Excerpt from newest work--

 I have two projects in the works right now- Soul Garden and this project which will be a full novel. Take a look and stay in touch for more excerpts and updates 

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 Her breath came in short painful bursts as she pushed herself to run faster down the beaten earth path that lead from the village center to her small cabin- a hovel, really, - on the edge of the wood. The same path that village women and young girls would steal down at dusk or just before dawn -whenever the light would assure that they would be less likely to be seen – to trade heads of cabbages or a small fish caught in the burbling creek for a Simple or a Tincture that would soothe the occasional tooth ache or stomach ailment. A silver coin or a pretty locket could get  a young girl the tea necessary to rid herself of an unwanted child before it had a chance to quicken in the womb, with a gold coin or brooch being able to procure the ointment needed to grow such a child should it be wanted.  

   The village men came as well but were more cautious and arrived in the dead of the night. These desperate souls sought salves and oils that would beguile their beloved, washes that would bring out the most of their manhood and powders that would restore lustrous hair at both scalp and chin. In payment they would bring the odd ax head or pine branch fashioned into a fishing pole. A garden hoe was a true boon and would insure that extra Boneset and Eyebright be added to their potions. But for those potions and brews requested that would end a neighbor’s prosperous garden or do away with  a prized calf coin was the only payment accepted and Elsbeth had gathered a middling sized purse over the years. Squirreling away each silver as insurance against an uncertain future it now seemed rather pointless. She was being chased down by the very dolts who had come to her for help and they wanted her hide. The grand irony in it all is that they were screaming for her death due to a recent still-birth and not one of her doing. She had neither assisted in the birth nor the death of this child – this time