Yuletide: A Jane Austen-Inspired Collection of Stories (The Quill Collective) - Softcover

Nine months after its inception, my third anthology Rational Creatures was born October 2018. It had been a long journey, corralling sixteen authors, working with a new proofer, and implementing lots of DIY promotion ideas. I think it's the best anthology I have ever been a part of--and I am so grateful of all who helped make it a work to be proud of. I loved that collection of stories written by strong women about some of Austen's strongest female characters and had been reflecting much on the research library at Chawton Great House, the Centre for the Study of Early Women's Writing. In the spring of 2017, I had the good fortune to visit Chawton House (the manor of Jane Austen's brother Edward Austen Knight), as well as the Cottage, along with author Joana Starnes, blogger Mira Magdo, and my dear Mr B. That magical day left a lasting impression on me and I dream of one day returning. Never one to idle long--I was waiting on the manuscript from another author to do a full edit (I suppose we can blame/thank Leigh Dreyer's manuscript delay for this project!) --and about a week before the #RationalCreatures two-month blog tour was to end, I decided I needed to publish a holiday anthology. In an inspired moment, I thought "How about a Christmas-themed anthology and give all the proceeds to Chawton Great House." Easy as that, I asked my anthology authors and explained we would have less than a month to make it to holiday market and was anyone interested?  Unlike previous anthologies, I could not pay them for their stories and asked them to please donate their work to this project. After a day, I started doubting myself and thinking this was too ambitious a turn-around time when I woke up to an email from Caitlin Williams, offering a delicious Regency story. After reading it, I decided I had to go forward with this impossible venture (her story had all the elements that I love in a holiday Regency romance!) Within two days, six more dauntless authors joined this endeavor and we published YULETIDE in less than a month!

In a mad flurry, the authors wrote quality Pride and Prejudice stories on-demand and others have donated their time and creativity to produce this Christmas collection of five Regency and two contemporary stories, in hopes that ALL the proceeds might help in the continuation of good work at the Great House, ensuring the work of women writers will continue to be discovered and treasured long into the future. I hope you enjoy this collection in the same affectionate spirit it was created. Thank you for supporting this effort and Chawton Great House.

"This is a must-read if you love Pride and Prejudice-inspired stories, and it would make a perfect Christmas gift for the JAFF fan in your life." -- Diary of an Eccentric 

"...the readers who are addicted to the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies will expect there to be plenty of treacle and twee, while those who prefer the deeper message of A Christmas Carol will require some substance. I am happy to say that there is a mixture of sentiment and parable in Yuletide...plotting, character development, and resolution was textbook and really made their stories sing. For me, they were the big red bow that made this anthology a gift." --AUSTENPROSE

"...like snowflakes, each story of this collection is wonderfully unique and distinctly beautiful! And the whole collection together is an enchanting and exquisite Christmas scene that truly is a generous gift to all!" --Austenesque Reviews

"This Anthology was the perfect book to finish my year, it is diverse with a little bit of everything but also consistency in the quality of the writing and the ability to keep the reader engaged." -- From Pemberley to Milton, YULETIDE:  FAVOURITE BOOKS 2018