Mystery
April Cruel
Set in the 1970s at a small college in Pennsylvania, April Cruel proves T. S. Eliot right: “April is the cruelest month.” When the rigid and rather unpleasant Professor, Erica Berne, discovers that her fiancé has been murdered, she not only is grief-stricken, but she also becomes the victim of several murder attempts that misfire and kill or harm others. Two young professors in the English Department, Jim Strand and David Stein, attempt to uncover the perpetrator of the crimes, along with one of David’s students, Jill Lake, with whom he has fallen in love and Susie Marsh, a departmental secretary for whom Jim has a growing affection. Why does Jill Lake feel that she is in danger?
Memoir
Pieces of the Past:
Putting Together the Puzzle
This memoir is a strange mix of portraits of people in my past, including a few ancestors, and stories and poems I have written about them. I’m hoping that these “pieces” of my past come together to make a puzzle. If you think about it, “puzzle” is an odd term for something that is taken apart and then put back together again, so that even when the pieces are all in place we call it a puzzle. You are left puzzled. But that is what I am trying to do here: not solve life’s mysteries, but unveil the pieces that add up to the puzzle of my life, and perhaps the puzzle of your lives as well.
Short Stories
Dream of Marriage
And Other Stories
A collection of short stories that cover many subjects from love, to talking trees, to getting lost, to what may happen to you if you get off an elevator on the wrong floor. In many of the stories the characters are searching, be it for knowledge, for love, or simply for the way home.
Poetry
Old Age And Death, Tra La
And Other Poems
A collection of poetry that begins with a focus on the ups and downs of old age with its fear of death and ways to overcome that fear. It moves on to explore how words may work in life and in poetry, then dramatizes the experience of cruising, of hair, of an empty nest (kids off to college, etc.) and the way weather is evolving. The book ends with poems that explore many aspects of love as well as other considerations.
Children's Books
Oh Pegasus
The flying horse, Pegasus, visits two children, Hanah and Leo, cousins who understand his “neigh.” He tells them of his origin, and then takes them on four adventures. They introduce the children’s grandparents to a dragon who is trying to enter their window, revisit the past in which Pegasus was tamed by Bellerophon, save a lost dog, a cat, and a baby, and meet Persephone in the Underworld. Throughout there is a mingling of myth and reality.
Illustrated by Judith Roof
The Elephant in a Tree
Leo and Daddy and Grandma take what they call “The Circle Walk” from Grandma’s house, down the block, around the corner, through the neighborhood, and back home through the woods. On the way they see an elephant in a tree, and Leo develops a relationship with him. Join them on their adventure and meet the elephant in a tree.
Illustrated by Judith Roof
The Princess and The Chef
In keeping with tradition, the King and Queen forbid their daughter, the Princess, from cooking. However, she is drawn both to the culinary arts and to the cook himself. Expected by her parents to marry a Prince, will the Princess be an obedient daughter or rebel and be true to herself?
Illustrated by Judith Roof
Novella
Are We Ready?
Are We There Yet?
Two Children's Books In One!
Two Family Adventures!
One about Going and One about Arriving!
Illustrated by Judith Roof
Acceptance
An elderly woman and a humongous bird search for the meaning of life in dreams.