Taphophilia - an affliction found in graveyards.

Do you suffer from TAPHOPHILIA? 

I know I do. I caught it from my Dad when I was a young child.

Perhaps you have also been struck down by it. Don't know, then ask yourself:

“Do you love to roam through cemeteries when you're on holiday? If so, there's a word for what you've got: "taphophilia", a love of graves and the rituals of death.

Taphophiles, also known as "gravers", are the people who pore over epitaphs, gravestones and the history of the dead.” ***

For historians and family history researchers, epitaphs on graves read like a map to the past – connecting people, places and events. Often they tell of grief and loss, but also of emigration, incarceration, trauma and tragedy.

A few weeks ago, I wandered through the graveyard on Norfolk Island. This consecrated ground captures the history of First Fleeters, officers and guards responsible for the lives and deaths of convicts sentenced to the most diabolical penal settlement in Australia. 

The graves also recognise generation of descendants of the mutinous crew of HMS Bounty who despatched Captain Bligh to the Pacific Ocean in an open boat over 200 years ago.

Unfortunately, the main problem with "taphophilia" is that once the bug gets into your blood stream there is no cure.

*** by Fiona Pepper and Claudette Werden for ‘Blueprint for Living’ (ABC).

My Writing Journey - an author's inspiration stirred by the sea

When my life was turned upside down in the 90s, I decided there were certain things I wanted to do – one was to sail on a tall ship and the other to write a book.

Living in Western Australia, my first experience of sailing was a twelve day voyage on a barquentine in the Indian Ocean. During bow watch one night, I witnessed the sea’s magic, and was hooked.

On the deck of STS Leeuwin off the Monte Bello Islands.

That experience and the feelings that accompanied it inspired me to write my first book. I titled the story: ILLUSIVE DIAMONDS after the bio-luminescent particles in the sea that had amazed me. However, the London publishing house that bought the production rights did not like the working title and asked me to change it. Hence I called the novel SEA DUST. That was 2005.

Margaret Muir/M.C.Muir 

From there, I wrote four other historical fiction stories for them, targeting a female readership and the first of the nautical fiction series featuring Captain Oliver Quintrell. But, as the publisher and I did not see eye to eye on the latter’s publication, I withdrew from the traditional route and turned to self publishing. I have never looked back.

A few years ago, I combined three of my early novels in a Box Set entitled:  YORKSHIRE GRIT and was delighted to see my stories reach best seller status on Amazon for a short time. 

Recently I have concentrated on nautical fiction, writing under the by-line M.C. Muir and targeting a male readership. 

The UNDER ADMIRALTY ORDERS SERIES has become very popular.

All my titles are available on Amazon as e-books and paperbacks.

For anyone interested, SEA DUST is FREE on Amazon for the next few days.

Pics: STS Leeuwin ll and yours truly aboard  Leeuwin off the Monte Bello Islands.