Locksmith

A Felix Taylor Adventure #1

by Nicholas Maes

Twelve-year-old Lewis Castorman is a master locksmith: there is no lock on earth that he is unable to open. He is therefore flattered when world-renowned chemist Ernst K. Grumpel invites him to his office in New York City and offers him a lock-picking assignment. His confidence quickly turns to dismay, however, when he learns this job will take him to Yellow Swamp in northern Alberta, the scene of a disastrous chemical spill a year earlier. He is also horrified to discover that Grumpel is utterly ruthless and, through his chemical inventions, can alter the rules of nature at his will. But the assignment is one that Lewis can't refuse.

How is Grumpel able to create such miraculous transformations? What secrets has he locked away and why has he taken pains to store them in Alberta? Despite the strange discoveries Lewis will make at every turn in his adventures, nothing will prepare him for the final encounter that awaits him in Yellow Swamp.

Genres: Young Adult

240 pages, ebook

First published July 21, 2008

About the author

When younger, I thought I was going to be 1) an archeologist 2) a zookeeper, 3) an alchemist and 4) a time traveller. I wound up delivering on all these ambitions (sort of). While I never dug up any ancient cities, I did study Greek and Latin. And while alchemy has always eluded me, I did become a high-school teacher, a job that involves daily transformations. No zoo ever wanted to hire me, but I have three children and a wife: to judge by the noise level in our house, you would swear I lived in a zoo at times (one without cages of course). Finally, I haven't yet managed the trick of time travel but at least I get to write about it.

My idea of a life well spent (excluding work and being useful): hiking with my family; long conversations over endless cups of coffee (some table pounding is permitted); an endless countr.y road and a bike; books and a comfortable armchair; and writing, writing, writing.

And there you have it, Me in a nutshell