A Boy's Beowulf
This was the book for Austin's eighth birthday. It is an abridged version in ballad stanza of the first English epic . Copyright 2008, paperback, illustrated, 31 pages.
For a variety of reasons I have not published all my works for the world-wide public. A few books, such as the Panther Poetasters series that I have edited, have been made available exclusively to the authors involved. Others, such as those I have written for our children, are their special gifts. I once asked our son if he would like for me to make his books available to anyone, and he said no. He liked the idea that some books were only for him. This page simply records such works. They are not at this time available for purchase.
Alphabetica Latina Austini
The book for Austin's first birthday was an illustrated, rhyming, Latin alphabet book. Beginning with "A est pro Adamo, primo viro" and containing illustrative pictures from some of the great painting masters, the book presents the alphabet in an engaging, and distinctly Latin, way. Copyright 2001, cream laminated cover, spiral bound, illustrated, 53 pages.
I Went to the Park With My Daddy Today
On the first day of my summer vacation in 2002, Austin and I played in the park and took a trip to the library. I was struck on the way home by the rhythm of the sentence, "I went to the park with my daddy today." After arriving home, I wrote this rhyming story using the rhythm of that sentence. Copyright 2002, cream laminated cover, spiral bound, illustrated, 19 pages.
Austin Ray Plays Golf
In June of 2003, Austin played on a regulation golf course for the first time. The game involved Grandpa, Grandma, Mommy, and Daddy. This rhyming story tells the tale of how Austin began playing golf in the back yard before heading out to the links. Copyright 2003, green laminated cover, spiral bound, illustrated, 21 pages.
The Adventures of Austinus Radius
One Saturday I was proctoring an S.A.T. test and had nothing else to do, so I wrote a story. It involves a boy named Austin Ray who loves to dress up and play at being a Roman soldier. One day his daddy, a high school Latin teacher, brings home a plastic Roman sword, and Austin is in heaven. His backyard adventure transports him to ancient Rome, where the story kicks into high gear. Copyright 2004, paperback, 15 pages.
The Best Part of You
This rhyming story was the book for Olivia's first birthday. It included pictures of her and other items, such as blue diamonds, to which her eyes were compared. The best part, however, was the extra-big heart that she has. Copyright 2005, pink laminated cover, spiral bound, illustrated, 10 pages.
Cowboy Austin
Austin received this as a Christmas gift. He was participating in pre-school rodeo at the time and was a great cowboy. The story is about a young cowboy who finds a town being threatened by a fierce, black bear. The battle rages throughout the town and into the prairie beyond, but ultimately Cowboy Austin wins the day. This rhyming story features the rhythm of Macaulay's Horatius. Copyright 2005, hardback, illustrated, 24 pages.
The Ballade of Sir Alfred
Austin's sixth birthday was all about knights, and so his book for this year was a ballad-stanza poem about a king, a usurper to the throne, and a trusty knight who, being faithful to God and king, saved the day. Copyright 2006, hardback, illustrated, 29 pages.
Carmina Latina Oliviae
For her second birthday Olivia received a book of favorite children's songs in Latin. It includes such favorites as "Jesus Loves Me," "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider," and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Her brother, Austin, requested that "We Three Kings" be included because he had recently sung it at a Christmas play. Copyright 2007, paperback, illustrated, 25 pages.
Phidippides Allen Long
For his seventh birthday, Austin received his first chapter book from me. Phidippides tells the story of a boy who shares his name with the famous runner who reported the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. He accompanies his family on a trip to Greece where his dad, a Greek professor, works to discover the secret of the ancient Phidippides' speed. Unfortunately, such academic work is ruined when another professor steals the secret and goes back in time in an attempt to change history. Young Phidippides follows him back to the ancient world and saves the day with super speed of his own. Copyright 2007, paperback, 106 pages.
Frederick Finds the Cheese
I saw a red, yellow, and blue rolling mouse at a toy store and thought it would make a good "stocking stuffer" for the children at Christmas. And then I thought a book would be nice to go with it. Frederick tells the story of a mouse who risks life and fur in pursuit of cheese, only to come home and find that some has been provided for him. Copyright 2007, paperback, 22 pages.
Mary and the Angel
This was the book for Olivia's third birthday. It is a rhyming, illustrated version of the Annunciation. Copyright 2008, paperback, illustrated, 8 pages.
Tales of the Scarlet Speedster
I had not planned to write another book for Austin in 2008 after the one for his birthday, but he had gotten so interested in the DC Comics character The Flash, and it brought back so many memories from my childhood, that I wrote a collection of four Flash stories for him. I indulged Flash's and my own enjoyment of puns with titles such as "Echoes of Narcissus" and "Around the Day in 80 Worlds." Copyright 2008, paperback, illustrated, 55 pages.
Olivia's Tea Party
For Olivia's fourth birthday she received a rhyming, counting book. The story tells about a girl named Olivia who decides that a tea party is much more fun when all of your friends are there. As her friends arrive one by one, the numbers, and the fun, keep building. Copyright 2008, paperback, illustrated, 20 pages.
The Guard at the Tomb
The book for Austin's ninth birthday told the fictional story of Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, one of the guards at the tomb of Jesus. It draws heavily on the gospel accounts, as well as the fragments from the so-called Gospel of Peter. Copyright 2009, paperback, 103 pages.
