Born and raised in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey, Dr. Regal has weathered tempests, had hairbreadth escapes, romanced femme fatales, carried secrets, and stole artifacts. He supped with Sciopodii and searched for werewolves in the Black Forrest. He saw terrible things and wonderful things, patrolled the Iron Curtain in a tank, and taught classes in America and China. He saw men launched into space, heard the bells chime at midnight, and heard the echo of the countdown to the end of the world. All of this is set against the backdrop of the Newark riots, the Cold War, 9/11, Covid, Trump, and the political and cultural upheavals of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His life was one long preparation for writing about monsters. An early traumatic encounter with a monster trying to get into his room sent him on a life long journey to find the secrets of the monstrous and the strange.

He has travelled the world to libraries and archives to research his books and articles. This story chronicles the making of an historian of science and of monsters. As a child he was dyslexic and likely lead poisoned. A teacher once told him he was brain damaged. Dr. Regal's story is a journey from the streets of New Jersey to the hallowed halls of academia. It is a roller coaster ride through the ups and downs of the rollicking life of a scholar. It all began with the Monster of Newark.