Death

Under Construction

If you’re reading this, I’m probably dead (or at least unable to communicate). I’m sorry you’re here. This page is meant to reduce guessing and reduce work for the people I love. It is not legal advice.

Why this page exists: Memento Mori is something I've thought about my entire life. My fragile and temporary existence has been a constant motivation to create and pushed myself. I've been inspired by Japanese death poetry, the practice of preparing final words, accepting impermanence, and leaving clear instructions. The compression, the acceptance, the clarity at the end.

First steps

  • Confirm the situation and obtain the required official paperwork (death certificate, etc.).
  • Contact my immediate family, they will know what to do next.
  • If you need to inform my wider community, post a short note somewhere public (see /accounts for accounts I control).
  • Immediately archive as much of my public-facing work as you can via the Wayback Machine and local backups.

Digital estate (accounts, devices, backups)

  • My primary email address is mail@brennanbrown.ca.
  • A list of accounts and URLs I control is on /accounts.
  • If you have access to my devices, please check:
    • Passwords / iCloud Keychain (saved logins)
    • Keychain Access on macOS
    • Notes app for any important reminders or documents
    • any 2FA apps / recovery codes
  • If you don’t have access, use each service’s “memorialization” / “account recovery” process.

Websites & Accounts

What I’d like to happen with my work

From October 2025:

"Please do not judge me too harshly. When I die, please publish my journals. All of them. Unabridged. Even though I know there is so much boring placid writing here."

I would like my work to survive. Preserve and publish ALL of:

  • Every poem (published and unpublished)
  • Every journal entry (10+ years, 1,132,011 words as of December 2025)
  • Every blog post across all platforms
  • Every book (the 9 published + any unpublished manuscripts)
  • Every essay, every fragment, every scrap

Nothing is too rough. Nothing is too personal. Nothing is "not good enough." The work exists for others Make it accessible. Make it permanent. There is a (currently private) repository on my GitHub labelled "meta" which contains all of the above and is updated monthly.

Write Club

From April 2025:

"Write Club is one of the only things I've ever started that feels like mine. No algorithm. No admin panel. Just people and paper and truth, shaking slightly in their hands. When I die, I want someone to take the email list and whisper poems to it instead of sending newsletters. 'Here is the new work,' they'll say. 'It's all of us. We are the work.'"

  • Keep the community going if you can
  • No corporate takeover
  • Poetry over newsletters
  • Maintain the spirit: people, paper, truth

Everything Else

  • Please preserve the writing and code if you can.
  • If something has to go offline, please make an archive first (a git clone / zip of the repository, exported notes, etc.) and share it with my family.
  • Please don't rewrite or "sanitize" my work on my behalf. If something needs to be taken down, take it down, but don't edit it into a different person.
  • The 190+ Medium articles, 9 published books, 3,100+ GitHub commits since 2020. Preserve what you can.

Editorial Guidance

You are allowed to fix typos, grammar, and obvious errors. Organize my work into coherent collections. Write introductions/forewords to contextualize my work. Decide what to publish first. Edit journals for coherence (removing only mundane tasks and repetitive material).

Do not alter my voice or meaning. Do NOT use AI to complete my unfinished works. Do not censor anything, regardless of how uncomfortable you may find it. My work is not perfect, and I am not perfect. But this is all I have to offer.

Contact

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