"Stories about family, legacy, marriage, divorce, religion, all of them played out in relentless weather and under an all-encompassing sky. . . . These female writers come from a storied place most often described from the perspective of the men credited with shaping it. . . . This collection adds insightful dimension to a surprisingly inspiring place." Fort Worth Star-Telegram"A moving and engaging collection of short stories often set in demanding rural conditions. . . . We learn how the seemingly blank, barren expanse that is West Texas is really a landscape of sublime and subtle opulence....

"Stories about family, legacy, marriage, divorce, religion, all of them played out in relentless weather and under an all-encompassing sky. . . . These female writers come from a storied place most often described from the perspective of the men credited with shaping it. . . . This collection adds insightful dimension to a surprisingly inspiring place." Fort Worth Star-Telegram"A moving and engaging collection of short stories often set in demanding rural conditions. . . . We learn how the seemingly blank, barren expanse that is West Texas is really a landscape of sublime and subtle opulence....

Jane Gilmore Rushing grew up in Pyron, a Texas town no longer in existence, and from childhood she knew that she would be a writer. In seven novels produced between 1963 and 1984, she built her stories around themes that few West Texas writers had dared to tackle. Much of her work centers on cotton farms and early ranches in a land she calls the too-late frontier. Those not familiar with her novels might find it surprising that Rushing s plots explore such sensitive topics as an affair between a mulatto girl and a West Texas cowboy, or the painful recognition in an early-nineteenth-century...

These stories, running the gamut of human relationships, the colorful panorama of Texas settings, and a bountiful catalog of unique characters, are evaluated and interpreted by women who each has her own special connection with the state and her own private ringside seat for viewing the tragicomedy we call human experience. Topics, all written by women, include place affecting attitude, feisty women challenging traditional roles, masculine points of view, the sensibilities of children, the gap in understanding between grandparent and grandchild, the tenuous nature of ties between men and...