Mark LaFlamme is a crime reporter and columnist at the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine. In his weekly column Street Talk he often vents his frustration and disdain for editors, comparing them to bats, spiders, extraterrestrial slugs, and other beings too diabolical to describe. The column has been named both Best in Maine and Best in New England. According to LaFlamme, the sound of those bitter editors groaning over the accolades was far more satisfying than any plaque or monetary reward.

In 2006, LaFlamme was named Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press Association. He chain smokes, is utterly loyal to Pabst Blue Ribbon and sleeps until noon every day. He is writing this blurb in omnipotent narrative so as to appear humble before you good men and women of the press.

LaFlamme decided to launch "Above the Fold" because he found there are few reporters who still relish the adrenaline highs of breaking news and the spirit-crushing lows of a mausoleum night on the beat. Where the new breed of journalist likes to discuss the latest crisis in ethics over lattes and salads, LaFlamme prefers to huddle around a bar table and talk about what really matters: the news and the thrill ride of scooping it up before the vultures come.

LaFlamme is not above flagrant gossip. He likes to talk about the behind the scenes stuff -- the lunatic sources who will meet only in the alley behind the porn store; the nastiness at the cop shop; the editor who believes his fling with the pretty intern is a well-kept secret; the established fact that any reporter with experience on the street is more knowledgeable than any smug lay about with a masters degree from Columbia.

Though he prefers crime with complex motivations, LaFlamme is not averse to diving into tales of street phantoms, raving about the culture of reporting, or milking a dead animal story for all it's worth. He would rather be hanging out with street drunks, prostitutes and the mysterious people who live near the river than hanging out in the newsroom waiting for something to do. LaFlamme believes that some of the greatest stories are those that never make it to the news page. And by God, he needs a place to share those stories once and for all.

In late 2005, LaFlamme published his first novel and quickly got to work on others. He tells himself that this is a means of escaping the frantic pace and endless frustrations of the newsroom. In honest moments, often fueled by Pabst, he realizes that reporting is something etched into the DNA more than a profession. Tailing cops, ducking editors, finding new ways to get stubborn sources on the record, outwitting competing media, scheming with other reporters to make managing editors miserable, and looking for diamonds in the grit and broken glass of the streets is just too much fun to ever leave behind.