DANCE FOR THE DEAD will be available for sale at the March 18 launch at Drifters Cafe & Bar in Bandra. Join me there at 12 pm for fantastic beer (I dig their IPA) and food. And support my launch by taking home a limited edition print!

The inspiration for the name of this piece came to me after reading the fascinating non-fiction book, The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name. Apart from the claims made in the book (of which there were several and all equally groundbreaking when the research catches up to the sciences involved), what struck me was humanity's ritualistic fascination with deceased relatives and ancestors. Much of this fascination can be said to be quite "dead" in modern times, at least in the West. The other part of the equation, which dates back to the origins of the Agricultural Revolution more than 10 thousand years ago, had to do with the invention of beer, which likely predates the invention of yeast for making bread. To top it off, how spiked versions of this early beer and later wine became the way to celebrate and communicate with the dead during rituals. My takeaway from this read is that there's more to humanity than meets the eye and certainly more to the history of the Eucharist. Dance for the Dead pays homage to these early mysteries brought to light over the past few decades.