As a young boy, R. Harper Mason lived the life of the paperboy, 'Richard, ' in this novel. His interactions with the people in the small town of Norphlet, Arkansas, and the surrounding woods and swamps, formed the basis for both his first novel, The Red Scarf, and this sequel, Lyin' Like a Dog. It was time of brown, sunburned feet and shirtless summers where a boy's only entertainment was his imagination. Mason is a geologist, an environmentalist, and an advocate for historic preservation. He lives with his wife, Vertis, in El Dorado, Arkansas... a few miles south of Flat Creek Swamp.