Get Ahead of Being Dead

‘Not only practical, it’s also somehow a great meditation on death. Telling me all sorts of practical stuff in a way I can bear to read. More than bear, I loved it.’ * Philippa Perry *
‘I’ve never laughed so much at something so bleak and so useful’ * Alistair Green *
‘With a prose style that holds your hand and offers inappropriate jokes when you need them, Evie King makes an excellent case for sorting your life out by sorting your death out first. A serious, funny, necessary book for those of us still this side of the daisies.’ * Alan Moore *
‘And in the event that Evie is still publishing after my own death. Speaking as a dead person, can I just say, authoritatively, that Evie King was right about everything and I really wish I’d listened to her?’ * Advanced quote from the deceased Alan Moore *
‘Exceptionally and universally useful and exactly what the world needs right now’ * Lucy Easthope *
Evie’s written plenty of excellent Top Tips for us over the years. But we’re not getting any younger; Wagon Wheels were bigger in our day, these youngsters do mumble, and the currency’s starting to look very fiddly. It’s about time someone wrote a book of Top Tips for Death to keep us on the straight and narrow as we gallop towards our increasingly imminent demise.’ * VIZ *
‘King acts as a warm, wise, and witty psychopomp, gently guiding readers through the often overwhelming business of planning for your own death. With real-life stories and practical tips she turns end-of-life admin into something profoundly life-affirming.’ * Sarah Chavez, Executive Director, Order of the Good Death *

Evie King does not exist, but the person who plays her is a council worker and writer. A former stand-up comedian, she has always written short-form pieces in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment Is Free, BBC Comedy, and Viz.

After moving to the seaside and going part-time, she had more time for writing and in 2023 completed her first book, Ashes to Admin, about her job arranging council funerals. It sold over 10,000 copies, was selected by Stewart Lee for the London Review of Books one hundred books for the next twenty years collection, and won the 2025 ASDS (Association for the Study of Death & Society) Award for outstanding and original books in the field of death studies.

She also contributed to the book Words to Live and Die By, a series of death haikus compiled by the acute palliative care team at Warwick Hospital. She is an ambassador for missing persons and cold-case charity Locate International and heads the UK training programme for council funeral workers.

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