About

I graduated from SIU School of Law (now Simmons School of Law) in Carbondale, Illinois with a J.D. in 1985 (B.A. in history, minor in classics, 1982, from SIU). Over the years, I have practiced law in New York State from a home office and written articles and other material for publishers of legal reference books. Legal history and international law were my favorite subjects in law school.

Besides the Authors Guild, I am a member of the New York bar, Selden Society, and Francis Bacon Society. I am a featured contributor at SirBacon.org.

I am the mother of three grown offspring (one of whom, Lane Waldman, illustrated "The Voice of the Wooden Dragon"). My children's novel, "The Voice of the Wooden Dragon," is dedicated to my two grandchildren. I first drafted it in the summer of 1983, after completing the first year of law school, with Constitutional law concepts like "free speech" and "a jury of one's peers" fresh in my mind.

"Listen to the makers of dreams, for they are the guardians of wonder." --Flavia

Featured Work

"Francis Bacon's Hidden Hand in Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice': A Study of Law, Rhetoric, and Authorship" (New York, Algora Publishing)

2018

This book explores the question: "Who is Bellario?" in Shakespeare's play, "The Merchant of Venice," and what does his presence in the play tell us about the possible involvement of Francis Bacon in the play's authorship? It uses as a jumping-off place Mark Edwin Andrews' "Law versus Equity in 'The Merchant of Venice': A Legalization of Act IV, Scene 1" (Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 1965).

Bellario is the old Italian jurist who supplies Portia with notes and garments for her court appearance before the Duke, on behalf of Antonio in the court case, "Shylock versus Antonio." Little notice is usually taken of him. He never appears on stage; yet, he is the guiding spirit of the play. What does he stand for?

Writing this book was like a treasure hunt where one clue led to another, taking me deeper and deeper into the writings and life of Francis Bacon, connections between law and literature, and even back to the legal renaissance of the twelfth century which began in Bologna with Irnerius who taught the Justinian Code, much of which had just been rediscovered after being lost for four centuries. The book explores the prudence of looking both backward and forward, Janus-style, in law and life.

Does it matter who wrote Shakespeare? It is an intriguing literary question to be sure, but if one begins to see Francis Bacon's hand in the plays, one will never look at them in the same way again, for he was wise, learned, and a lover of humanity who sought its betterment. People don't really know Francis Bacon, so they are sometimes too quick to make surface judgments, but the truth lies beneath the surface in this case, as in many, and requires a bit of digging.

The book also includes, in an appendix, UK forensic handwriting analyst Maureen Ward-Gandy's 25-page report, "Elizabethan Era Writing Comparison for Identification of 'Common Authorship'" (1992) in which she concludes that there is a high probability that the handwriting in the play fragment found in binder's waste in 1988--which has been called an "analog" to Shakespeare's "The First Part of Henry the Fourth" (dubbed "Play of Thieves and a Gullible Tapster" by the Folger Lost Plays Database)--is that of Francis Bacon (p. 20).

Other Works

  • "Evaluating the Oxfraud Prima Facie Case for Shaxpere's Authorship of Shakespeare"

    2025. PDF. SirBacon.org.

  • "So Desiring You to be Good to Concealed Poets ...,"

    2025. PDF. SirBacon.org.

  • "The Voice of the Wooden Dragon," fantasy novel for ages 8-18 (Buffalo: NFB Publishing)

    2024

  • (Foreword to) "The Bacon Shakespeare Question: The Baconian Theory Made Sane," by N.B. Cockburn (1998), reprinted by The Francis Bacon Society

    2024

  • "Review of María José Falcón y Tella, 'The Law in Cervantes and Shakespeare.' Translation by Dierdre B. Jerry of 'El Derecho en Cervantes y Shakespeare' (Marcial Pons, 2021). Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2021." Baconiana.

    2024

  • "Lewis the Giraffe." Short story. EastoftheWeb.com. August 22, 2024

    2024

  • Essay, "Challenging the Lie in a Free Society: Even in Shakespeare Authorship Studies?" PDF. SirBacon.org. Oct. 20, 2023

    2023

  • "Review of N. B. Cockburn, 'The Bacon Shakespeare Question: The Baconian Theory Made Sane' (1998): A Classic Worth Reprinting." PDF. SirBacon.org. May 15, 2023

    2023

  • "Why Did Elizabeth Winkler Not Interview Any Baconians?" PDF. SirBacon.org. July 9, 2023

    2023

  • "The King of Maragor." Skipping Stones: A Multicultural Literary Magazine, Sept. 5, 2023

    2023

  • "Reports of the Death of the Case for Francis Bacon’s Authorship of Shakespeare Have Been Greatly Exaggerated!" PDF. SirBacon.org. Aug. 5, 2022

    2022

  • Poem, "Bard of the Yard." Westward Quarterly

    2021. Reprinted 2024, The Nature of Our Times, Poetsforscience.org

  • Short story, "Something to Look Forward To." Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things. Oct. 27, 2021

    2021

  • "Review of 'Second-Seeing Shakespeare: Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?' by Peter Dawkins." PDF. SirBacon.org. April 24, 2020

    2020

  • "'Anti-Machiavel: A Discourse upon the Means of Well Governing' by Innocent Gentillet, Simon Patericke, Ryan Murtha" (review)," Modern Language Review 115.3 (2020). 682-84

    2020

  • "Review of 'Francis Bacon’s Contribution to Shakespeare: A New Attribution Method' by Barry R. Clarke." PDF. SirBacon.org. Oct. 1, 2019

    2019

  • Poem, "About Hand-Me-Downs." Hopscotch for Girls magazine

    1999

  • Profile, "Iris Foils Them All." Guideposts for Kids (about Iris Zimmerman, world-champion teen fencer of Rochester, New York)

    1996

Press and Media Mentions