Then Comes a Wind
by RJ Stewart
A finalist for the Colorado Author's League 2015 mainstream fiction award, RJ Stewart's debut novel, Then Comes a Wind, is available at Barnes & Noble, Thrift Books, and Amazon.
What it's about: The Suttons have filed a claim and set out to own a section of U.S Government land in the barren Sand Hills of Western Nebraska. Life in this harsh environment is hard, and the Sutton family suffers terrible loss. But cattle interests have other ideas about how the land should be used, and they aim to push the homesteaders out.
Read an excerpt: Three days later, on Tuesday, the little girl was buried on the high hill northwest of the soddie. Sutton found scrap wood to make a cross. Almy had never used a brace, but Sutton told her how and she bored four holes and used bolts and nuts to fasten the pieces together so it would be sturdy. They worked together to smooth the wood and then Almy carved the inscription as carefully as she could, and Sutton helped. It read, "Viola Sutton, 1901-1907." There was not enough wood for a burial box, so the neighbors dressed Farmer in her own clothes and wrapped the body in the only wool blanket they had. Almy asked for the handkerchief Farmer usually wore around her neck, and she asked Maddie to tie it in her brown hair. When Maddie did, she said, "There you are, Viola. You look so pretty today." Almy turned away before her tears betrayed her hurt.
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