Murderous Medicine
Bunny-hopping, body-snatching, and books bound in skin
In my first ever article on Medium, I confessed that it was not the article I had set out to write. Indeed, the article I had meant to produce was on the topic of Anthropodermic Bibliopegy (the act of binding books in human skin). This really was going to be that article, but these darned rabbit holes keep tripping me up! Instead, here’s just a little more preamble. Imagine ominous violins as accompaniment; it helps build suspense.
Note from future me: The article became a whole SERIES. Read it here.
Down the Rabbit Hole
It’s fitting that a rabbit hole should have diverted my attention from writing about Anthropodermic Bibliopegy, because it was a rabbit hole which led me to it in the first place.
Several years ago, I made it to the final round of the NYC Midnight short story competition and had to write a 1000-word story including an undertaker and a sunrise.¹
I was procrastinating, looking up all manner of things to do with undertaking, when whatever algorithm lurks behind the curtain of YouTube (the great and powerful) recommended I try “Ask a Mortician” — a channel run by US mortician, author, activist, and iconic-wearer-of-epic-fringe², Caitlin Doughty.
Her channel…
