Set in Karamea, New Zealand in a forest where the Undead walk
at night, desperate to tell their tales to the living, "Remembering the
Dead" is a blend of folklore and some of New Zealand's forgotten
pioneer history.
Lethe, a gravedigger in the employ of History, is sent to
Kithicor Forest to listen to the Undead and harvest their tongues and
stories. When Lethe arrives for the contract - back in her home town of
Karamea - she discovers she is being followed by a ghost of her own who
threatens to shatter her tenuous grasp on her own story.
Background
In
2003 Jordan was commissioned
by the New Zealand Arts Council to research New Zealand's pioneer
history. She was
sent to a place called Karamea, on the west coast of New Zealand's
south island. A town so remote it is still left off many
maps.
Karamea was one
of the earliest settlements,
organized under the "special" settlement scheme by Eugene Oconnor in
the 1870s. Families in the UK left their lives and relatives behind to
journey for 80 days by ship in the hope of a better life. Whey they
arrived in Nelson, there was no work for them, and a group of some 30
men were sent to Karamea, later to be joined by their families on
allotment land. The land had been mis-surveyed, and most of the land
was swamp and podzol, and therefore unfarmable. Surprisingly, the
settlement went ahead, but tales of hardship and courage were abundant.
As part of
Jordan's album project, she read through
old letters, interviewed direct decendents, and talked to the local
people about the stories that had been passed down to them. They ranged
from the folkloric to the factual, and from the unnerving to the
couragous. She focussed on a woman called Susannah Hawes for
the
album "How the Dead Live" but there were too many tales to let them go
to waste
or fit in one album.
In order to
preserve the tales Jordan unearthed, she decided to set them
inside a larger tale - a ghost story about a gravedigger, who goes to
Karamea in the employ of History, to harvest the tales of the
dead.
A
Forest where the Undead walk at night
"Remembering the
Dead" is set in a Kithicor forest - a place where the
undead walk at night, desperate to tell their tales to the living. The
undead are scared of being simply dead. The dead, as
we know, are forgotten so the undead, spurred on by their
fear, seek out the ears of the living - to give them hope that their
lives were for something and that they will be remembered.
Lethe, a
gravedigger in the employ of History, returns to her hometown
of Karamea. Her task is to gather the tales of the undead, at least,
those that seem to be of historical import. But a ghost of her own
begins to interfere - slipping through from her past in the places
where time is stretched thin. He is unhappy with the nature of her task
and wants her to know it.
Images from Karamea
Listen (Audio Book)
Associated Videos
Book, E-book or Audio
Audio Book + e-book:
Bandcamp.The
audio book download includes the full reading (over 10 hours) of audio
read by the author, a .mobi and a PDF of the book "Remembering the
Dead".
There
is also an audio + e-book + album (How the Dead Live) bundle available
at live shows only. These are hand painted by the Jordan, but sadly
their dimensions mean they are not postable.
Hard Copy
Bandcamp.Print copies of
the book are available via Bandcamp. Orders are
shipped by
Jordan, so you will
recieve a
personal note along with your order.
NB: Orders of the digital album "How the Dead Live" also come
with a PDF of the book "Remembering the Dead".
E-book:
Smashwords Barnes and Noble Bandcampwhen you download either the digital
version of "How the Dead Live", or the audio bundle of "Remembering the
Dead" you also get a copy of the e- book "Remembering the
Dead".
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