Children of Steel: Short Fiction from Our Historic Steel Mill Towns

The colorful, nostalgic stories in Children of Steel, while fiction, parallel the true histories of the communities they are set in. While I don't live in a steel town, I've lived in the same regions as some, in an era during which some of these tales took place, and the most of the authors seem to be writing what they know. The writing styles are as varied as their subjects, most of which I found entertaining. and the writer biographies at the end can be mined for further reading material from the authors you like. I can't say the editor's introduction resonated with me, but I'm grateful she assembled this book.

I really enjoyed this book. The compilation of stories about the workers, their families, their status in town, etc was really interesting to me. The steel mills were one facet of jobs I have not looked into yet and this book gave me the insight into that group of workers.