A woman poisons her husband, who sputters and keels over but will not die. A man has his restaurant burned down, then retraces the steps, certain he has made a mistake. A tightrope walker slips off the cable and dangles over the crowd by her fingers. Despite their best efforts, people always screw up. Riedel writes about fools and low-lifes who cannot help but make mistakes. His stories are taut and perversely funny, open punctuated with moments of heartbreak, and his characters are classic scumbags who put their own interests before all others -- to hell with everyone else. Gonzalo Riedel lives in Winnipeg with his wife and son.