Amanda Downum

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

This is Remmick. He believes in equality. He wants to come inside. He wants your stories and kibble. He's going to receive some bonus healthcare next week. If anyone has a few extra dollars they could contribute to fellowship and love (and vaccines and flea treatment), we would be truly grateful.

I'm going to start posting flyers around campus inviting people to join me in donning dinosaur costumes and benignly rampaging.

Yesterday I got MOHS surgery. The process was pretty cool and the doctor didn't mind my constant nerd questions. The local anesthesia and Tylenol have definitely worn off now, though.

That's handled by the Federal Trade Commission. Mainly it says don't tell a family reanimation is necessary if it isn't, and don't tell them reanimation will last forever.

If you're using the old school definition to mean invoking the spirits of the dead, only the soul should matter. If you're animating a corpse, the soul may not matter. Otherwise we're getting into tricky issues of soul vs. neurochemistry to define the self.

It's only a golem if activated with a shem. Otherwise it's just a sparkling simulacrum.

I love Pierce so much. Sadly, it turns out the company is run by several squirrels who aren't in the same trench coat. At least when my college tries to order from them.

I was an art student once upon a time, and let me tell you, this is not as easy as it may appear. I was proud of my original head, but if you don't have all my reference photos in front of you when you look at it, I'm not sure anyone would guess who I was trying to recreate.

This is the model skull with start with. One of my students last semester called him Withers, which I'm using forever.

Wax is also more fun to use, because it lets me build up in thinner layers. For my first head, his nose was a solid wodge of clay that I attached and then shaped. This time, I built the nose up from the root one bit at a time, which gave me more control.

The art clay was fun to use, but wax is more authentic, because most mortuary restorative work is done with wax. I've never had to make someone a whole new head, but I have definitely had to correct nasty abscesses and facial trauma.

The purpose of the project is to understand the anatomy and ratios of human faces, and to sculpt one from photo references. Most classes will use celebrities, because so many photos are available. Some sadistic profs may try to make you do a self portrait.

Okay, context for my severed head collection. The head on the left was my (in progress) final project for Restorative Art in mortuary school. He was made with Plastilina art clay. The head on the right is my current project, using Dodge's modeling wax. (1/?)

I have put so much time and effort into adopting cats, and not one of them has the gratitude to finish a book for me!