A satirical death admin workbook. For all the tedious yet important matters that will need addressing in the event of your death. From the big things all the way down to that final nail in the coffin.

Details: Illustrated and written by Michael Young. A6 / 28 pages Printed + digital Life Crumbs Publishing Read more over at: lifecrumbs.substack.com

The backstory:

This zine was inspired by an unusual email I received earlier this year from my wife (KB).

While talking face-to-face remains our primary method of communication - followed by speaking on the phone, and then texting - it’s not unusual that I might get the odd email. It was the name of the email however, and the attached Google doc, that caught my eye.

It read: Oops I Just Died.

I might have been more alarmed if it weren’t for the fact that KB was sitting across from me at the time. At this point we switched back to our primary communication method (talking) and she explained what it was all about. That it was a document to read in the event of her death, and it contained all the important information that I would need to be aware of, to ensure all administrative concerns related to her death would be made much smoother. Her reasoning for this was based on first-hand reports of how apparently it can sometimes be ‘an administrative nightmare when someone dies’.

Creating a document like this is very much a reasonable and smart thing to do, because my wife is a smart and reasonable person. At the same time though, I couldn’t help but find it funny. Possibly as a way of deflecting horrifying and uncomfortable thoughts, it was the phrase ‘administrative nightmare’ that got me. I imagined a scenario where - at the point of death, or even leading up to it - let’s say on a plane going down - that someone faced with their impending demise might cry out in panic ‘OH MY GOD, IT’S AN ADMINISTRATIVE NIGHTMARE! Tell my loved ones I borrowed an air fryer from Ruth and she’s expecting it back sometime over the weekend!’

KB saw the funny side of it too. Oh how we both laughed about death and admin!

In the months since I first received this email from my wife, I am still yet to read the document she sent me. I refuse to. Instead, as a way of dealing with all these confronting thoughts in the healthiest way possible, I’ve turned to humour and art (and also commerce). By all that I mean I’ve decided to make my own death admin zine, inspired by the same name.