I'll Take Darwin for $100, Alex

I am flying high writing because of a happy accident. The short version is while researching eugenics for a plot, I discovered the work of Francis Galton . . . which perfectly ties into my book's storyline. Total accident--and it totally works to give a darker, deeper back story to the Gemini Conspiracy. And turns out Galton was Charles Darwin's cousin. Even better!

I love when that happens.

As such, I would be a great Jeopardy contestant. As an author, I know a little bit about a lot of things. All in the name of research. You know when they have a murder trial, and as "evidence" the prosecutor points to Google searches? As in, "One week before the husband was murdered, his wife was searching the Internet for cyanide poison and faking suicide."

Well, if that's evidence, everyone around me better stay pretty damn healthy because I know how long it takes maggots to appear on a rotting corpse, how much a human liver weighs (2.4-3 pounds), and assorted other weirdo facts.

I can tell you how to make a boilermaker and nearly any other cocktail or how cremation works, exactly and in great detail. I can tell you more medical facts than the average doctor (true story . . . whenever I have to take someone to the hospital E.R.--kids with broken bones or high fevers or whatever--I am usually mistaken for a doctor or fellow nurse by the triage nurse on duty).

Yes, being a writer means I am a repository of totally useless information. Sometimes USEFUL information. But trivia nonetheless.

So what are some of your weird areas of knowledge because of what you're working on?