The Silver Pen
Welcome to The Silver Pen, the heart of my writing world. Here, every shelf holds something different: Victorian romances, fairy-tale fables, gaslamp mysteries, reflections from the forests of Montana and Yellowstone, as well as environmental articles and quiet spiritual musings and occasional book reviews, and my thoughts on being an author.
Choose your path below, and stay as long as you like. There’s always another tale waiting on the next shelf.
You'll find:
The Teacake Gazette - tales of love, mystery, and magic
Truth & Tradition - historical and factual articles in the Victorian and Edwardian eras
Notes From the Tree Line - essays on belonging, nature, and slowing down
Pagan Wellness - spiritual and magical musings and earth-based wellness
Off the Shelf - book reviews and one-off articles or stories that don’t fit elsewhere
(See below for all of my posts.)
Each post is tagged with its world or theme, from fairies and flower lore to forest walks and tarot cards.
*if you don’t like more erotic stories, avoid the tag/category *spicy*
Fairy Roads and Forgotten Paths: When Victorian Travelers Feared the Otherworld
Pioneers spoke of wandering lights—will-o’-the-wisps—that danced across the plains. Some called them swamp gas, others fairy fires, but the effect was the same: men and women followed them, entranced, until they were thoroughly lost.
The Schoolmistress of Cottonwood Springs
The schoolhouse stood at the edge of town, a simple building with fresh whitewash and newly mended steps. Inside, she found the windows cleaned, the floorboards swept, and the stove blackened and ready for the coming winter.
The Schoolmistress of Thistle Creek
Verity Hartley lay still in her narrow bed, the linen sheets crisp against her skin despite the warmth dawning beyond the glass panes. The larkspur grew just outside her window—planted by her own hand in memory of her mother—and it was from their gentle rustling, not the clamor of mining carts or the distant shouts of early risers, that she’d awoken. A lark chirruped atop the garden gate, its warble interrupting the morning hush.
Petals of the Past
The results confirmed what she remembered about lavender representing devotion and loyalty. But her breath caught when she read the complete meaning of white violets: “Let’s take a chance on happiness” was the romantic interpretation, but they also traditionally meant “innocence” and, in some contexts, “secrecy.”
Jed's Wild Ride - A Pony Express Tale, part 2 (of 2)
A rifle shot cracked through the quiet, the bullet slicing past Jed’s ear with a hiss like an angry rattler. He kicked Comet into a hard gallop...
🐦⬛The Curse of the Crimson Tent
That night, as the townsfolk came from far and wide to see the show, Augie couldn’t shake the feeling in his gut. He could see it in his men’s shoulders, taut as rigging rope. But the show went on.