Betty Joyce Nash crossed paths with John P. Loonam, author of The Price of Their Toys (Cornerstone Press 2026) when Betty Joyce and co-editor Deirdra McAfee chose John’s story, “Action Adventure,” for the anthology Lock & Load: Armed Fiction, (University of New Mexico Press 2017). John P. Loonam’s fiction has appeared in The Madison Review, Modern Shorts (an […]
BettyJoyce Nash interviews Jay Kauffmann, author of “The Mexican Messiah”
March 3, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Jay Kauffmann’s story collection, The Mexican Messiah, transports readers from the North Pole to Tokyo, Paris, the Sahara, and beyond. Kauffmann, a former international model, earned an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He chairs the English Dept. at the Miller School of Albemarle. The Mexican Messiah, runner-up in the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize, was […]
“Narrow the Road” by James Wade
November 10, 2025 by Leave a Comment
James Wade’s Depression-era road novel, Narrow the Road, features three adolescents: William, “a gawky, spindle-shanked creature,” his friend, Ollie, and Lena, a girl running from a con artist’s medicine show. These kids, fully characterized and full of life, will stick with readers the way they’re still living with me. Yes, it’s a coming-of-age story. And […]
BettyJoyce Nash interviews Valerie Nieman, author of the novel, “Upon the Corner of the Moon”
July 13, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Introduction: BettyJoyce Nash interviewed Valerie Nieman, author of Upon the Corner of the Moon. She and Nieman share a background in news reporting at the Greensboro News and Record, and both earned MFAs from Queens University of Charlotte. A prolific novelist, Valerie Nieman’s latest book re-imagines Shakespeare’s Macbeth. She weaves literary legend and history into […]
BettyJoyce Nash interviews Carla Damron, author of “Justice Be Done”
February 24, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Introduction: A social worker, Carla Damron is also an award-winning fiction writer. Her latest book is Justice Be Done (Bella Rosa Press 2023). Her titles also include The Orchid Tattoo (National Indie Excellence Award) and The Stone Necklace (Women Fiction Writers Award, also chosen as One Community Read for Columbia, S.C.) BettyJoyce Nash writes fiction in Charlottesville, […]
“No Perfect Mothers” by Karen Spears Zacharias
October 15, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Karen Spears Zacharias’s novel No Perfect Mothers imagines the life of Carrie Buck, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court Case upholding the constitutionality of eugenics-inspired, forced sterilization. As Zacharias observes in the acknowledgments, “The book is important at this pivotal time as women seek to reclaim what the Supreme Court has once again taken from […]