Forget Cremation~~New Author Suggests Freeze-Drying Dead Loved Ones~~Taxidermy Style

Why is it acceptable to have our deceased animals preserved for display, but not our loved ones? Author Joy Lee Rutter asked this very question before writing her first book ‘A Disturbing Presence.

Although fiction, with light horror, lots of humor, and mystery, it still raises the question: If we are willing to have an urn containing the ashes why not display their embalmed remains sitting in their favorite chair for eternity. An urn, sitting on the mantle with ashes and small bits of crushed bone seems a tad macabre, when you really think about it. What is the sentimentality in this strange practice?

A Disturbing Presence Synopsis:

A Disturbing Presence is a touch of horror, mystery, and dark comedy, all rolled up in one. The man sat majestically in the antique chair, his green piercing eyes, staring into a void. His hideous grimace mocked her, the expressionless resin-coated mask, revealing nothing about the man, or his life. Why had he become indifferent after their first year of marriage? What were the motives behind his bizarre death wish? While the house pets wreaked havoc against the lifeless form of Eric McDuggal, his widow remained in a self-imposed limbo, reluctant to find the answers. The disturbing presence of her embalmed husband caused Leanna McDuggals life to collapse into nightmares, apathy and detachment from her best friend. An unlikely friendship between the taxidermist and the widow developed; little did they know that his probing into McDuggals background would lead to the discovery of a shocking childhood trauma, never revealed until after his death…

Author Bio:

Joy Lee Rutter moved to New Hampshire from Florida in September of 1996. During her adjustment period to a new environment, she began keeping a journal on her very first evening in Ossipee. Eventually, it led her into tongue-in-cheek" humor essays and the rest is history. She could not stop writing. Many of her essays have appeared on her websites.
After acclimatizing to the severe changes in seasons, she began kayaking in the summer and snowshoeing in the winter; writing has been an on again, off again passion.    
Non-fiction being her preference, a novel was never in her plans. However, she began A Disturbing Presence on an impulse. She wondered, ‘What would happen if a person was preserved or freeze-dried and then returned to his home after death? How would this affect his next-of-kin? Joy Lee wrote the book with humor, sensitivity, emotion, and of course, the unexpected revelation at the end.
Her day job as a Rehabilitation Specialist in a traumatic brain injury facility is the basis for her next book, already 26,000 words strong. Besides her job, her writing, and promoting her second book, Joy Lee keeps busy with her husband, two teenage sons, and her cat Mugzi.

Title: A Disturbing Presence
Author: Joy Rutter
Publication Date: July 2003
Publisher: PublishAmerica, Incorporated
ISBN: 1-4137-0113-2
Item Status: Active Record
Binding Format: Soft Cover
Pages: 232
Price: $19.95 Retail (Publisher)