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Dead When We Met
Female Necrophilia!
A girl. Her neighbor. A skull named Frank. What could go wrong?
How could something Mona love cause her so much mental anguish? It wasn’t natural. That’s what she read. But it felt natural to her. The open arms, the willingness to take her every time. Never any violence, or putting his needs before hers. He would never break her heart. He would never make her feel uncomfortable. He would never reject her as she grew older and faded.
She would run just the tips of her fingers over fine cold bone wrapped in dry papery tissue. Inhaling sharply, a biting tang of chemical death. He wouldn’t move, just let her touch him, smell him. There was nothing else like it. Death was its own beast. One foot in this world, and one foot beyond. Nothing got Mona off like straddling that thin black line….
A girl. Her neighbor. A skull named Frank. What could go wrong?
How could something Mona love cause her so much mental anguish? It wasn’t natural. That’s what she read. But it felt natural to her. The open arms, the willingness to take her every time. Never any violence, or putting his needs before hers. He would never break her heart. He would never make her feel uncomfortable. He would never reject her as she grew older and faded.
She would run just the tips of her fingers over fine cold bone wrapped in dry papery tissue. Inhaling sharply, a biting tang of chemical death. He wouldn’t move, just let her touch him, smell him. There was nothing else like it. Death was its own beast. One foot in this world, and one foot beyond. Nothing got Mona off like straddling that thin black line….
55 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 3, 2020
1 person is currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Bedlam
92 books244 followersElizabeth Bedlam is a writer of satire, dark humor, and low-brow literary fiction. She has been featured in anthologies and zines that you've probably never heard of including Anti-This/Anti-That, Low Life, Horror Sleaze Trash, and Soiled Purity.
Her most-read works include Rabbit Skin Glue and Lucy the Satanist. She has been praised for her realistic depictions of neurotic females.
Elizabeth is a Michigan native. She currently lives and writes from Melbourne, AU.
Correspond!
Instagram: @elizabeth.bedlam or @swann.bedlam
Email: elizabethbedlam@gmail.com
Website: swannbedlam.com
Her most-read works include Rabbit Skin Glue and Lucy the Satanist. She has been praised for her realistic depictions of neurotic females.
Elizabeth is a Michigan native. She currently lives and writes from Melbourne, AU.
Correspond!
Instagram: @elizabeth.bedlam or @swann.bedlam
Email: elizabethbedlam@gmail.com
Website: swannbedlam.com
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 17, 2021
Female necrophilia...is it sexist of me that I never even considered it?
Shocking, I know...
Screw everybody who thought I would never give a love story 5 stars!
Shocking, I know...
Screw everybody who thought I would never give a love story 5 stars!
March 26, 2021
A troubled young lady is obsessed with both death and the dead. Her character study is very real and believable, despite unusual and grotesque habits. Elizabeth Bedlam is very capable when it comes to making you feel for her characters despite their flaws and oddities. This is a sad yet compulsively readable story of one woman's overwhelming obsessions and lifestyle. I always look forward to reading more by this author.
November 2, 2024
The Strong, Silent, Dead Type...
DEAD WHEN WE MET
by Elizabeth Bedlam
No spoilers. 4 stars. Mona, a young woman fresh from the hospital after a suicide attempt 2 years prior, is living with and caring for her Gran in Gran's 5 bedroom house...
Nights...
Once Gran is safely snoring in bed after downing her 2 beers and Snickers bar, Mona slips out of the house...
... and down to the mortuary on the nearby cemetery grounds... where she climbs atop the newly dead and has sex with them...
For the corpse...
Death is its own beast... one foot still in this world, one foot beyond. Once a man, then a lover, now a ghost, Mona likes to straddle the line...
But...
One night, while returning from a tryst at the mortuary, Mona is surprised by her weird neighbor Charles, who always wears a red cape and is into cutting himself...
... who succeeds in coercing her into sex with him in a mausoleum at the cemetery where, after the deed, he presents her with a human skull named Frank...
Trouble is...
... Charles' gift causes him to be left out in the cold by Mona because he has now been replaced by Frank...
Mona prefers the strong, silent, and dead type...
This was a fairly interesting story about a necrophiliac and I wavered between 3 1/2 and 4 stars, deciding to round up. The storyline is very similar to an excellent 1996 movie, KISSED, starring Molly Parker and Peter Outerbridge. In some ways, it reminded me of the excellent GRAVEYARD LOVE, a novella by Scott Alderberg.
