Michael Marotta grew up in Lockport, New York watching the Buffalo Sabres and making up stories about anything that crossed his mind. He spent much of his young life skating on the frozen ponds and ice rinks of Western New York and Southern Ontario, and learning life lessons from his grandmother-a lovely woman with a fanciful notion that he would one day be a sportscaster, or run for office. His first novel, The Platypus Party, is his way of fulfilling the promise she saw in him. In 1998, Michael and his wife, Jennifer, grew weary of Western New York winters and moved their young family to Fra...