Jake Richard writes emotionally charged contemporary romance and romantic suspense stories built around betrayal, power, secrets, and the kind of love that must be chosen—not forced. His stories often explore strong heroines who are underestimated, wounded, or pushed into impossible situations, only to rise with sharper courage and a clearer sense of self.With a focus on billionaire romance, enemies-to-lovers tension, forced marriage, family secrets, and high-stakes emotional confl...

The short stories written during and about World War I are often over shadowed by the excellent verse of the War Poets.Yet the short story is perhaps their equal in other ways. Within these succinct little time capsules of words are captured ideas, attitudes, feelings and life that are expressed in a few pages just as movingly, imaginatively and tellingly as in any other form.Some of these stories will be familiar but some may not. From Virginia Woolf to Katharine Mansfield...

A guide to Conjure as it has been practiced in the Deep South and passed down through the generations. "If you've always dreamt of sitting at the feet of a backwoods grandma as she teaches you the ways of folk magic, your wishes have been heard. Mama Starr is a true, living encyclopedia of down-home rootwork, and reading Living Conjure is like sitting down at the kitchen table with her as she explains the old ways that were handed down to her. If you've been curious about Conjure or mystif...

The Top 10 – Born in London – An IntroductionThe teeming metropolis of London has a long history of innovation. Amongst its most gilded are the literary talents of its world-famous authors. From Anthony Trollope and Daniel Defoe to Mary Shelley and Virginia Woolf and many others, have come iconic works that still to this day underpin our culture.Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our liv...

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soi...

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soi...

War may be rationalized as ‘diplomacy by other means’ but the reality is that when tribes, Nations and peoples bring themselves into armed conflict with one another mayhem, terror and slaughter are the result.In the First World War, The Great War, The War to End all Wars any idealistic aims that it was a ‘just cause’ and would be all over in a few months were shattered against the vast scale of millions dead or wounded all, for the often temporary gains of a few miles of shell-pock...

In this “great starting point for those hoping to practice Appalachian folk magic” (Publishers Weekly), conjure man Jake Richards shares the root work practices and traditional magic he learned from his family as he grew up in the hills and hollers of Appalachia.Who were the old conjurors and witches of Appalachia? What were their practices and beliefs? How can you learn the ways of conjuring for yourself? Appalachian folk magic and conjure are little know...

One of the greatest of English poets, Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, in 1552 and went to school at Merchant Taylors' School and later at Pembroke College, Cambridge.In 1579, he published The Shepheardes Calender, his first major work.Edmund journeyed to Ireland in July 1580, in the service of the newly appointed Lord Deputy, Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton. His time included the terrible massacre at the Siege of Smerwick.The epic poem, Th...

The United States has July 4th, Ireland St Patrick’s Day and France Bastille Day.Most Nations celebrate a particular day as ‘theirs’. That day is when they turn to themselves; to reflect on the past, to revel in the present and to look forward to the future.For England 23rd April is St George’s Day.St George, a hero from bygone days, who slays Dragons and pursues other mythic deeds, is part of childhood. But for modern times, for modern Nations, a greater purpose is...

Robert Laurence Binyon, CH, was born on 10th August 1869 in Lancaster in Lancashire, England to Quaker parents, Frederick Binyon and Mary Dockray.He studied at St Paul's School, London before enrolling at Trinity College, Oxford, to read classics.Binyon’s first published work was Persephone in 1890. As a poet, his output was not prodigious and, in the main, the volumes he did publish were slim, but his reputation was of the highest order. When the Poet Laureate, Alfred Aust...

A long-treasured but forgotten classic of folk healing, with an introduction and commentary by the author of Backwoods Witchcraft and Doctoring the Devil.Ossman & Steel’s Guide to Health or Household Instructor (its original title) is a collection of spells, remedies, and charms. The book draws from the old Pennsylvania Dutch and German powwow healing practices that in turn helped shape Appalachian folk healing, conjure, rootwork, and many folk he...