Laurel A. Rockefeller's Blog, page 2

Study Questions from Chapter One of “Cleopatra VII : Student-Teacher edition.”

Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous women in history. What most people know about her comes from political slander spread by Emperor Caesar Augustus — Octavian, nephew to Gaius Julius Caesar.

The real woman was much more interesting.

Here are the study questions that follow and relate to chapter one of “Cleopatra VII.”

We begin Cleopatra’s story in the middle of her civil war with brother Ptolemy Theos Philopator.  Compare and contrast Cleopatra’s personality with her...

Study Questions from Chapter Two of “Hypatia of Alexandria: Student-Teacher edition.”

Hypatia of Alexandria has the only textbook edition to be recorded in both regular edition and audio edition (see links at end of this post). Her story is one of courage in the face of both antisemitic and anti-education violence. As the very last librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria, she saw her entire world destroyed in her sixty year life.

Here are the study questions that follow and relate to chapter two of”Hypatia of Alexandria.”

Hypatia works at learning how to re...

Cover Art Evolution: Thirteen Years of the Great Succession Crisis

Prince Yubi leaves his ship in “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince.”

August 12th, 2012. For the very first time I upload a book to Smashwords.com. The effort, a sci-fi novel originally intended to be fan fiction for the cherished 1983 scifi series for children called “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince,” takes two years to write. In the end, that single book became a five book series with the final book “Princess Anyu Returns” becoming the story closest to BZAP.

2012 covers. Only t...

Study Questions from Chapter Two of “Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd : Student-Teacher edition.”

886 CE map showing Dehubarth (light green) in central Wales. Gwenllian’s native homeland, Gwynedd, is the dark orange kingdom in the northwest.

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd is the national heroine of Wales. In a time where women rarely led armies, she ably defended her central Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth with her husband Gruffydd ap Rhys for over 20 years. For this, she is often called the “Welsh Maid Marion.”

Here are the study questions that follow and relate to chapter two of “Gw...

Study Questions from Chapter Two of “Boudicca: Student-Teacher edition.”

Written in 2014, Boudicca is my best-selling narrative biography, regardless of format. As the inaugural book to the Legendary Women of World History series, it is usually the first book people explore when considering my work.

Here are the study questions that follow and relate to chapter two of “Boudicca.”

Prasutagus seems immediately enamored by Boudicca.  What motivates him to offer Boudicca marriage so soon after they meet? What reasons might Boudicca have to accept him?...

Tea Tree Oil Spray Recipe

Bed bugs are a nuisance. Even with encasements covering my bed and pillows and even with a metal bed frame, I recently found myself dealing with another round of bed bugs. Granted these precautions greatly limited the infestation, but nothing is perfect.

Bed bug climbing my bedroom wall. July 2025

A friend searched and found this recipe for a tea tree oil spray that is pet safe that I am using in my office where I am getting bitten. My computer is mere inches from my birds’ ...

Study Questions from Chapter one of “Catherine de Valois : Student-Teacher edition.”

I love Shakespeare — or at least I did before writing the Legendary Women of World History series. Mythbusting Shakespeare’s beloved play Henry V inspired the second book in the Legendary Women of World History: Catherine de Valois. I wanted to know who the real Catherine was compared to the character in Shakespeare’s play. What I found opened my eyes and was fun to write.

A pet Psittacula parakeet (called popinjays) from a 1287 book illumination.

Those of you who enjoy the Life wit...

Study Questions from Chapter One of “Empress Wu Zetian: Student-Teacher edition.”

Empress Wu Zetian is one of the most influential women of all time. Born Wu Zhao to Chancellor Wu Shihuo, she was married off to Emperor Taizong in 638 CE as one of many “cai ren” concubines, a rank so low that most rarely met the emperor, let alone slept with him.

But Wu Zhao was different, quickly becoming a trusted secretary and advisor to the emperor. The rest is, well, history.

Here are the study questions that follow and relate to chapter one of “Empress Wu Zetian” entitled “Cai...

Bottled Water Taste Test: What is in your bottled water?

Water is life. Yet taste matters. Since moving to Pennsylvania over ten years ago I’ve been unable to drink tap water. Pennsylvania is an energy state which means our water is so polluted that it tastes like coal or gasoline. Strip mining (the inspiration for my novella, The Poisoned Ground), fraking, and powering our electricity with fossil fuels means our water, even if safe, no longer tastes drinkable.

It’s a horrible, predatory pattern to make water taste so bad you have to pay for bo...

Darkness and Light: Behind the Scenes to “Princess Anyu Returns”

Prince Yubi from “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince.” Played by Christopher Burton, the 1983 series was about a prince who flees to Earth in exile from the evil lord Zanu.

Princess Anyu is presently the final book in the Peers of Beinan series. Published in 2015, it is part dark romance, part sci-fi thriller, and part heroic adventure. Of all the books in this series Returns contains the most of the original, fan-fiction draft for the series, following the same basic plot line of a royal...