Question: How do you get over it? Answer: You don't. You don't want to. It makes you who you are. Sean Murphy lost his mother days after her fifty-ninth birthday, following a five-year battle with cancer. In this eloquent memoir, he explores his family history through the context of grief, compassion, faith, and the cultivation of an artistic sensibility. Unfolding in a range of voices, brutal and tender in its portrayal of terminal illness, Please Talk about Me When I'm Gone is an unyielding love story, in which devotion and memory are capable of transcending death. I will be serializing this memoir with a new chapter twice a week, on Friday and Sunday.

It's been two weeks. Only 14 days since they took over, and already, things have gone from good, to horrible. They told us that they came here to make things better. They tricked us into thinking they would help us, but their idea of help is more like an idea of hell on earth. It started off with just a few sacrifices, but it soon led to something much worse than one or two deaths. Hundreds of people have been killed in unimaginable ways that you would never have thought the human heart would have enough courage to do. But these people, they seem different. At some points it feels like they aren't human at all. They seem more like a bad disease that's purpose is to kill us all off one by one. They call themselves Force 9 and they say their goal is to make the world a better place. Well I call myself Emma Skymore, and my goal is to stop them before they destroy life as we know it. -September 28, 2077

Max, diagnosed with anorexic and bulimic tendencies, is just beyond excited to finally leave the clutches of his overbearing, overly religious mother and her hateful ways; however, Max isn't given any time to rejoice in his new freedom because he has done little more than trade one prison for another. "Welcome to the Trenton Live-in Clinic," she says, but to Max, he hears, "Welcome to The Skinny Boy House where the skinny boys tell their tales." Within the walls of the clinic, Max finds himself placed in the middle of a group of boys who all share a similar story. Only time will tell if Max will be able to work toward becoming healthy and possibly find love and acceptance; however, with a darkness constantly looming overhead, the threat of succumbing to his illness and losing the battle over his life is all too real.