THE MAN WHO INVENTED NEW JERSEY is one of eleven standalone narratives featured in Ted Gargiulo's first new work of fiction since "He In Me." Fans of the author's previous opus will find much to chew on in this smart, well-balanced collection. From pimples to Puccini, skirts to cell phones, fantasy and cultural satire; tales of fathers and faraway places, misfits and malcontents, rites of passage, rites of redemption, games of pretend, stories about stories—these deftly crafted inventions present a veritable smorgasbord of human experience and insight that's heady, passionate, peppered with irony and heartbreak, and as unabashedly eccentric as anything the author has produced thus far. Anyone hungry for compelling, outside-the-box fiction would do well to check out the items on this storyteller's menu. They're sure to engage the reader on the deepest, most personal levels, keep him entertained…and remain with him long after the meal is finished.
A writer's peaceful world is shattered when a crazed neighbor moves into the apartment directly below him and his wife. Their perfect marriage deteriorates as the noise from Apt 102 invades every corner of their shelter, forcing the civilized intellectual upstairs to defend his modest two bedroom kingdom against the witless barbarism of his adversary downstairs -- a character who embodies everything our protagonist loathes and fears. The moral confrontation is underscored by the writer's obsession over his unfinished allegory of power, evil and self actualization. Inspired by the escalating crisis in his personal life, his secret unborn "child" assumes a voice of its own. As creation and creator dialogue together, a sinister force overtakes our hero, conforming him into the image of his archnemesis, and propelling both inner and outer stories to a devastating climax. Heady, hilarious, terrifying: this tale of madness and revenge pushes artistic license to the extreme.
In The Girl with the Crooked Nose, Ted Botha tells the absorbing story of Frank Bender, a gifted, self-taught artist who can bring back the dead and the vanished through a unique, macabre sculpting talent. Bender has been the key to solving at least nine murders and tracking down numerous criminals. Then he is called upon to tackle the most challenging and bizarre case of his career. Someone is killing the young women of Juarez. Since 1993, the decomposing bodies of as many as four hundred victims, known as feminicidios, have been found in the desert surrounding this gritty Mexican border town. In 2003, prodded by local political pressure and international attention, the Mexican authorities turn to the United States to help solve these horrific crimes. The man they turn to is Bender. Through breathtakingly realistic sculptures, Bender reconstructs the faces of unknown murder victims or fugitives whose appearances are certain to have changed over years on the run. The busts are based in part on the painstaking application of forensic science to fleshless human skulls and in part on deep intuition, an uncanny ability to discern not only a missing face but also the personality behind it. Arriving in Mexico, Bender works in secrecy, in a culture of corruption and casual violence where the line between criminals and law enforcement is blurry, braving anonymous threats and sinister coincidences to give eight skulls back their faces and, hopefully, their histories. Drawn to one skull in particular–"The Girl With the Crooked Nose"–Bender gradually comes to suspect that perhaps he is not meant to succeed, and that the true solution to the mystery of the feminicidios is far more terrible than anyone has dared to imagine. Ted Botha brilliantly weaves Bender’s story–the cases he has solved, the intricacies of his art, the colorful characters he encounters, and the personal cost of his strange obsession–with the chilling story of the Juarez investigation. With a conclusion as shocking as its story is gripping, The Girl with the Crooked Nose will haunt readers long after the last page is turned. “…[a] crackling account of a quirky, maverick forensics artist, Frank Bender, and his largely successful efforts in facial reconstruction of murder victims…. extraordinary is Botha's writing, with his unerring depiction of Bender's painstaking work and the eventual unraveling of the brutal crimes it solves…. the tales in this book accurately capture the dark motives and complexities of senseless murder, and even the most savvy true-crime reader will not be able to resist the author's insightful storytelling."--Publishers Weekly
This humorous book will entertain you for hours. Based on a small mill village in SC and surrounding areas it will make you laugh out loud. The characters will most likely remind you of someone you know. Do not loan this book to your friends. It is funny and entertaining. THEY WILL NOT BRING IT BACK!
The purpose of risk assessment is to support science-based decisions about how to solve complex societal problems. The problems we face in the twenty-first century have many social, political, and technical complexities. Environmental risk assessment in particular is of increasing importance as a means of seeking to address the potential effects of chemicals in the environment in both the developed and developing world. Environmental Risk Assessment: A Toxicological Approach examines various aspects of problem formulation, exposure, toxicity, and risk characterization that apply to both human health and ecological risk assessment. The book is aimed at the next generation of risk assessors and students who need to know more about developing, conducting, and interpreting risk assessments. It delivers a comprehensive view of the field, complete with sufficient background to enable readers to probe for themselves the science underlying the key issues in environmental risk. Written in an engaging and lively style by a highly experienced risk assessment practitioner, the text: Introduces the science of risk assessment—past, present, and future Covers problem formation and the development of exposure factors Explains how human epidemiology and animal testing data are used to determine toxicity criteria Provides environmental sampling data for conducting practice risk assessments Examines the use of in vitro and ‘omics methods for toxicity testing Describes the political and social aspects of science-based decisions in the twenty-first century Includes fully worked examples, case studies, discussion questions, and links to legislative hearings Readers of this volume will not only learn how to execute site-specific human health and ecological risk assessments but also gain a greater understanding of how science is used in deciding environmental regulations.
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