Death is a Many-Splendored Thing

by David Neilsen

The world would be a lot better off if all the dead people would stop pretending they weren’t dead. My name is Zachariah Thornwood, but everyone, even my parents, calls me Zack. A few months ago I was a normal fourteen year old kid obsessed with movies and baseball and girls. Not necessarily in that order. And now? Now I live life with the knowledge that there are a ton of dead people running around thumbing their noses at the whole idea of the Circle of Life. They could be the postman, the Mayor, the kid bagging your groceries, or the weather woman on TV. They seem perfectly normal, act perfectly normal, live perfectly normal lives, but are, in fact, perfectly dead...

181 pages, Paperback

Published May 23, 2022

About the author

David Neilsen is a classically trained actor and professional storyteller from Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow who has performed all over New York City, Westchester County, and the Hudson Valley. Specializing in traumatizing children for life during the Halloween season, he has performed in such locations as the New York Botanical Gardens, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in addition to warping minds at various schools and birthday parties. He has also created a number of one-man shows based on the works of author H.P. Lovecraft, as well as an educational show based on the life of Revolution-era British Spy, Major John Andre.

His debut Middle Grade novel, Doctor Fell and the Playground of Doom--published by Crown Books for Young Readrs in 2016--was named an Editor’s Pick by Amazon and was a Semifinalist for Best Middle Grade / Chidlren’s Book in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards. His second book, Beyond the Doors, will be published in August, 2017.

Learn more about David on his website. https://david-neilsen.com/