On March 25 & 26th, Clint Small Middle and Rodriquez and Graham Elementary in Austin, through the wonderful Writers’ League of Texas Project WISE program, brought me into their schools to present my Author Visit.

When Maid Martha, Medieval Comedienne & Stand-Up Historian appears in period costume, Irish drum in hand with a great multi-media presentation, all the while, in Cockney accent, talking about Medieval ghosts, telling jokes and throwing in bits of Shakespeare here and there – it is not your usual author visit. And that’s why I do it. Schools love it and, most importantly, it fits right into my arts-in-education advocacy. I firmly believe that teaching should be cross-curriculum, three-dimensional, attention-getting, utilize all levels of the arts and, oh, bite my lip! Should I say it? Fun! Yes, fun and then it is, for the student, memorable. Over the past 20 years of doing this, I have seen the happy results many times over. More...

Bustling and packed with librarians, teachers, performers, musicians, magicians, animal handlers and storytellers, the Central Texas Library System Showcase in Rockdale, Texas on January 15th was the place to be. The Patterson Civic Center was full with booths lined wall to wall and performer showcases going non-stop, everyone with a ready smile. Larry and I thoroughly enjoyed participating in this event, manning our booth, and sharing information about our educational programs, performances and workshops with librarians and teachers from across 30 Central Texas counties. We signed many copies of our book, ‘The Ghost of Hampton Court’ and    More...

Back again, Comedienne Maid Martha at the wonderful and cozy Bar None Coffee for an evening of Christmas history, Medieval mayhem and belly laughs! Christmas tree all alight in the front window corner, Texas night skies looking in, downtown lights of Georgetown in the distance, Chuck and Linda Silva dishing up tempting, fragrant hot chocolates, coffees and espresso de jour and we get rolling.  Intimate theatre at its best, I perform my Medieval Christmas show, jokes all around and my now famous ‘Henry VIII’s Wives Twelve Days of Christmas’. Who would know that that group of talented Christmas song background singers is usually known as the Bar None Coffee staff?    More...

If you’re going to raise funds for an important cause like the Leon Valley Public Library’s children’s wing, then this evening was the way to do it. What a night! As the honored guest, I performed my Medieval Comedienne dinner theatre show to a fun loving audience. How rare it is to tell my Medieval mayor joke and there actually be not one, but two mayors in the audience! The present and past mayors of Leon Valley, Texas were there, in addition to several City Council people. This may be a first! In the audience also was a lady who’d just flown in, that day, from Prague in the Czech Republic. Fitting I think, being a Christmas show, since Saint Wenceslas of Medieval Christmas song fame, was an actual king from Bohemia, now the present day Czech Republic. Of course, she had to be there.

Since this also was Leon Valley Public Library’s opening night of the Humanities Texas traveling exhibit, "The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor", More...

Exciting news! As owners and managers of the publishing house, CicadaSun, Larry and I have just published author, Rose Williams’ ‘Gods & Other Odd Creatures- as the Greeks & Romans Saw Them’. A skilled and well-published author, Rose already has 13 books that are well known in academic circles and the UK. An excellent classics history book, Rose’s book is tongue-in-cheek and informs with the humor and thoroughness we admire. Rose handles this mammoth amount of information with skill and flourish. We are proud of and excited about this book and pleased to say, with its early 2008 release, it will be available at our TLA booth in Dallas.

Warm and inviting, Lakeline’s cosmopolitan Barnes & Noble was the perfect location for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Winter Book Fair on November 18th and for signing copies of our book, ‘The Ghost of Hampton Court’. Our signing tables surrounded the café as fragrances of warm gourmet coffee wafted over us while we chatted with a great mix of wonderful interesting and literate people including Albertina and Sigrid from Italy and Germany (which made us homesick for European travels). Retired teacher and Wheeling, West Virginia native, Karen dropped by to talk. How could I ever forget my first professional acting job performing on a regional dinner theatre circuit, first stop, the jubilantly-packed-every-night dinner theatre in Hurricane, West Virginia?  More...