Carol Potenza

New Mexico Mysteries

Till Death do us Part. (Not Really)

Calcium (Ca), Lovers’ Graves, and the Periodic Table of Death  Think of Calcium as life’s structural support element. It’s the fifth most common element in the earth’s crust but easily forms compounds (1). In fact, about 99% of Ca found in our bodies is built into our bones as a complex and complicated mineral component that approximates this formula—Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 (2). When we toddle off this mortal plane and elect to be buried whole, the carbon-based organic portion of our bodies can become nutrition for other living creatures (e.g., bacteria, fungi. Bears.). But consumption tends to stop at the hard crunchy middle, …

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A FREE Mystery That Will Make You Shiver!

FREE digital download with Newsletter sign-up Catch the Killer, Save the Bear Veterinarian Milly Smith is living her dream, working in a zoo populated by de-extinct creatures resurrected from ancient DNA: Mammoths and mastodons, dire wolves and do-dos, camelops and sabre-toothed cats. But a routine surgery on a massive short-face bear goes horribly wrong and a colleague is dead. The bear is labeled too dangerous for human interaction and slated for euthanasia unless Milly can prove a killer used it as a murder weapon. A killer whose attention has turned to Milly. UNMASKED is Book 1 in the De-extinct Mysteries …

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FREE BOOK FOR YOU: FIRST IN THE DE-EXTINCT MYSTERY SERIES

A new year, a FREE BOOK, and a new leaf turned over to make this website more readable. Today, I’ll include what’s upcoming for 2022 and offer you a gift when you subscribe to my newsletter. It’s easy. Just click here (JOIN THE VIP LIST) or the tab at the top of the page or wait for the annoying pop-up and add your name and your email address. The newsletter, titled Potenza’s Periodic Update, will drop in your email ONLY once a month with writing updates, book and media reviews, book offerings from different authors with different genres to try, …

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Carbon and the Periodic Table of DEATH

Memento Mori. Remember you must die. Memento Mori is a reminder for the living that life is fleeting. It morphed into the practice of remembering the dead using architecture, paintings, photography, even jewelry featuring symbols of death, or locks of hair elaborately woven into brooches, bracelets, and rings—mourning art (1).  The Victorians probably did it best, photographing their dead loved ones in artificial poses, standing up, playing with their favorite toys, or together with their live brothers and sisters—quite creepy (2). The symbolism and art of memento mori are still around, for example, in the Día de los Muertos—Day of …

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Hydrogen and the Periodic Table of Death

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of the Hindenburg disaster. You know, where the largest dirigible ever built, the pride of Nazi Germany and filled with the lighter than air hydrogen (H) gas, burst into flame attempting to land on its transatlantic voyage to the United States? The one that killed 36 passengers and crew? Put your hand down and gather ‘round, because I want to tell you a story about one of the crew members who perished. The only one who was actually on the ground. So let’s travel back to Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6th, 1937 (1). …

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