version of my emotional support severed head from last semester.

Remmick is a perfect gentleman about everything... except banana flavored amoxicillin. I'd probably choose violence too if someone tried to squirt that down my throat, so I can't really blame him.

How were we so young?

Does anyone know anyone in a driveable-from-Richmond area who could adopt my handsome friend? My house is at cat-pacity, and I don't want to turn him back outside knowing he's FIV+.

Cat update: Remmick got in a carrier more politely than any cat I know. Poor baby is FIV positive and needs antibiotics for his mangled ear, but is otherwise doing well at the vet.

Guess who came in for dinner? Now I just have to convince him to get in a carrier tomorrow morning without murdering me.

aedownum@gmail.com for PayPal, or @Amanticore at Venmo