New Book Available Now!

Talk about a labor of love. I wrote the first draft of this when I was in high school. I undertook a major revision in college after I used the first few chapters to satisfy a creative writing class assignment. Then last year–almost 20 years since the original draft–I picked it back up and began a complete overhaul. And now here it is.

Full disclosure, this is NOT historical fiction like my first book, but I know you are all people of excellent taste and figure there are probably some science fiction fans among you.

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HERE AMONG THE STARS

Life as a high school senior in suburban New England is fairly mundane for Jeff–a looming graduation, keeping an eye on his sister Ashley and staying out of the way of his stepbrother Jaime. Nothing out of the ordinary, that is, until their parents fail to return home after a work trip.

On the besieged planet of Hetogda, locked in an extended conflict with an elusive terrorist organization, Mayona finds herself in the middle of a personal and political crossroads. She is only at the start of her military career, and from all sides she feels the pressure to live up to her potential.

Little do any of them know that their lives are about to become forever linked, and their fates–and the fate of all Hetogdans–hang in the balance.

Now Available: My First Book!

Hi all! I am beyond thrilled to announce the publication of my debut novel, a work of historical fiction. I started writing this back in 2012, took a very long break in the middle, and finally polished it up in the past year.

You can purchase it here on Amazon, and if you’d like you can also check out my author website which also includes links to books (both fiction and nonfiction) written by my friends.

Invisible Woman

The year is 1860, and Viola Wellington is in desperate need of a change. With nothing left holding her to her childhood home in Kentucky, Viola makes the decision to move across the ocean to England with her late husband’s family in an attempt to start her life anew.

Little does she know how much change is actually in store for her when she makes the acquaintance of Harry Enslow, a war veteran struggling to make ends meet as a private investigator. Harry is convinced that he alone is on the trail of a band of criminals running rampant and unchecked in London…a theory not at all shared by police sergeant Miles Middleton, Harry’s old friend and confidant.

Is Harry imagining things? Or have he, Miles, and Viola stumbled upon a plot that could shake the country to its very core? The deeper he digs, the more unclear the answer becomes. one thing is certain: all three of their lives have become hopelessly intertwined, and the only way out is through.

THE FORGOTTEN COLONIES: Florida in the American Revolution

Education on the American War of Independence as taught in the United States focuses mainly on the Thirteen Colonies, as they were the ones who banded together to defy King George with open rebellion and fought and bled for their right to self-govern. What often gets lost in the shuffle is acknowledgement of the fourteenth and fifteenth colonies.

South of Georgia were East and West Florida, land with an already tumultuous past. Rebellion against the Crown was hardly Florida’s first sociopolitical drama; by the time of the Revolutionary War, Florida had already been founded by the Spanish, settled by the French, retaken by the Spanish and then handed to England. Due to the fact that Florida chose not to align with their peers and declare independence, and remained aligned with Britain, the colonies’ involvement in the Revolutionary War often gets overlooked in the scope of the larger narrative.

Before exploring Florida’s role in the Revolutionary War itself, let’s take a look at how Florida ended up in the hands of the British at all.

The Gauntlet’s Been Thrown Down

I work best under pressure. I sewed an entire Victorian ensemble for myself in two weeks so I could wear it at an event. I sewed another entire Victorian ensemble for a friend in eight days for a different event. I’ve had plans to make a new 1830s dress for quite a while, and last night a friend invited me to something the second weekend in February.

Now yes, I’m very fast, but I’ve also never sewn anything 1830s on my own. I also desperately don’t want to put aside my dreams of finally sewing a Wrath of Khan-era Star Trek uniform. I have all the fabric, but I got sidelined by A Couple Months of Hell at work. I’d like to see if somehow I can get both done in the next month and a half.

So…game on? Be prepared for progress updates and probably a lot of screaming. Let’s do this.