Though a trained historian (Ph.D, Univ. of Virginia, 1996), I no longer inhabit the classroom and have turned to writing fiction, creative nonfiction, and reviews.
My fictional protagonist is Richard, Earl of Armitage, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire, England. I do hope you will take to him; I find him quite a fascinating gentleman.
As the chief magistrate, Armitage is the conduit between the national government and the local administration. He presides over the Quarter Sessions, forwards names to the Lord Chancellor for inclusion on the bench of the Justices of the Peace, and can call out the county militia. He also sits in the House of Lords during a particularly turbulent time in British history, one that is both an end (loss of the American colonies) and a beginning (new political alignments and sensibilities).
I have been published in my academic field--"'The King's Good Servant, but God's First': Stephen Gardiner and the Early English Reformation" (RENAISSANCE PAPERS 1999). I have also had a history article for children published--"Soldiers of the Pope" (FACES 2001). "'A Man more Sinned against than Sinning': the Trial and Execution of Admiral the Honorable John Byng", Parts i & II, can be found at the now defunct WEB MYSTERY MAGAZINE (Sept. 2004, Jan. 2005). I have reviewed history monographs for the AP Central, and I have several short reviews in the "Book Notes" section of THE VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW.
Surrounded by sheep, cattle, cotton, oil, and the Air Force, I grew up in San Angelo, Texas, where I developed a love of football. To this day, I follow the Green Bay Packers, the only publicly owned team in the NFL. I later moved to Charlottesville, Virginia for school and then to Frederick County, Maryland with my husband, who is a mechanical engineer. We have three cats again--the goofy Juliette and the kinetic Horatio (named for Hornblower, not Nelson). The Venerable Sebastian died in 2009, Jack-Jack died in June 2011 (FIP), and I hope both come back for another Jellicle life.