You Are Not Dead, Yet.
John Parker Dilworth
For information about this book or to purchase prints or right to any artwork please contact me via post:
John Dilworth
Knotwork Industries, LLC
2847 Melanie Lane
Ogden UT, 84403
All artwork, copy and book design by John Parker Dilworth
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
ISBN: 9798305521245 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9798306926889 (paperback)
This work contains a combination of fictional narratives and references to real historical figures. Stories with a note (†) are based on or reference real individuals. While efforts have been made to accurately represent historical facts where real people are concerned, some artistic liberties may have been taken for narrative purposes.
The stories, art, and commentary about real persons are based on public domain information and historical records. This work is not intended to cause distress to any living relatives or associates of the real individuals mentioned. Any resemblance to other persons, living or dead, in the fictional stories is entirely coincidental.
It is not death that a man should fear,
but he should fear never beginning
to live.
—Marcus Aurelius
Within these pages, each skull tells a story about mortality—some tales are tragic, others absurd, but all remind us of the strange ways our paths might end.
There are lessons to take to heart, but mostly I hope you smile at these skeletal portraits and their brief tales.
After all, you're not dead yet.
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Randy Jacobsen was a robot who wandered into an Amish village.
The community embraced him when he chose to live without technology, though no one knew his origins.
He became beloved, easing their burdens through his protection, labor, and service to many generations of Amish families before his batteries failed.
Randy is dead.
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Darlene Batista was obsessed with fashion.
She bought designer glasses purely for style, though her vision was perfect.
Over time, she developed a psychological dependency on this imaginary disability.
When she removed her glasses, she became blind despite having perfect eyes.
The final years of her life were spent in complete darkness after losing her favorite frames.
Darlene is dead.
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Stephan Shultz loved wandering through rural thrift and antique stores.
On one visit, he discovered a fez, once worn proudly by members of a fraternal brotherhood.
He cherished this symbol of community, yet wore it only in complete solitude and avoided human contact almost completely the rest of his life.
Stephan is dead.
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Harold Sloan was a sci-fi enthusiast.
He spent his life dreaming of UFOs, space travel, and first contact with alien life.
One night, strange lights appeared above his home. Pets vanished, and several neighbors captured stunning evidence in photos and videos.
Harold slept through it all and accused his neighbors of staging a hoax.
He died haunted by doubts about that night, having pushed away the only people who had witnessed what he’d always sought.
Harold is dead.
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William Laurence was an accountant and part time entertainer as a circus clown.
He performed at birthday parties, on the street, and in the subway. He wanted to restore honor to clowns and rid them of their creepy reputation.
After repeated complaints and criminal charges he was legally forbidden to dress as a clown.
When he died many years later, he was buried in his clown costume and makeup.
William is dead.
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Charlie Turner was obsessed with the smallest, most insignificant details.
His friends nicknamed him "The Details" for his relentless quest for perfection.
His obsession strained relationships with everyone he loved, even his own family.
His family had "The devil is in the details" inscribed on his tombstone, with his name deliberately misspelled.
Charley is dead.
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H-1245 was among the first humanoid robots, designated only by a number and the prefix “H” for “Human.”
Its software was designed to mirror human consciousness while exceeding human physical and mental capabilities.
When a child pointed out that H-1245’s name was missing the number “3”, the robot encountered an irreconcilable error and failed to recover.
H-1245 is dead.
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Billy Williamson survived three tours as a soldier in the Vietnam war.
Back home, he tried every hat made to shade him while farming his Texas land.
He spent years avoiding the most effective sun hat he knew, due to prejudices that haunted him from the war.
In his final years, he found unexpected peace wearing the same nón lá that had once triggered his wartime fears.
Billy is dead.
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Mike Callahan was always in trouble.
He had been in and out of jail for crimes both large and small, and carried a fearsome reputation in his neighborhood.
Despite his hardened exterior, he fiercely protected his family and friends.
He died from serious burns sustained after rushing to save an elderly woman’s kittens from a burning building.
Mike is dead.
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Yosef Malouf loved surrealist art and often tried to mimic and incorporate surrealist and dada themes into his interactions with others.
For instance, whenever he met someone new he would pull out his pipe, light it and boldly declare that his pipe was “not a pipe,” echoing the famous painting by René Magritte.
