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 Changeling’s Price
But Eilis saw the flash of fear in her mother’s eyes when the baby turned its golden gaze toward her. That evening, when this unusual creature refused to nurse and remained silent even as her mother sobbed over it, Eilis watched her father place protective herbs above the doorframes.
Scene From A Maple
She wore a green dress, the color of spring grass, and tiny violet-colored slippers with gold bells on the toes. She looked down at them too, and waved.
"Oh my gosh!" they both squealed, excited to see a real live fairy. She fluttered down and smiled at the two girls.
Flowers of the Frontier
The fascination with floriography was not just limited to England. It quickly spread to the United States, where Victorian women in the more established cities of the East also adopted the practice of communicating through flowers.
🐦⬛ Declan Turner & the Banshee
As Declan rounded a bend in the path, he stopped short. A thrill of fear shot through him. Ahead, a woman stood with her back to him, facing the stone wall that overlooked the coast.
Irish Fairy Folklore: The Banshee
Even in contemporary times, belief in the banshee lingers in parts of Ireland. There are stories of people claiming to hear unexplained wails in the night before the passing of a loved one.