As of mid-December Amazon’s No. 1 Bestseller for historical fiction anthologies was the The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories:  Pioneering Women of the West, which includes my tale “The Hope Chest” among 16 short stories.

As a result, I can now claim to be a best-selling author!  Or, at least 1/16^th of a best selling author, thanks to my fellow writers.  If you’re looking for an old-school gift for Christmas—a book—you might want to check out The Spoilt Quilt, which has received great reviews from Library Journal and Booklist.

As a bit of background, “The Hope Chest” is based on family folklore of how my great grandmother escaped her Alabama home to come to Texas and marry her childhood sweetheart, who her overbearing father had driven out of Cleburne County, Alabama.  I am honored to share this story with those of fifteen other fine writers in the anthology, edited by long-time editor friend Hazel Rumney.

Booklist (10-15-19) offered this review, including a mention of my short story:  “Each piece in this 16-story, female-focused anthology packs a punch. The heroines confront death, disease, rape, domestic violence, and poverty, all while living in an era that denies them equal legal status . . . it’s about personal strength in a time and place when that was often the only resource an individual had in excess.  To that end, The Spoilt Quilt provides brief glimpses of optimism in an otherwise overcast world.”

“If the male settlers of the western frontier found life demanding, desolate, and deadly, The Spoilt Quilt makes a convincing case that it was even worse for women.  Each piece in this 16-story, female-focused anthology packs a punch.  The heroines confront death, disease, rape, domestic violence, and poverty, all while living in an era that denies them equal legal status. But that is not to say the main characters lack agency; each woman fights back to the best of her ability regardless of the unfortunate scenario plotted out for her. Some use misdirection (“The Spoilt Quilt”), some use trained skills (“The Well-Witcher’s Daughter,” “Berserker on the Prairie”), some use cunning (“The Hope Chest”), some use pure, unbridled rage (“The Devil’s Rope,” “Abandoned Places”). This collection isn’t necessarily about winners and losers—if it were, many of these women would be failures, and the stories too grim to read.  Rather, it’s about personal strength in a time and place when that was often the only resource an individual had in excess. To that end, The Spoilt Quilt provides brief glimpses of optimism in an otherwise overcast world.— Sarah Steers”

So, if you are wanting a reading experience with grit and heart, you should check out The Spoilt Quilt at Amazon.