If you liked this novella, you might also like THE NECROPHILIAC by Gabrielle Wittkop.
DEAD WHEN WE MET
by Elizabeth Bedlam
No spoilers. 4 stars. Mona, a young woman fresh from the hospital after a suicide attempt 2 years prior, is living with and caring for her Gran in Gran's 5 bedroom house...
Nights...
Once Gran is safely snoring in bed after downing her 2 beers and Snickers bar, Mona slips out of the house...
... and down to the mortuary on the nearby cemetery grounds... where she climbs atop the newly dead and has sex with them...
For the corpse...
Death is its own beast... one foot still in this world, one foot beyond. Once a man, then a lover, now a ghost, Mona likes to straddle the line...
But...
One night, while returning from a tryst at the mortuary, Mona is surprised by her weird neighbor Charles, who always wears a red cape and is into cutting himself...
... who succeeds in coercing her into sex with him in a mausoleum at the cemetery where, after the deed, he presents her with a human skull named Frank...
Trouble is...
... Charles' gift causes him to be left out in the cold by Mona because he has now been replaced by Frank...
Mona prefers the strong, silent, and dead type...
This was a fairly interesting story about a necrophiliac and I wavered between 3 1/2 and 4 stars, deciding to round up. The storyline is very similar to an excellent 1996 movie, KISSED, starring Molly Parker and Peter Outerbridge. In some ways, it reminded me of the excellent GRAVEYARD LOVE, a novella by Scott Alderberg.
If you liked this novella, you might also like THE NECROPHILIAC by Gabrielle Wittkop.
January 29, 2022
Loved it to Death!
I read this in one sitting, and absolutely loved it. I’m a sucker for a macabre love story, which is exactly what this was, ending with the ultimate sacrifice at the end. A ghoulish ménage a trois, and a happily ever after! Elizabeth Bedlam rocks!!
I read this in one sitting, and absolutely loved it. I’m a sucker for a macabre love story, which is exactly what this was, ending with the ultimate sacrifice at the end. A ghoulish ménage a trois, and a happily ever after! Elizabeth Bedlam rocks!!
February 24, 2023
Full disclosure: I read this book several days ago. I have become clinically smitten (i.e lustfully motivated, i.e. wishing to mollycoddle her feet with an entire bottle of Champaca White Essential Oil, i.e. wanting to tongue fence her cerebral mantle.) with the author and have been ceaselessly harassing her for used articles of clothing. She has taken this in good humor and has not issued a restraining order, which suggests to me that I have not exerted myself in a manner commensurate with my feelings. But, as with most things in my life, it is perhaps by the grace of my peripatetic attention that I am spared.
Occasionally, I hate humanity. Once, in a flight of adolescent angst, I almost got a tattoo which read “odium generis humani”. Such was the depth of my misanthropic pique that I planned to etch this above my entertainment district, presumably to offend (or puzzle the etymologically incurious) even those who had grew intimate enough to dock with me. I once, on a particularly bad day, called out to a boy (who had been rather impolite to someone on campus); “Fuck off. You’ve got a nose that could gut a pumpkin though a paling fence, asshole.” As he opened his mouth to marshal a counter offensive, I routed him by continuing: “Jesus Christ! How you managed to dodge a coat hanger for nine months is beyond me. Your birth certificate is an apology letter from the condom factory.”
All of this is to say, perhaps the motives of someone who chooses to snatch skulls from a musty crypt and vigorously buffs them with the brillo of her (Mona’s) hoo-hah until a luculent death-pearl emerges, is not so inscrutable to me. Furthermore, maybe there’s one particular skull (Frank’s) that catches her (Mona’s) fancy, is that really so hard to understand? Sometimes the hot blooded vicissitudes of mingling with the animated (i.e. Mona’s neighbor, who is a (somewhat endearing) cape wearing fruitcake with a terminal case of clinginess) is too much and you’d prefer something cold and still and quiet (disambiguation; to fuck a corpse, or a leering skull.) And if this is your cathartic weapon against depression, anxiety, inflation, little packs of ketchup, the brittle health and cognitive decline of your grandmother, or the pallid light cast upon the imago (i.e the, like, Jungian archetype of, like, the matriarch) of your mother by her viciously selfish ways, is it really so deplorable to get some stanky in a sarcophagus? To me, this is far more understandable than the coprophagic pariahs in the fetish community. (Rhetorical. I will brook no belletristic salvos from those enamored with the living about the moral decrepitude of shagging the decrepit, or the etiology of necrophilia!)
