Lying in the sand dunes of Baritone Bay are the bodies of a middle-aged couple. Celice and Joseph, in their mid-50s and married for more than 30 years, are returning to the seacoast where they met as students. Instead, they are battered to death by a thief with a chunk of granite. Their corpses lie undiscovered and rotting for a week, prey to sand crabs, flies, and gulls.
Yet there remains something touching about the scene, with Joseph's hand curving lightly around his wife's leg, "quietly resting; flesh on flesh; dead, but not departed yet." Their bodies had expired, but anyone could tell—just look at them—that Joseph and Celice were still devoted. For while his hand was touching her, curved round her shin, the couple seemed to have achieved that peace the world denies, a period of grace, defying even murder. Anyone who found them there, so wickedly disfigured, would nevertheless be bound to see that something of their love had survived the death of cells.
The corpses were surrendered to the weather and the earth, but they were still a man and wife, quietly resting; flesh on flesh; dead, but not departed yet.
From that moment forward, Being Dead becomes less about murder and more about death. Alternating chapters move back in time from the murder in hourly and two-hourly increments. As the narrative moves backward, we see Celice and Joseph make the small decisions about their day that will lead them inexorably towards their own deaths. In other chapters, the narrative moves forward. Celice and Joseph are on vacation and nobody misses them until they do not return. Thus, it is six days before their bodies are found. Crace describes in minute detail their gradual return to the land with the help of crabs, birds, and the numerous insects that attack the body and gently and not so gently prepare it for the dust-to-dust phase of death.
Phoebe Kendall is just your typical Goth girl with a crush. He's strong and silent... and dead.
All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring. Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead. But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.
The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic.” But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing. And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good.
When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team. Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her. But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy?
She was mine. I owned her soul…until Death stole her heart.
LEIF is a novella from the Existence series. It offers glimpses into Leif's point-of-view during both Existence and Predestined.
Note: Each digital copy of LEIF includes a free download for Dank Walker (AKA Death)'s newest song - Closer.
Meet Susannah Simon: she's a typical teenage girl who just happens to be a ghost-hunter...oh, and she's also dead-over-heels for Jesse - the sexiest spook ever! But can this girl get her ghost?
In "Grave Doubts", Suze has to contend with fellow ghost-hunter, Paul Slater, who gives her a deadly ultimatum. Unless she dates him, he'll send Jesse into the afterlife - for good. Paul may be totally hot, but Susannah Simon will not be bossed around. Let the games begin...
In "Heaven Sent", all Suze's dreams have come true - she's finally dating the most gorgeous ghost of all time, Jesse! But when her creepy admirer threatens to travel back in time and stop Jesse from dying, Suze is distraught. Will her new boyfriend choose life or love?