Cherry the Sawdust Girl
Written for Olivia's fifth birthday, Cherry tells the story of a little girl named Carol whose farming parents cannot afford expensive toys. When she finally receives Cherry, a doll stuffed with sawdust, she discovers a special friend who teaches her something about Jesus. To go along with the book, Olivia received an actual doll stuffed with sawdust that came from the wood of a cherry tree cut down at her Papaw's house. Copyright 2009, paperback, illustrated, 41 pages.
Knight to C3
I had already begun writing a book about chess before Austin told us he wanted a chess-themed party for his tenth birthday. This book tells the story of a fourth grader who discovers his dad's chess set, develops a passion for the game, and uses strategies from classic grandmaster games to solve a mystery at his school. Copyright 2010, paperback, 161 pages.
Sally and the Sky Ponies
The idea for Olivia's fifth birthday story came about in the spring of 2010 when I was driving Austin and Olivia to school. Olivia asked me to tell them a story, so I began making up one about a little girl who had adventures when the cloud shapes she saw began to come to life. As soon as I got to school, I jotted down the ideas for what would become Sally and the Sky Ponies. This book tells the story of a little girl and her brother who visit their grandparents' farm. After spending the day riding a Cloud Pony, Sally has further adventures at night on her Sky Pony. Copyright 2011, paperback, 32 pages.
The Legend of Aeneas
For Austin's eleventh birthday, I wrote a version of the Aeneid for children. This was a true labor of love that started as a translation of Vergil's epic and turned into a prose work told through the eyes of Ascanius, the son of Aeneas. It follows closely the original and is told in twelve chapters to match Vergil's divisions. There is an epilogue and color plates of famous artwork from the Aeneid. Copyright 2011, paperback, 125 pages.
The Girl From Binfield
In 1714 Alexander Pope published "Upon a Girl of Seven Years Old," which he had written the previous year. The Girl From Binfield tells the imagined story behind this poem and seemed perfect for Olivia's seventh birthday. It tells of a girl in the rural town of Binfield who learns to appreciate literature and poetry from the Pope's mother and eventually meets the great poet herself, inspiring him to write his poem and launching her on the path to her dreams. Copyright 2012, paperback, 118 pages.
The Steel Centurion
As I pondered the topic for the book for our Austin's twelfth birthday, my eyes spotted the metallic figure of a centurion sitting on my desk. The entire story flashed through my mind almost instantly. It tells the tale of a young slave boy named Kouros, which is the Greek word for "boy," serving in a blacksmith's workshop in northern Italy during the 1st century A.D. Led by a legend to the forge of Vulcan in the heart of Mt. Vesuvius, Kouros, his owner, and a Roman soldier embark on an adventure to discover the secret to making a steel centurion. Along the way they encounter thieves, chariot races, and a volcanic eruption, to say nothing of the kindness that leads to freedom. Copyright 2012, paperback, 184 pages.
Arwyn of Blackwood Hall
This book for Olivia's eighth birthday was a first on several levels. I wrote the first draft entirely on my iPad. I had written most of The Girl From Binfield and The Steel Centurion on it, but this was the first to be composed entirely in that format. It is also the first book I have written that borrows characters from another of my books. It tells the story of Lady Arwyn, Sir Alfred, King William, and an evil knight named Margon, who were all introduced in The Ballade of Sir Alfred. The story opens with Arwyn and Alfred now married and living in Blackwood Hall with their children. Margon returns to threaten the kingdom, this time with an army of giants called the Bilschuung who live in the mountains nearby. Lady Arwyn ultimately saves the day with her archery skills. In yet another first, this is the first work I also published as an ebook. This book is a first in one more way. Austin designed the cover! Copyright 2013, paperback, 99 pages.
The Space Between
The book for Austin's thirteenth birthday had several influences. After having recently read The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, I wanted to write something in that vein. I have always been intrigued by the atomic theory put forth by Lucretius in his 1st century B.C. poem De Rerum Natura, and the two came neatly together. The Space Between tells the story of a 19th century Boston scientist who takes Lucretius seriously and devises a machine that enables him to enter the space between the atoms that make up reality. Unforeseen disaster ensues, and the doctor must once again enter the space between if he is to have any hope of saving the world. I contacted Leiden University in the Netherlands, and they were kind of enough to send me a copy of the oldest surviving manuscript of Lucretius featuring Book II.216-218, whose lines are central to the story. I used that image for the cover and within the book. Copyright 2013, paperback, 97 pages
A Swim To Freedom
This was the book for Olivia's ninth birthday. It tells the story of Cloelia, the girl who escaped her Etruscan captors and led her fellow hostages to freedom across the Tiber River. The book uses facts from Books 1 and 2 of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita and includes the tales of Horatius at the bridge and Mucius Scaevola. We watch this young girl transform from playful child to mature leader at one of the most exciting times in Roman history, the end of the Kingdom and beginning of the Republic. Copyright 2014, paperback, 95 pages.
Panther Poetasters
In 2005, math teacher Paul Brown sent me a rhyming email. At the time my A.P. Latin students were reading Catullus' poem about the day he spent with his friend Licinius experimenting with different meters. The result was that a group of teachers, dubbing themselves Panther Poetasters after our school's mascot and an appropriately humble estimation of our abilities, began to play with a variety of poetic compostions. The project continued through 2008, and each year we published for our own enjoyment a collection of our efforts. Copyrights 2006, 2007, 2008, paperback.
The Libri Juliani Project
The Libri Juliani Project was a student-author endeavor sponsored by the North Central High School Junior Classical League. Our students wrote and illustrated a book based on Greco-Roman mythology which was then be read and distributed to children who were victims of domestic violence in Indianpolis. Copyright 2008, paperback, illustrated, 40 pages.