Anywhoooo. This book is written well. It’s not overwrought, and it’s not spartan. Occupying that perfect zone of being evocative while keeping the tale moving at a good clip. It’s a short book that packs a lot of emotional shrapnel into its slim dimensions. It is, as I think I’ve indicated, not a book for those who avoid fiction which makes them uncomfortable, but it is certainly for those who harbor any rotten venery impulses (you sick fucks, I see you.), and for those who want a quick, disturbing read about broken people and unconventional love.
Occasionally, I hate humanity. Once, in a flight of adolescent angst, I almost got a tattoo which read “odium generis humani”. Such was the depth of my misanthropic pique that I planned to etch this above my entertainment district, presumably to offend (or puzzle the etymologically incurious) even those who had grew intimate enough to dock with me. I once, on a particularly bad day, called out to a boy (who had been rather impolite to someone on campus); “Fuck off. You’ve got a nose that could gut a pumpkin though a paling fence, asshole.” As he opened his mouth to marshal a counter offensive, I routed him by continuing: “Jesus Christ! How you managed to dodge a coat hanger for nine months is beyond me. Your birth certificate is an apology letter from the condom factory.”
All of this is to say, perhaps the motives of someone who chooses to snatch skulls from a musty crypt and vigorously buffs them with the brillo of her (Mona’s) hoo-hah until a luculent death-pearl emerges, is not so inscrutable to me. Furthermore, maybe there’s one particular skull (Frank’s) that catches her (Mona’s) fancy, is that really so hard to understand? Sometimes the hot blooded vicissitudes of mingling with the animated (i.e. Mona’s neighbor, who is a (somewhat endearing) cape wearing fruitcake with a terminal case of clinginess) is too much and you’d prefer something cold and still and quiet (disambiguation; to fuck a corpse, or a leering skull.) And if this is your cathartic weapon against depression, anxiety, inflation, little packs of ketchup, the brittle health and cognitive decline of your grandmother, or the pallid light cast upon the imago (i.e the, like, Jungian archetype of, like, the matriarch) of your mother by her viciously selfish ways, is it really so deplorable to get some stanky in a sarcophagus? To me, this is far more understandable than the coprophagic pariahs in the fetish community. (Rhetorical. I will brook no belletristic salvos from those enamored with the living about the moral decrepitude of shagging the decrepit, or the etiology of necrophilia!)
Anywhoooo. This book is written well. It’s not overwrought, and it’s not spartan. Occupying that perfect zone of being evocative while keeping the tale moving at a good clip. It’s a short book that packs a lot of emotional shrapnel into its slim dimensions. It is, as I think I’ve indicated, not a book for those who avoid fiction which makes them uncomfortable, but it is certainly for those who harbor any rotten venery impulses (you sick fucks, I see you.), and for those who want a quick, disturbing read about broken people and unconventional love.
February 28, 2022
Damn, she is hard to please. 😆
The main character in this story is Mona. A necrophiliac who can only climax when she's grinding on the skull of, Frank.
It's a macabre and twisted love story.
The ending was predictable but I still had fun with this one and I'm looking forward to checking out more of this authors work.
The main character in this story is Mona. A necrophiliac who can only climax when she's grinding on the skull of, Frank.
It's a macabre and twisted love story.
The ending was predictable but I still had fun with this one and I'm looking forward to checking out more of this authors work.
November 22, 2023
‘Pure Bedlam!’
‘Dead When We Met’ is a wonderful piece of transgressive fiction that invites the reader to taste the inner delights of true romance, but with a difference.
Mona, Charles and Frank have their own set of individual problems, but when suddenly pushed together a thing of pleasurable beauty might be created, and which may just last for all eternity.
Dark and disturbing in so many ways but, in typical Bedlam fashion, a unique and twisted tale that simply captivates, whilst cleverly pushing the boundaries of acceptability to a completely different level.
Not for everyone, but with an open mind, a super, macabre little fantasy that will linger long in the memory.
Enjoyed it enormously - one of EB’s best!
Rating: 4.6 weirdly delightful death-obsessed stars from a world unfamiliar.
‘Dead When We Met’ is a wonderful piece of transgressive fiction that invites the reader to taste the inner delights of true romance, but with a difference.
Mona, Charles and Frank have their own set of individual problems, but when suddenly pushed together a thing of pleasurable beauty might be created, and which may just last for all eternity.
Dark and disturbing in so many ways but, in typical Bedlam fashion, a unique and twisted tale that simply captivates, whilst cleverly pushing the boundaries of acceptability to a completely different level.
