An amateur herpetologist gets swindled by women he meets on lizard-care message boards, a dental hygienist takes a doomed trip to see a sham psychic on the Atlantic City boardwalk, a gruesome gag gift becomes the subject of morbid fascination for a grieving woman who can't stop sleeping with her roommate's boyfriend. With surgical focus and an infectious dark humor, Alyson Mosquera Dutemple's stories probe a vein of longing and estrangement. From oddballs and lonely hearts living on the fringes of suburbia to stunning abnormalities pulled out from Mother Nature's bag of tricks, MARVELOUS FREAKS OF NATURE! is a delightfully sly study of the shadowy crannies of the human heart. A dazzling debut so full of life it hurts.