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...

Sunny Texas-perfect weather for November’s first Sunday afternoon and I’m emceeing and performing between acts at Austin’s famed Texas Book Festival. The crowds are still strong, particularly in the Children’s entertainment tent where with a big smile, I’m enthusiastically rat-ta-tat drumming my bodhran and hawking the acts like a Medieval Carnie (Cockney accent, mind you), “Come see ‘em, they’re great! Maid Martha greets you in and bids you to stay!” 

And, stay they did, to see the fabulous Joe McDermott (hilarious with zounds of groupies all under three feet high), Rochelle Rabouin, Chaski and Storybook Theatre and my Maid Martha, Medieval Comedienne’s stories and jokes. No novice to the stage, More...

Onstage and performing at Fannin Middle School’s History Festival – what fun! And what a large festival with an enormous 1,500 in attendance! History, from the Middle Ages, American Revolution, Civil War, WWII and on, was well represented, articulated and exemplified by musicians, performers and re-enactors including myself as Maid Martha. It was the largest such festival, in all my twenty years of performing and conducting workshops through arts commissions’ touring programs, that I’ve seen a school present, let alone a small school. Impressive! Kudos to all the hardworking teachers, students and staff at Fannin!

Performing there was great fun, but in addition, all our hosts went above and beyond the call of duty. As a result  More...

Hello, Everyone,

Did you know ‘blog' is Medieval? One, it rhymes with grog (very important) and, two, I once knew a Festival performer, ‘Blog’ of ‘Smee & Blog, The Singing Executioners’. A chopping good act! As I always say, we are still so Medieval.

It’s been a whirlwind year. I have to check my calendar to see where I’ve been as the time flies by. For all of you that know me, life is never dull and something always happens. Like the time a jeep hit our house and killed the front porch or, most recently, when I took up the extreme sport called ‘walking’. My broken right wrist is healed now, but for weeks, I’ve been ‘winged with bling’. A multitude of stick-on rhinestones decorated my black splint and kept up my spirits. It proves that one can always dress well, no matter the occasion, even if it does make you look like you have a pirate’s claw while in Medieval costume.    More...