Known to many for her African American cautionary tales, Tiffani Quarles Sanders, an African American Historical Fiction author was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1976.
Growing up in Alabama, she cherished the moments spent listening to her grandparents’ captivating tales about their lives in rural Alabama. Among their stories, she developed a deep affinity for the narratives that delved into the hardships endured by the grandparents of her grandparents, who had once been enslaved.
In 2015, she started her independent publishing company, Hollow Bridge Publishing LLC. With four African American Historical Fiction Books: Unthinkable Sins, Unthinkable Sins 2, Runaway Soul, and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, she has sold nearly 20,000 books and over 2.1 million reads on Kindle.
Since 2016, her book “Unthinkable Sins” has consistently maintained its position on the top 100 lists for Black and African American Historical Fiction.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from Alabama State University. In May of this year, she retired from Montgomery Public School System with over 25 years of teaching experience. Twenty-three years ago, she married the love of my life, Christopher. They have two children: Christopher Jr. and Lauren Elizabeth.
BPM: Why did you name this Series-The Bible Belt Series?
Growing up, going to church was a must in my community. I was baptized at the age of nine on July 14, 1985 under the leadership of Rev. Edward Martin at Bethel Baptist Missionary Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Though we went to my church on most Sundays in Montgomery, on special occasions, we would go over to my mother’s home church in rural Lowndes County, located between Selma and Montgomery. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my pastor, Rev. Martin, but Rev. Fountain had a way of driving the message home for me. I remember on every visit, before he gave the message to the congregation, he would always start out with a song. And if it was Amazing Grace, I would look around the church and wonder who would be the first to catch the Holy Spirit. Most times, it would be my Grandma Tee who sent up a praise and started the shouting. Once the ushers settled those that had gotten ‘happy’ or caught the Holy Spirit, Rev. Fountain would give the scripture for that day from the King James Version of the bible, then tell a story that was related to the scripture.
From that young age until today, I understood that the Bible collectively offered guidance to us during good as well as bad times. The bible can comfort us and warn us from harm and danger.
Published annually, the Bible Belt Series will include African American Historical Fiction stories that bring to life an event from our painful past. These stories not only give information but parallel how the teaching and warnings from the Bible hold true today. Each book from the Bible Belt Series is centered around a scripture in the bible. I pray that each person that reads these books has a better understanding and appreciation of the sacrifice many African Americans made who came before us.
BPM: Why are you publishing Reap on Juneteenth of this year?
Juneteenth is just around the corner, and it’s good that we celebrate the holiday now. I was in my twenties when my Grandma Tee, who was ninety something years old then, told me a story that was told to her by her Grandma Luvenia, a slave here in Alabama. Grandma Luvenia and everyone who lived on their plantation got word of their freedom one night. I remember asking what happened once they understood that they were free. Grandma Tee said that Luvenia and the people of the plantation got a fire going, sat together, and sang hymns. My grandmother began naming and singing some of the songs that were sung that night. For the life of me, I don’t know why I didn’t write down some of the songs she sang that night or try to find a tape recorder so I could have it to tell my kids. When you are in your 20s, you sometimes think that you have plenty of time to write down or record loved ones. But a year or two later, she went home to be with the Lord.
When I started this journey of writing, my kids weren’t interested in the history of our family and our community. One by one, I watched one person after the other pass onto glory land, taking with them their experiences of hardship and triumph in the Jim Crow south.
In my latest book, Reap, it tells the stories that black families would whisper to each other during reunions. After reading my book, I hope during this time of celebration, that we are able to reflect on our past while making sure that we share our own family history with our younger family members.
BPM: What are other historical books that you have published in the past?
I have published four African American Fiction stories: Unthinkable Sins 1; Unthinkable Sins 2: The Family, Runaway Soul, and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie. All are available on Amazon Kindle and Audiobook.
BPM: What were the key challenges you faced when writing this book?
Writing about our history involves addressing many challenging and dark aspects that we, as a race, have overcome. My biggest problem is balancing the darkness and despair with elements of hope, resilience, and progress.
BPM: Please share something our readers wouldn’t know about you.
As a child living in Montgomery, Alabama, I thought that everybody’s parents and grandparents protested in the civil rights movement. My parents, while attending Alabama State University in the early 1960’s protested along with some of their classmates. My maternal grandmother participated during the Selma to Montgomery March. My paternal grandmother resisted using the bus system during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Even the neighborhood that I grew up in had many great people. Our neighbor to the right attended Tuskegee University and George Washington Carver was his professor while he attended. Our neighbor on the left was one the few Black dentists in Montgomery. The neighbor behind our home was the son of Aurelia Browder who was arrested before Rosa Parks. Mrs. Browder and others in the case of Browder vs. Gayle made Alabama desegregate its buses. We had many neighbors, along with my dad, who became the first person of color employed when businesses began diverse hiring practices in Montgomery.
BPM: Introduce us to your most recent work. Bring each character to life!
Reap starts out at the home of Sam and Annie Lawson, an elderly couple alone with their granddaughter, Liz, a bright, observant, book-loving girl who longed to continue her education past the primary grades. Living on the Moore’s plantation as sharecroppers in 1931, life had been hard for them, but the love they had for each other and family kept them hopeful for a better day.
But when the wife of the plantation owner Mary Moore, decides she wants Liz to drop out of school and become her private maid, Annie calls on her friends, the Miller siblings, to save Liz without risking eviction for her family.
As they work out a plan to free Liz from Mary Moore’s clutches and secretly get her off the plantation, the Millers reach deep into the pain of their past, harkening back to the 1870s and confronting the moment when Bill Moore altered their lives forever. As an influential and powerful white man in the deep south, Bill was never charged for his crimes, leaving the Millers devastated and forever caught in the shadow of his vile act. However, at the end, one thing is for sure: Mr. Bill Moore will Reap what he has sown.
BPM: What projects are you working on at the present?
I am presently working on the second of three installments of the Bible Belt series and hope to have it ready by next year.
BPM: Do you have a Goodreads or Facebook community?
You can follow me on Goodreads and Facebook:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6027309.Tiffani_Quarles_Sanders https://www.facebook.com/p/Tiffani-Quarles-Sanders-100050362515365/
Reap: The Bible Belt Series by Tiffani Quarles Sanders
ALABAMA 1931:
Annie Lawson thanked the Lord everyday for the life she and her husband, Sam, had made for themselves as sharecroppers on the Moore plantation. They were even more blessed to raise their granddaughter Liz, a bright, observant, book-loving girl who longed to continue her education past the primary grades. But when Mary Moore decides she wants Liz to drop out of school and become her private maid, Annie calls on her friends, the Miller siblings, to save Liz without risking eviction for her family.
As they work out a plan to free Liz from Mary Moore’s clutches and secret her off the plantation, the Millers reach deep into the pain of their past, harkening back to the 1870s and confronting the moment when Bill Moore altered their lives forever. As an influential and powerful white man in the deep south, Bill was never charged for his crimes, leaving the Millers devastated and forever caught in the shadow of his vile act.
Discover how decades of simmering evil come to a boil in Reap. For Bill Moore, the lesson is clear: A man will reap what he has sown.
Reap: The Bible Belt Series by Tiffani Quarles Sanders
Genre: African American Historical Fiction
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJLT4HGF