Presenter George Gill
Host Jeffrey Lockwood
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers & Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America present:
Bone Stories: Forensic Anthropology for Mystery Writers
Presenter: George Gill
Host: Jeffrey Lockwood
Date: Saturday, September 23
Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Sam Gary Branch Library, 2961 Roslyn St., Denver
This workshop will draw the participants into the field of osteology as it pertains to inferring the identity of the victim (age, stature, gender and ancestry), time/cause of death and other features of interest to mystery writers (e.g., did you know that it is possible to deduce the gender of a person from cremated remains—with a bit of luck?).
In addition to fascinating tales by one of the nation’s leading forensic anthropologists, there will be opportunities for hands-on experience with bones.
Details
A light lunch and snacks will be provided. Program will begin at 9:15 a.m.
Cost:
$20. Reserve your spot by clicking the button below or email Susan Paturzo at spat87506@gmail.com to reserve your spot and pay at the door. Space is limited.
Bios:
George W. Gill received B.A. with Honors in zoology from the University of Kansas in 1963, at which time he entered military service as a U.S. Army Combat Ranger. After receiving his honorable discharge in 1967 at the rank of Captain, he returned to Kansas with a fellowship in anthropology, completed his Ph.D. in 1971, and accepted a position that year at the University of Wyoming, where he is still active in teaching and research. Dr. Gill has excavated and studied several hundred human skeletons from tropical west Mexico, Easter Island, and the Great Plains of North America. His travels have carried him to 45 countries and all 50 states, where he has been able to develop notes and slides on many peoples and cultures. Dr. Gill has developed osteological collections which form parts of the national museum collections of Mexico and Chile, served as scientific leader of National Geographic Society’s 1981 Easter Island Anthropological Expedition, and has been active in skeletal identification for law enforcement agencies as a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He has served as Secretary and Chairman of the Physical Anthropological Section of the AAFS and as a member of the Board of Directors of the national certification board for forensic anthropologists.
Jeffrey Lockwood is an unusual fellow. He grew up in New Mexico and spent youthful afternoons enchanted by feeding grasshoppers to black widows in his backyard. This might account for both his scientific and literary affinities. He earned a doctorate in entomology from Louisiana State University and worked for 15 years as an insect ecologist at the University of Wyoming. He became a world-renowned assassin, developing a method for efficiently killing billions of insects (mostly pests but there’s always the innocent bystander during a hit). This contact with death drew him into questions of justice, violence, and evil. He metamorphosed into an appointment in the department of philosophy and the program in creative writing. Unable to escape his childhood, he’s written several award-winning, non-fiction books about the devastation of the West by locust swarms, the use of insects to wage biological warfare, and the terror humans experience when six-legged creatures invade their lives. Pondering the dark side of humanity led him to the realm of the murder mystery. These days, he explores how the anti-hero of crime noir sheds existentialist light on the human condition: In the end, there are no excuses-we are ultimately responsible for our actions. The first of his three-book noir mystery series featuring an ex-cop-turned-exterminator is titled: Poisoned Justice (Pen-L, 2016). Look for Murder on the Fly to be released later this year. Jeff is a member of the board for the Rocky Mountain chapter of Mystery Writers of America.