I am a writer of historical fiction, a bookseller, and a former instructor of English literature and women’s studies.

My Tudor-era novel Dark Lady: A Novel of Emilia Bassano Lanyer tells about one of the first women to publish poetry in English, an early feminist, and possibly the “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets. My second Tudor-era novel, Flight of the Duchess, recounts the story of Katherine Willoughby, Baroness Willoughby de Eresby and Duchess of Suffolk, who goes from devout Catholic to an ardent supporter of the Protestant Reform Movement in England, fleeing for her life with her husband and children to the Continent, where they travel in a covered wagon across Europe. Flight of the Duchess is currently being considered for publication.

Under the name Lily Charles, my wife Libby Ware and I write The Molly and Emma Booksellers Series. Murder at the Estate Sale (Black Opal Books, 2020) and Murder at the Book Fair (Black Opal Books, 2023) The Molly and Emma Booksellers Series follow
two women booksellers who investigate murders involving antiquarian or collectible books.

In 2009, I retired from Georgia State University’s Women’s Studies Institute where I taught and served as program administrator. Since retirement, I write on my own and with my wife Libby Ware. We also sell antiquarian and collectible books and ephemera through her book business, Toadlily Books.

I belong to two writers’ groups, one that I helped found. I belong to the Atlanta Writers Club and the Georgia Writers Association. I am a Fellow of the Hambidge Center for the Arts and held a residency at the Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico.

Besides writing, I enjoy taking pictures of the gardens and woods around Atlanta and the fields and pastures of central Florida where Libby’s mother lives on a cattle ranch. I belong to the First Existentialist Congregation where I help secure speakers and serve on guilds.

Libby and I live in Atlanta with our dog Grover, who also loves books.