Joyce Hilliard Stotts
Author & Historian
Author and historian, Joyce Hilliard Stotts grew up in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties of Kansas. She earned a B.S. from Emporia State University in 1970, and taught junior/senior high school English and social studies in Topeka, Kansas.
She later earned an M.S. degree from Kansas University and was an Instructional Designer/Technical Writer for Flight Safety International in Wichita, Kansas.
In 2023. Joyce renovated two historic buildings in downtown Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, that are now a vacation home and commercial space. She is currently a partner in a family business, “Spice of the Harbor” in Safety Harbor, Florida, where she lives part of the year. She belongs to professional writers’ groups: SCBWI, Kansas Authors Club, Dunedin (Florida) Writers Group and Emporia Writers Group.
Her published writing includes children’s books, short stories (published in Dunedin Writers Group Anthologies), a novella (out of print), and a family genealogy, all available on Amazon.
Roadantha's Road
A Thrilling Pioneer Adventure! Inspired by true historical events and places, Rodantha’s Road captures how it felt to be a pioneer in the 1850s—the loneliness, fear, and uncertainty, as well as the exhilaration and freedom of traveling west into uncharted territory where only the toughest survive.
Rodantha, a backwoods young woman with a dream for a better life, and her husband William, an abolitionist running from pro-slavery forces, make their way across 1,000 miles of challenging terrain to settle in "Bleeding Kansas."
Reader's Resource, for Rodantha's Road
This is an educational companion to the historical novel Rodantha's Road, by Joyce Hilliard Stotts. A wonderful supplemental aid that includes topics covering: Objective and Purpose, Discussion Guide, Summarizing Group Activities After Reading the Book, Terms and Definitions, and Reference Materials.
Praise for Rodantha’s Road
Superb in its fusion of adventure and love. Ms. Stotts gives us an emotional and vivid portrayal of pioneer expansion from Virginia to Kansas during Civil War rumblings. The romance is deeply moving, and the historical accuracy is fabulously informing.
-- Jon-Michael Miller, Professor of English Penn State University, Ohio State, and St. Petersburg College, author, ESL Movie Lessons
An engaging tale of adventure and hardship, of traveling through and settling the American West. A history lesson and Kansas love story, carefully researched and told with preciseness and passion. Educators will want to add this historical fiction to their libraries and supplemental reading lists.
-- David Bowman, teacher, principal, curriculum director, and assessment consultant, Kansas Dept. of Education