By Weston Loyd

(Oct. 23, 2015) — The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) has released two eerie publications just in time for Halloween, "Next Door to the Dead: Poems" by Kathleen Driskell and "Haunted Holidays: Twelve Months of Kentucky Ghosts" by Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown.

When Kathleen Driskell moved into a disused church in Louisville, Kentucky, she found that there was a cemetery next door in which the 112 residents' stories and secrets could not stay buried. Through Driskill’s imagination, the lives and afterlives of the deceased and their people come into vivid focus in this thought-provoking collection of poems in "Next Door to the Dead." Composed with both surprising humor and riveting profundity, her poems compel us to examine our own mortality, as well as how we impact the finite lives of those around us.

In "Haunted Holidays," celebrated storytellers Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown have assembled a hair-raising collection of paranormal tales for readers of all ages. More than just a collection of Halloween ghost stories, the Browns' "Haunted Holidays" takes readers on a fireside journey through the hauntings of holidays throughout the calendar year, including tales of the ghost who hated Labor Day and the child who made good on his promise to return a silver dollar on the Fourth of July. "Haunted Holidays" preserves and promotes oral traditions and reveals the importance of sharing beliefs, traditions and values with a new generation of listeners.

Individuals interested in meeting these writers can see them at the Kentucky Book Fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Frankfort Convention Center, where Driskell, the Browns, and many others will be on hand to greet the public and sign copies of her book.

UPK is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, representing a consortium that now includes all of the state universities, five private colleges and two historical societies. The editorial program of the press focuses on the humanities and the social sciences. Offices for the administrative, editorial, production and marketing departments of the press are found at UK, which provides financial support toward the operating expenses of the publishing operation.