Yet, as far as anyone could tell, his pipe was very real—but during his whole life, he would not let anyone else touch or inspect it.
Yosef is dead.
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Matt Wagner was the groundskeeper at the local cemetery.
Known for his dark humor, Matt once dressed as the Grim Reaper—scythe in hand—to trim the grass around gravestones.
A visitor was startled by his appearance and suffered a heart attack, leading to Matt’s dismissal.
Matt lost his job at the cemetery, but continued to wear the reaper outfit his whole life when mowing the lawn of his own home.
Matt is dead.
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Norman Parker was a paleontologist.
He spent endless days under the Wyoming sun, unearthing fossils worth millions for his employer.
When he discovered a complete T-Rex skeleton, he secretly excavated it at night and illegally sold it to a Mexican drug lord.
Norman was later caught in a sting operation and found dead days later in a holding cell before being able to testify.
Norman is dead.
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Anna Pinkerton was obsessed with mythological creatures, particularly vampires.
She transformed herself by sharpening her teeth, bleaching her skin, and legally changing her name to "Annasferatu," after the 1922 horror film.
Her family honored her wishes with a gothic funeral in a dark cathedral, but the coffin lay empty.
Annasferatu is dead.
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Evan Dorwall was a transhumanist who despised his human limitations.
Over many years he systematically replaced his organic body with mechanical parts, seeking to transcend his humanity.
Each surgery let him less capable and diminished his mental faculties until, more machine than man, he was simply switched off.
Evan is dead.
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Bill Retchford’s daughter dreamed about unicorns.
She collected unicorn toys and pictures.
During one of his travels, Bill purchased an authentic unicorn horn from an oddities shop for his daughter.
The horn was confiscated at the airport along with other illegal items in Bill’s luggage.
Bill was convicted and imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Bill is dead.
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Pierre Gaudé was an artist.
He always painted wearing a beret, believing it channeled creative powers into his work.
Many believed that he was superstitious and mocked him for his stereotypical look.
When not wearing his magical cap, he was never satisfied with the results, and left many paintings unfinished.
After his death, his most sought after paintings were the ones that he considered unfinished.
Pierre is dead.
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Dr. Patricia Wells was a renowned neuroscientist who studied prehistoric intelligence.
Her seminal work showed how the Brontosaurus’s tiny brain and limited cognitive capacity may have contributed to its extinction.
Despite her expertise in brain evolution and advanced degrees, she died backing off a cliff while attempting to capture the perfect Instagram selfie.
Patricia is dead.
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Albert Jones was an extreme athlete.
He gained lucrative sponsorships by performing daring stunts while endorsing sugar sodas with high caffeine content.
His stunts grew more risky, he was less fearful and more careless, often refusing to wear helmets or protective pads.
Though never hurt during any stunts, he slipped on ice in his driveway, fracturing his skull.
Albert is dead.
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Alan Brown was a robot who wished that he could become human.
He could sleep, eat, think, and even feel joy, surpassing all robotic limitations except two.
Unable to experience pain or death, he chose permanent deactivation in pursuit of mortality's ultimate gift.
Alan “The Cyberman” is dead.
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Carolyn Friedman was terrified of cats.
She sought help from a psychologist to overcome her fear.
In their sessions, they discovered they shared the same phobia and found comfort in their mutual dread of felines.
She continued these sessions for the rest of her life, never curing her ailurophobia but both were content in their ongoing arrangement.
Carolyn is dead.
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Chad Murphy was teased relentlessly for his short stature and pointed, elf-like ears.
Throughout his youth, he tried to hide his ears by wearing hats, trying to mask what made him different.
He spent his final twenty years as the town's beloved Santa, his once-mocked features bringing joy to generations of children.
Chad is dead.
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Zhang Ruifang lived a quiet life until age 101, when horns began growing symmetrically from her forehead.
Doctors offered to remove them, but she refused, preferring to keep these unusual growths.
While villagers whispered of demons, the cheerful great-grandmother spent her final years receiving curious visitors who brought gifts and took photos of her remarkable condition.
Zhang is dead.
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Nick Peters was a naturally gifted athlete who excelled at every sport.
Despite his talents, he had deep insecurities about his personal image.
He wore his baseball cap backwards and spent hours at the gym, desperately chasing an image of coolness he saw in social media influencers.
His secret steroid use built muscle while quietly weakening his heart.
