Riddance

Editor's Introduction

1
Final Dispatch: "Borne on racing white-streaked black . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "The Headmistress's tiny, tinny voice has fallen silent."
Readings: My Childhood
Letters to Dead Authors, #1: Melville: "You will not have heard of me . . ."

2
Final Dispatch: "Someone is missing, a child is missing, calamity . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "Another pause. The room is quiet, though today's events have left their spoor . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: How I Conceived the Plan to Visit the Vocational School; On the Architecture of the Vocational School
Letters to Dead Authors, #2: Melville: "It has come to my attention that you are dead."

3
Final Dispatch: "[Extended static, several words indistinct] . . . someone is missing . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "'Wake up!' The Intake Coordinator, if that was what she was . . ."
Readings: from Principles of Necrophysics: The Mechanics of Channeling the Dead
Letters to Dead Authors, #3: Brontë (Charlotte): "I am-but I shall not introduce myself."

4
Final Dispatch: "It is easy to forget what you are about, in the land of the dead . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "I traipsed dumbly around behind Florence . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On Eating and Other Oral Activities; On Methods of Listening
Letters to Dead Authors, #4: Charlotte: "I have seized my Eve, my 'v'!"

5
Final Dispatch: "But if we are all dead, then there is certainly no rush . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "Mother Other was waiting in the hall when I emerged . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On Methods of Listening
Readings: The Analphabetical Choir
Letters to Dead Authors, #5: Hawthorne: "I stop by the dormitory at night to imagine the ghosts rushing in and out . . ."

6
Final Dispatch: "The road, the ravine, the fields, the . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "No, no, no, no, no! I said, listen with your mouth."
Readings: from The Principles of Necrophysics: A Report on Certain Curious Objects . . .
Letters to Dead Authors, #6: E. A. Poe: "A faint hissing-snow . . ."

7
Final Dispatch: "I had never seen a person looking the way she looked . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "She sweeps down the hall, her heavy skirts . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On Punishment; On Play
Letters to Dead Authors, #7: Brontë (Emily): "Doctor Beede tells me, one finger probing greedily . . ."

8
Final Dispatch: "I have just spent a summer in my mother's hand."
The Stenographer's Story: "I was lying in my bed, putting in a little extra practice."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On Play
Readings: Consuetudinary of the Word Church
Letters to Dead Authors, #8: Mary Shelley: "Intermediate Death Studies. The students bend their heads . . ."

9
Final Dispatch: "So I am back at the beginning of the chase."
The Stenographer's Story: "I swim up from sleep, frowning . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On Certain Objects in the Collection; On Articles of Dress; A Secret
Letters to Dead Authors, #9: Stoker: "My voice weakens. It seems to sink back . . ."

10
Final Dispatch: "This is how it happened."
The Stenographer's Story: "It is customary in telling stories from school . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On Articles of Dress
Readings: Early Dispatches from the Land of the Dead
Letters to Dead Authors, #10: Mina Harker: "Now it is my mother whose voice I seemed to hear."
11

Final Dispatch: "[Crackling] Where am I?"
The Stenographer's Story: "I have told how I gained a reputation as a necronaut . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: A Secret on the Patois of the Vocational School
Letters to Dead Authors, #11: Jephra: "I believe I addressed my last letter to a fictional character."

12
Final Dispatch: "[Static, three to four sentences indistinct] . . . thought it was a piano factory . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "The months passed, the years."
Readings: Documentarian of the Dead
Letters to Dead Authors, #12: Herman: "Something is going on in my school that I don't understand."

13
Final Dispatch: "I am down at the swampy verge of our lawn . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "The voice crackles, drops out, returns as pure sound . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On the Patois of the Vocational School
Readings: Report on a Cemetery
Letters to Dead Authors, #13: Ishmael: "I have grown gaunt-no one knows how gaunt . . ."

14
Final Dispatch: "Well, here we are again in my office. It looks real . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "There is an excellent private sanatorium in Pittsfield . . ."
Readings: from The Principles of Necrophysics: The Structure of the Necrocosmos
Letters to Dead Authors, #14: Jane E.: "I have had a disappointment."
15
Final Dispatch: "Do you hear it too? That low, cool, reasonable voice . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "The alarm, though we did not recognize it for what it was . . ."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On the Difficulty of My Task
Readings: from Interviews with the Dead: Or, Luncheon with a Spirit Medium
Letters to Dead Authors, #15: Jane: "At first my Theatrical Spectacle bid fair to be another disappointment . . ."

16
Final Dispatch: "I flew like a phoenix out of the fire, and like a phoenix I was reborn . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "The water went down, leaving the grass all slicked with mud."
Readings: from a Visitor's Observations: On the Difficulty of My Task; A Private Conversation
Letters to Dead Authors, #16: Bartleby: "The story may have already reached you . . ."

17
Final Dispatch: "The inspector set his hat on the spindly-legged occasional table . . ."
The Stenographer's Story: "Reader, she was dead."

Editor's Afterword

Appendix A: Last Will and Testament
Appendix B: Instructions for Saying a Sentence
Appendix C: Ectoplasmoglyphs #1-40