The Spider And The Fly

'A gleefully sinister fable'--Lane Smith--Back cover.

'Will you walk into my parlour, said the Spider to the Fly . . .' is one of the most recognised and quoted first lines in all of English verse. But how many of you know how the tale actually ends? Join celebrated artist Tony DiTerlizzi as he shines a 1920's film noir cinematic spotlight on Mary Howitt's 173 year old classic poem, warning us against those who would use sweet words to hide their not-so-sweet intentions and lure us into danger.

Extraordinarily suspenseful and truly gut-wrenching, The Spider and the Fly is not just a superb true-crime story but an insightful investigation of the nature of evil, the fragility of good, and the crooked road that can turn human beings into monsters. A must-read.' GILLIAN FLYNN, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Gone Girl 'Well, well, Claudia. Can I call you Claudia? I'll have to give it to you, when confronted at least you're honest, as honest as any reporter . . . You want to go into the depths of my mind and into my past. I want a peek into yours. It is only fair, isn't it?' Kendall Francois, serial killer In this extraordinary, white-knuckle account of a series of horrifying true crimes, journalist Claudia Rowe chronicles her disturbing connection with a serial killer convicted of murdering eight women. An enthralling combination of memoir and psychological suspense, The Spider and the Fly reveals Claudia's chilling correspondence with the killer, his shocking confessions and her search to understand the darkness inside us all. 'Part psychological thriller and part gut-wrenching memoir, The Spider and the Fly crosses boundaries on nearly every page. It is chilling, self-revelatory, and unforgettable.' ROBERT KOLKER, author of the New York Times bestseller Lost Girls: An unsolved American mystery 'Claudia Rowe catalogues her obsession with a serial killer so mesmerizingly that before I knew it, I too was obsessed . . . But this is not merely a recounting of a descent, it is equally a memoir of discovery through the lens of potential evil. I literally could not put it down.' ALAN CUMMING, author of the New York Times bestseller Not My Father's Son

An illustrated version of the well-known poem about a wily spider who preys on the vanity and innocence of a little fly.

A selection of the best of the hilarious free-verse poems by the irreverent cockroach poet Archy and his alley-cat pal Mehitabel. Don Marquis’s famous fictional insect appeared in his newspaper columns from 1916 into the 1930s, and he has delighted generations of readers ever since. A poet in a former life, Archy was reincarnated as a bug who expresses himself by diving headfirst onto a typewriter. His sidekick Mehitabel is a streetwise feline who claims to have been Cleopatra in a previous life. As E. B. White wrote in his now-classic introduction, the Archy poems “contain cosmic reverberations along with high comedy” and have “the jewel-like perfection of poetry.” Adorned with George Herriman’s whimsical illustrations and including White’s introduction, our Pocket Poets selection—the only hardcover Archy and Mehitabel in print—is a beautiful volume, and perfectly sized for its tiny hero.

A spider, blown by the wind to a fence post near a farm yard, begins to build her web and cannot be distracted from the task at hand--not by the horse, cow, sheep, goat, or dog. But when the rooster asks if she wants to catch a pesky fly, the busy spider is able to catch it in her web immediately!

No one ever said it was easy being a monster. Take Frankenstein, for instance: He just wants to marry his undead bride in peace, but his best man, Dracula, is freaking out about the garlic bread. Then there’s the Headless Horseman, who wishes everyone would stop drooling over his delicious pumpkin head. And can someone please tell Edgar Allan Poe to get the door already before the raven completely loses it? Sheesh. In a wickedly funny follow-up to the bestselling Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, Adam Rex once again proves that monsters are just like you and me. (Well, sort of.)