Teaser Tuesday: The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace

One there was a woman who, through strange and random circumstances, jost her job. She took it hard, as might be expected, for she was down on her luck anyway.

-- From "The Panhandler" one of 64 very short stories about women in The Hot Climate of Promise and Grace by Steven Nightingale, published by Counterpoint Press.

The stories in Nightingale's book really were collected, not made up out of his head. He provides a note before each one explaining where the story came from, usually something about who told it to him and the circumstances of the telling, or that it is a biography of a woman he met or loved. He packs 64 stories into 220 pages, so none are more than a few pages, some are only one page long, all celebrate the remarkable women Nightingale has encountered throughout his life.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB at Books and a Beat, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.