Cemeteries GUEST POST by Rae Hachton

I have a strange fascination with cemeteries. I was hanging out in one late March 2011, sitting in a swing, when the concept for Pretty in Black first came to me. I visit cemeteries quite often. I go there to relax because I find them peaceful. Sometimes I take photographs or do stone rubbings.

One of the main things I love about Savannah, Georgia would definitely be the Cemetery/Ghost tours and getting to ride in an old hearse. This city is home to me.

And anywhere I travel, I will most likely visit the cemeteries there, before I leave.

I like to see if I can spot any cemetery ravens/crows. And I prefer older cemeteries, like The Secret Garden from Pretty in Black.

Some Facts about my fascination with Cemeteries:

• I read poetry to the sleeping sometimes.
• I bought some perfume and hair care products from AntiSally at GothRosary: The names of the products? Graveyard and Funeral Flowers, and it smells really good.
• I know the difference between a Cemetery and a Graveyard: A Graveyard is usually owned by/connected to a church; A cemetery was created for a burial ground specifically for the dead
• I know the difference between a Coffin, a Casket, and a Sarcophagus: Coffins and Caskets have a completely different shape: A Casket is just rectangular. A coffin has six sides, tapers down at the toes. and is traditionally made of wood. A Sarcophagus is made of stone and has inscriptions, sculpture and is displayed as a monument.
• I study the different burial customs of other regions. For example, in Tibet, there is no funeral with a casket. They have this intricate ceremony called Sky Burial where the human corpse is incised in certain areas, sprinkled with spice and placed on a mountain top where vultures sweep down and eat the pieces.
• I have a collection of cemetery grave rubbings and photographs that I have made
• Hospitals give me anxiety; if I ever became extremely sick, I would rather be placed in a cemetery to try and get better than in a sterile hospital that echoes lost hope. There'd be no way I could get better there. Because of this, I avoid hospitals and going to the doctor, unless I totally have to, and that's only if I'm cut open and bleeding. Otherwise, I stick with holistic healing, mediation and herbal medicine to stay healthy.

More or less, I find cemeteries to be beautiful: the way they look, feel, and smell. Anyone reading this may find that creepy, odd, strange, etc, or maybe not. But it's true. Some people like to avoid the thought of Death, but it's a natural part of life that I embrace on a daily basis. And because of this, I love every moment of life fully and intensely.
 
About the Author:
Rae  Hachton [pronounced H-ton] is the nom de plume of author Desirae
        Hennington. She is the Indie Author of the Gothic Romance series
        Pretty in Black. She is twenty-three years old and lives
        with her Muse and her Ghost. When she is not composing new
        novels, she is working on her cinematography studies, and
        devouring YA books. Her favorite band is The Raveonettes, and
        she is a major fan of Edgar Allan Poe and Ravens and Crows.
        Although she is writing Gothic Fiction at the moment, her
        favorite genre of all time is Contemporary YA. Favorite
        contemporary book: tie between Forever by Judy Blume and
        the Summer I turned Pretty series by Jenny Han.
        Favorite author: David Levithan. If Rae Hachton wasn't writing,
        she'd give it one last shot at being kewl, and probably start a
        band.

  About Pretty in Black:

Some Things are Pretty. Some Things are Black. Love is both.

[Ellie Piper]
She wanted to die. He arose from the grave. He was sent to kill her. She was trained to kill those of his kind. But fate had other plans. He searched for 119 years to find her. & There's no way in hell he's letting her go. Dead or Alive. They're fated.

[Marcus Marble]
How far would you go to be with the one you love? Would you die for her? Would you kill for her? What if the only reason you're still alive is because of her? What if the reason you came back from the dead, was to be with her? But what if your job was to kill her, but you fell in love instead? And now you're being hunted by your own kind?

Destroy? Or be Destroyed?