Not for everyone, but with an open mind, a super, macabre little fantasy that will linger long in the memory.
Enjoyed it enormously - one of EB’s best!
Rating: 4.6 weirdly delightful death-obsessed stars from a world unfamiliar.
December 20, 2020
Ugh God this book reminded me of being in high school and having boys ask me out. So good. The alienation of Bedlam protagonists is always so mind-blowingly organic, it's just amazing.
May 27, 2021
One of the most twisted stories I've read. A macabre love story that has a happy ending. Can't wait to read more by this author.
January 16, 2021
Another one from Elizabeth Bedlam that I really enjoyed. While the stories are always well thought out and interesting, it's the characters that appeal to me most in this authors works. While they typically have some over the top "quirks" they are at the same time relatable and reflective of the average person you may pass on the street or share a property line with. That's the true horror, when you realize most monsters in this world are quite similar to you and I.
May 11, 2021
Dead!!!
I really enjoyed this one and I loved the cover. It was a quick read but didn't feel lacking.. This is my favourite by this author so far.
I really enjoyed this one and I loved the cover. It was a quick read but didn't feel lacking.. This is my favourite by this author so far.
April 25, 2022
Don’t judge a character by her fetish!
The perfect love story with the happiest of endings. 🥰
The perfect love story with the happiest of endings. 🥰
November 2, 2024
This book was dumb.
March 25, 2023
Really enjoyed this morbid quirky tale. Had a kind of poetic vibe to it, but also nice and graphic when it needed to be.
November 2, 2024
Despite the subject matter, the character development was done well.
August 10, 2023
I didn't want to love this book, but it won me over. It's SO FUNNY.
April 6, 2021
Elizabeth definitely knows how to tie in emotion, manic, ocd and crazy thoughts as her characters develop. She really has a draw to bring you into these types sets. I did enjoy the quick read, but unfortunately, when Frank arrived it got cheezy for me.
October 11, 2021
Maybe I’m a psycho but I thought this was very romantic.
October 5, 2024
Good horror ideas. Rating mostly due to quality of the writing and story telling.
May 13, 2022
If Jean-Paul Sartre said Hell is other people, then Elizabeth Bedlam tops him with Heaven is other DEAD people.
Dead When Me Met had a downbeat Herschel Gordon Lewis vibe about Mona, the black sheep of her family, reduced to caring for her dementia-stricken grandmother who only wants to watch game shows while sucking an endless supply of suds. While Gran's passed out cold after too many frosties our heroine skips over to the local cemetery for some quality time with newly dead and the crypt-bound stiffs.
She finally has sex with her slacker neighbor on the condition he plays dead, and then he gets all clingy, which corpses aren't supposed to do. I mean, they're corpses, what have they got to cling to? There's also a skull which Mona employs as a surrogate dildo. Some of these sections were pretty sexy, an admission I'm almost guilty of confessing to. Almost.
I almost gave this one four stars because Bedlam ends the novel pretty early. I could have seen this one go on for awhile and have Mona find a few dudes to murder and then fuck while they're rigoring, but maybe I'm being clingy. Yuck.
Dead When Me Met had a downbeat Herschel Gordon Lewis vibe about Mona, the black sheep of her family, reduced to caring for her dementia-stricken grandmother who only wants to watch game shows while sucking an endless supply of suds. While Gran's passed out cold after too many frosties our heroine skips over to the local cemetery for some quality time with newly dead and the crypt-bound stiffs.
She finally has sex with her slacker neighbor on the condition he plays dead, and then he gets all clingy, which corpses aren't supposed to do. I mean, they're corpses, what have they got to cling to? There's also a skull which Mona employs as a surrogate dildo. Some of these sections were pretty sexy, an admission I'm almost guilty of confessing to. Almost.
I almost gave this one four stars because Bedlam ends the novel pretty early. I could have seen this one go on for awhile and have Mona find a few dudes to murder and then fuck while they're rigoring, but maybe I'm being clingy. Yuck.
March 23, 2022
Morbid and icky but that's what I went into wanting so it was good!
December 7, 2022
This was like a less cringey, but also less funny Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison. I noticed the reference to that book too, no doubt it being an inspiration for this.
November 2, 2024
Please, proofread your books before publishing them. And edit them. This book was so bad, I don't even know where to begin.
December 29, 2022
This was a short and decent little read. I found it fairly predictable, but the main character was well thought out. Dead When We Met is a gross, extreme, little, love(?) story that packs a punch.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews