Mark LaFlamme

Mark LaFlamme

About

Mark LaFlamme is a crime reporter and columnist at the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine. He is also the author of the novels "The Pink Room," "Vegetation" and "Dirt: An American Campaign," as well as the novelette "Asterisk: Red Sox 2089" and the new short story collection "Box of Lies."

Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My!

Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My!

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Description

<p>Mice &amp; Spiders &amp; Webs...Oh My! Is your child a good listener? Rosemary is a little girl who is worried about returning to school after her teacher warns the class that they would soon have some mice, spiders, and webs in the classroom. Could Rosemary have misunderstood something? How can mice and spiders and webs belong at school? Full of &quot;Computer Speak,&quot; this story introduces young readers to basic computer terms in a delightful way! See if your child can discover the mystery of the misunderstood words, and learn about the fun of computers with Rosemary. This is the seventh rhyming children's book by this award-winning author, whose other bestselling books include My Fingerpaint Masterpiece, Manner-Man, Gimme-Jimmy, The Magic Word, Peter and the Whimper-Whineys, and Santa's Birthday Gift. Former teacher Sherrill S. Cannon has won twenty-eight awards for her six previous rhyming books, and is also the author of seven published and internationally performed plays for elementary school children. She has been called &quot;a modern day Dr. Seuss&quot; by GTMA Review. &quot;I love to teach, and this book teaches basic computer terms in a fun way. I am retired and spend six months of the year with my husband of 55 years, traveling from coast to coast and sharing books along the way. I grew up in The Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. , where my father was the manager. I'm the original Eloise!&quot; Publisher's website: http://sbpra.com/SherrillSCannon</p>

Story Behind The Book

I've written short stories all of my life. Then somewhere around 2005, an editor told me I needed to grow up. I needed to write novels, like big people. And I did. In fact, i wrote three novels and a novelette over the next four years. It was great fun. But you know what? I missed the shorter literary form, those fast romps instead of long romances. Maybe I have problems with commitment, I don't know. But the shorts in "Box of Lies" were just a blast to write. Amazon reviewer Linda Bulger puts it this way: "LaFlamme is like a graffiti artist sliding around a corner in the dark with his collar turned up – a few bold strokes and he’s moved on. But the territory of your mind has been tagged with his distinctive images.”

Reviews

<div><span style="font-family:Calibri;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><font size="3"><span style="font-size:15px;"><span style="font-size:13px;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><font size="3"></font></span></span></span></font></span></span><h3 style="font-family:'yui-tmp';font-size:13px;" align="left"><font face="Arial" size="3">&quot;Like Dean Koontz, John Saul and Stephen King combined. Yes, LaFlamme is THAT good!&quot; - Betty Dravis, author of '1106 Grand Boulevard'</font></h3> <h3 style="font-family:'yui-tmp';font-size:13px;" align="center"><span style="font-family:Calibri;">***</span></h3> <h3 style="font-family:'yui-tmp';font-size:13px;" align="left"><font face="Arial"><font size="3"><span style="font-size:15px;"><span style="font-size:13px;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><font size="3">&quot;I've read Mark LaFlamme's work before, so I thought I knew what I was in for</font> <font size="3">with his BOX OF LIES. Shivers at the back of my neck, furtive glances over my shoulder, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach... delicious! But I didn't bargain on the cumulative effect of more than two dozen stories, each with its own chilling atmosphere. LaFlamme is like a graffiti artist sliding around a corner in the dark with his collar turned up, a few bold strokes and he's moved on--but the territory of your mind has been tagged with his distinctive images.<br /><br />&quot;If you're about to say that short stories aren't your thing, put that opinion on hold for a day or two and peek under the cover here. See if you really can resist. Each story opens with a line that yanks you in: &quot;Trevor Garbo liked dead things.&quot; &quot;My name is Rudy Weather and I can read your mind.&quot; &quot;It was two days after the world ended when the old van rumbled up Route 4.&quot; &quot;'Do you ever worry,' Randall Albee asked him, 'That they might come for you?'&quot;<br /><br />&quot;I wouldn't know where to start, telling you about these stories. Read a few here, a few there, put the book down and think about them for a while, go back and read a few more. One thing you know for sure is that, whether you're reading about a band of murdering fourth-graders, a shopkeeper defending his territory after the apocalyse, or a man who made a very poor bargain for eternal life, the characters are so real you can reach out and touch them, if you only dare.<br /><br />&quot;Many of these stories spoke to me of some truth I don't quite dare to believe. For example, if you were moving into a new house as I am this week, what would you think of a story like &quot;Our House,&quot; about a home that nurtures one of its new tenants while abusing the other? And do you hope that we'll adopt a gentle new paradigm when the oil is gone but fear that, instead, as it does in &quot;The Neighborhood,&quot; it will come out of our hides? And perhaps creepiest of all, do you ever think about what could happen--or not happen--because you stopped to pick up a penny (or, perhaps, didn't?)<br /><br />&quot;If you've let your imagination get a little rusty, prepare to be challenged by Box of Lies. Stylish writing, great characters and some wildly skewed concepts; it's a whole lot of entertainment with the mind-bending thrown in for free.&quot; - Linda Bulger, Amazon</font></span></span></span> </font></font></h3> <div style="font-family:'yui-tmp';font-size:13px;" align="center"><font size="3">***</font></div> <h2 style="font-family:'yui-tmp';font-size:13px;" class="review"><font face="Arial" size="3">&quot;Don't start this book if you have to go to work tomorrow. One, you won't be able to put it down. You're going to have to read the whole thing. It's a page turner. #2: Once you finish it you're going to spend hours going over the plots and characters - so don't even try to get your normal sleep. Unless your normal sleep is full of nightmares. LaFlamme's images and characters will pop up over and over, scaring you again and again. &quot;This book will smack you upside the head, squeeze your guts, and make you cough. You might vomit. &quot;LaFlamme drags open a curtain, showing you the scary corners of your mind. He provides just enough science along with the phantasmagoric fantasies to truly scare you crapless. He opens up his heart too, offering up just enough soul to make this an honest read. &quot;Thanks, I think, for another haunted apartment house of horrors.&quot; -- Meredith Kendall, Amazon</font></h2><br /><br /></div>