On this page, you will find links to published excerpts from my book-length manuscript “The Living Dead Woman Sonnets,” which examines the uncanny nature of identity in the Age of AI.
This hybrid-genre project revolves around an anachronistic figure who encounters various historical and cultural figures within a liminal, digital environment. These real and fictional figures include Ada Lovelace, Lizzie Siddal, Dora (aka Ida Bauer), the Yde Girl of Sifveen Bog, Bridget Cleary, Ophelia, Nosferatu, and others. In other poems, the titular character engages with folkloric and gothic forms of popular culture, such as American Horror Story and CSI.
My experience with teaching digital storytelling has contributed to my interest in experimenting with generative AI. While no bot contributed words to the sonnets themselves, I did utilize Midjourney to render the accompanying illustrations. After writing the poems, I copied my words into my initial text-to-image prompts. The above video was animated, using one of the first images in the manuscript, then extended through further prompting. Eventually, I hope to create additional mixed-media projects to extend the living dead woman’s travels across multiple platforms.
Mudlark Flash No. 179 (2024):
Introduction
The Living Dead Woman Is Not Averse to Anachronism
The Living Dead Woman Has Roots
The Living Dead Woman Discovers “Quoz”
The Living Dead Woman Feels Worm
The Living Dead Woman Is Not Afraid of Encryption
The Living Dead Woman Has No Plans for Crossing
The Living Dead Woman Gives into the Welter
The Collidescope (2024):
The Living Dead Woman Does Not Care
The Living Dead Woman’s Book of Hours
The Living Dead Woman Looks Through Glass
Red Ogre Review (2024):
The Living Dead Girl’s Ecology
The Queens Review (2024):
The Living Dead Woman as Synthographer
The Living Dead Woman Contemplates Her Place in a Natural Universe
The Living Dead Woman Is Not a Danger
Eclectica Magazine (2025):
The Living Dead Woman’s Nightmare Theater
The Living Dead Woman Has Never Been a Riveter
The Living Dead Woman’s Bestiary
The Living Dead Woman Cannot See
The Living Dead Woman Is Not a Fan of Wallpaper
Brenda Mann Hammack 