Nick is dead.
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Franklin Jessup was a farmer.
He cultivated a thousand acres in southern Idaho using the most advanced agricultural technology available.
One year, his crops were destroyed when a government agency accidentally spread a deadly herbicide across the entire state.
He spent his final years in assisted living, watching TV reruns and cursing the government with fellow residents.
Franklin is dead.
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James Miller had a beautiful mountain property with elegant landscaping.
To protect his property, he surrounded it with a wrought iron fence with ornamental spikes that often impaled deer as they navigated ancient migration routes.
The fence claimed its final victim when he attempted to remove a carcass from the elegant spikes.
James is dead.
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A large herd of Bighorn sheep had been thriving on a remote island.
Entrepreneurs bought a nearby island and imported exotic animals in order to create a private game hunting reserve.
When drought created a land bridge between the islands, their imported game spread a virus that decimated the bighorns.
200 bighorns are dead.
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George Hensley was a spiritual giant.
He founded a new form of worship in the Appalachian mountains.
He preached that true believers could handle venomous snakes without harm, proving their faith through dangerous ceremony.
After surviving countless snakebites over forty years, he was fatally struck during his final sermon.
George is dead.
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Melanie Parker was born with a skull shaped like the ancient Paracas mummies of Peru.
She spent decades feeling ashamed of her unique appearance, enduring endless ridicule.
On her fifty-second birthday, a History Channel documentary finally explained her extraterrestrial heritage.
She lived the rest of her life waiting for her alien ancestors to take her home.
Melanie is dead.
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Patricia Winters was terrified of airborne infections.
She wore multiple masks at all times, even during video calls with work and family.
Years of hiding behind masks left her completely isolated, unseen and unknown by anyone.
She died alone in her apartment, discovered only after neighbors noticed the silence—her cause of death listed simply as loneliness.
Patricia is dead.
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Edward Montfort became king at fourteen, inheriting both a throne and his people's hatred.
Despite his kindness and the fair treatment of his people, the masses despised what his crown represented.
A violent political revolution claimed his life and ushered in a regime far more tyrannical than his benevolent rule.
Edward is dead.
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Elvis Presley ruled rock and roll with his voice, hips, and charisma.
His fame grew so suffocating that some believed he orchestrated his own death so that he could disappear from the public spotlight.
While devoted fans claim he's hiding in plain sight, the King would be nearly 90 years old as of the publishing of this book.
Elvis is probably dead.
Artist’s Notes
The origins of this project came during a family trip to Mexico. I was fascinated by relief carvings of skulls on Mayan ruins and how small variations in a repeated motif create interest and variety.
This series is most definitely inspired by Mexican art, especially that of José Guadalupe Posada, the famous printmaker known for his use of skulls in his political art and prints.
In October 2018, as a creative exercise, I began drawing a skull each day, making small changes and adding elements to personalize each drawing.
What started as simple outlines evolved into unique characters, each with its own story to tell. After completing nearly 100 drawings, I transformed select pieces into linocut prints.
This collection pairs these prints with short stories about death - some funny, some tragic, all reflecting on mortality through an artistic lens.
The stories are written using “kishotenketsu” storytelling structure, chosen for its simplicity and ability to present a thoughtful narrative and twist in each of these short stories.
I’m new to printmaking and my technique is imperfect. I’m sharing them in hopes that they might inspire others to create something better.
Acknowledgements
Creative projects take time and energy and would be impossible without the support and enthusiasm of my friends and family.
My wife Kathi, and my children Klaire and Paxton are the best. They entertain and encourage my many creative diversions and hobbies. I hope they never feel too old to make things and explore childish or seemingly futile ideas.
My parents Kenneth and Willa Rae always encouraged us to be creative and to explore our ideas. My dad loved to paint and loves to tell stories and never seems to run out of new stories to tell. My mother always finds a way to connect my random ideas to something meaningful or spiritual. The many lessons I learned from them make all my projects better and more interesting.
Many thanks must also go out to my friends and colleagues who at least seem momentarily entertained by my projects and who inspire me with their own creativity, energy and passions.
—John
If you enjoyed the artwork and stories in this book, consider purchasing additional copies of this book for your friends and family.
Signed and numbered original prints, t-shirts and other skull merchandise will also be made available from my website.
https://notdead.johndilworth.com
Thank you.