Books

Standing Stones (January 2014).  When Lord Gordon claims his Westness estate on Foulksay Island in the Orkneys, 1841, he evicts tenant farmers (crofters) to make room for sheep. Mac McDonnell, the eldest brother, head of his household, and a fisherman, protests the evictions, despite the impact his actions will have on his three brothers, Dougal, Colin, and Jamie -- and his sister, Moira. When their cottage is torn down and their boat confiscated, how will the McDonnell's survive? 

Standing Stones took second place for historical fiction in the 2010 Pacific Northwest Writers Association writing contest. PNWA judges called Standing Stones ". . . a very promising work, with appeal to a broad audience, peppered with a variety of characters the reader can identify with sympathetically or instantly distrust.” 

Available on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook formats.

Listen to the just released AUDIOBOOK sample for Standing Stones narrated by voice actor Darryl Kurylo.

Years of Stone (June 2014). Transported for protesting evictions in the Orkney Islands, Mac McDonnell faces a seven year sentence.  Alone, uncertain of the future, Mac is surprised when Deidre Scott, his fiancé, follows him on the perilous four-month journey south to Van Diemen’s Land. 

Deidre, befriended by Lady Jane Franklin, the wife of the famous explorer and Lieutenant Governor John Franklin, finds work at Cascades Female Factory. Deidre is determined to help Mac, but at what cost? Both face challenges beyond their wildest expectations and fears in this rough and tumble penal colony.

A Quarter Finalist in Amazon's 2014 Breakthrough Novel Award competition, Years of Stone continues the story of the McDonnell's begun in Standing Stones, bringing to vivid life the tumult of 19th Century Van Diemen’s Land in a clash of cultures, politics, and personal courage. 

Available on Amazon and CreateSpace.

The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales (August 2012). From the frozen Arctic to Mexico, Scotland, Russia, Brazil, and the United States, this collection of short stories and poems about mermaids, sometimes funny, sometimes dark, some shaped by myth from long ago, speak of love, revenge, and redemption. Written for adults, they unravel the heart songs of people who have been buffeted by life. They reinforce our yearning for something good and beautiful, and they reveal a fragile line between reality and magic.

Amazon reviewers have commented: "Characters immediately sympathetic," "These stories and poems tug at the heart of the reader" with stories drawn from the "impoverished and steamy coast of Mexico to the cold to the unforgiving seas of the Arctic to the lyrical Scottish seaside. Even freshwater mermaids get the treatment" . . . "For mermaid lovers, it's a must for your shelf."

Available on Amazon, Smashwords, CreateSpace.

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Other Publications:

• Flash: "Fire Sisters." Fiction365.
• Short Story: "The Namesake Quilt" The Country Register (March/April 2012), p. 6.
• Short Story: "Rusalka." Fickle Muses.
• Poems:  "The Oracle," "Earth's Hair," "I Come From." Camroc Press Review.
• Poetry Chapbook: Mermaid Reflections.
• Travel Memoir: South American Journey. 
• Textbook: Effective Workplace Writing (Houghton Mifflin/Career Education 1996).



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• "What ImpelsYou To Write" (April 2013, Guest post at ROW80 blog)