Coal Dust on Purple Asters is a trilogy of short fiction centered around the hardship and hope found in the coal country of rural Kentucky. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

My mother grew up as a coal miner’s daughter in Knott County, Kentucky, during the 1930s and 40s. While her family’s reality was often defined by hardship and poverty, my grandmother’s stories also sparkled with the resilience of people who found dignity and contentment despite those struggles. As a writer, I felt a natural pull toward those memories. While the stories in this collection are fictionalized, there is a deep kernel of truth in each one that honors my family’s history.

Coal is both a livelihood and a threat throughout the book. What conversations or research influenced how you portrayed the tension between pride in mining and its human cost?

It is a profound contrast. In the 1920s and 30s, the mines were treacherous — thick with dust and the constant threat of roof collapses. Yet, for many, the mines offered a “decent” living that farming or blacksmithing simply couldn’t provide. There is a specific kind of pride in doing a dangerous, difficult job well, and the men who entered those tunnels with pickaxes felt that deeply. My portrayal of this tension was heavily influenced by the oral histories passed down through my mother’s family, capturing both the physical toll on the land and the quiet pride of the workers.

Despite loss and hardship, the book keeps returning to hope. How do you balance darkness and grace in your storytelling?

I believe the human spirit naturally gravitates toward the light. The mining families of that era faced immense obstacles, but they didn’t face them in isolation; they lived in tight-knit, fiercely supportive communities. By focusing on that communal strength, the “grace” emerges naturally. It’s about showing how people cling to one another in the dark, how the sun still manages to break through a cloud of coal dust.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

I enjoyed the short story format so much that I am currently completing another trilogy of fiction. This new project remains in the same time period but shifts the setting to the farmlands of Northeast Tennessee. There isn’t a firm release date yet, but I’ll share more updates soon!

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