Valerie Nieman - A Literary Wanderer

Selected Works

Latest

Upon the Corner of the Moon, set to release in March 2025, is the first of two books telling the story of the historical Macbeths. Deeply researched history in the mode of Hilary Mantel, it is as much about women's lives and competing spiritualities as it is about politics and war. It traces the childhoods and young adulthoods of Macbeth and Gruach and Duncan, setting out the generations-old conflicts that will lead to a succession drama and his rise to kingship of all Alba.

Novels

In the Lonely Backwater

All Maggie Warshauer wants is to leave behind her stifled life at a North Carolina backwater and escape to college. An outsider at school and uncertain of her own sexual identity, Maggie spends her days sailing, exploring, and categorizing life around her. But when her beautiful cousin Charisse disappears on prom night and is found dead at the marina where Maggie lives, her life begins to unravel. A mysterious stranger begins stalking her and a detective on the case has her struggling to hold on to her secrets—her father's alcoholism, her mother's abandonment, a boyfriend who may or may not exist, and her own actions. Maggie is forced to come to terms with the one person who might hold the answers—herself.

Dead Hand

Lourana and Darrick took down the dreaded coal barons in To the Bones, but it seems that Kavanaghs aren't done yet. The college-age son of Eamon Kavanagh has unexpectedly inherited not only the family's business empire but the family itself: generations of Kavanagh men whose spirits persist and who have now taken up residence in Rory's mind and body.
As Lourana and Darrick try to shape a life together, they are attacked by Eamon through Rory, and flee the life-sucking Kavanaghs across Appalachia and then, in desperation and hope, to Ireland.
The reluctant Rory is urged onward in the pursuit. He seeks the support of his late uncle Cormac in hopes of breaking free of this haunted legacy, even as he woos Lourana's daughter Dreama—who is Cormac's former girlfriend.
The Kavanagh family's long-standing belief that they are descended from the kings of Leinster is tested at a sacred site in Ireland, with the assistance of a modern-day druid whose nature-based powers may not be all that he claims. There are old gods at work, and even older gods—Darrick's psychic powers like the Kavanaghs' are rooted in ancient Ireland.
As Rory struggles against his brutal forebears, Darrick and Lourana find their love tested anew, until they are all brought together in a terrifying battle between the forces of light and dark, creation and destruction.

To the Bones

With elements of horror, Appalachian tall tale, and mystery, To the Bones sets four unlikely heroes against a family of predatory capitalists. "Evocative, intelligent prose conjures an anxious mood and strong sense of place while spotlighting the societal and environmental devastation wrought by the coal mining industry."

-- Kirkus Reviews

Neena Gathering

"This charming, unpretentious novel delves into a different form of the pastoral, modeling itself on Thoreauvian attention to a person's place and moral actions in the spheres of nature, society, intellect..."

–Publishers Weekly

Blood Clay

Blood Clay, set in rural North Carolina, traces the "tangled social lines of the new South, the struggle of newcomers to belong, and of natives to keep their balance in changing times."

–Gently Read Literature

Poetry Collection

Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse

Set in a mid-century carnival, this collection has a cover image painted by the author during studies at Coney Island Museum. The curator of that museum, Lisa Schaefer, said of the book, "Steeped in sideshow tradition, and addressing issues of race, gender, self-concept, and creative expression, your book is beautifully written."

Hotel Worthy

Poems of love, loss, and survival.
"Like a daring archeologist, the poems of Hotel Worthy dig [deeply] into the intimate layers of years, excavating the fossils of memory, love, loss, and family history. These poems compel us to have the courage to emerge from our past shipwrecks and embark anew. This collection is a roadmap for beginning again."

–Ansel Elkins, Yale Younger Poets Prize winner

Wake Wake Wake

Debut poetry collection featuring work from Appalachia and beyond.

Short fiction collection

Fidelities

These stories, set in the rural areas and mining towns of West Virginia, focus on the rough terrain of the human heart.

Quick Links

Upon the Corner of the Moon

Video trailer for my latest

Book trailer for To the Bones

A video sample of my Appalachian folk horror/ecojustice novel.

Book trailer for Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse

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Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions 2016

Winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for General Fiction, and a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Book Prize.

A Literary Wanderer

One of several collections around my house.

February 10, 2022

Some people might call them altars.

I gather things when I walk. Feathers such as these pictured below—some go back to childhood, when my father hunted grouse and pheasant for the table and would give me the tail feathers for my collection.

I've picked up shells on every shore, small stones (a habit I inherited from my mother), tufts of wool in the Highlands and Orkney, and oddments such as animal skulls and scraps of metal.

Every item has a memory attached, so they form a sort of "memory palace" to bring those moments back to vivid life.

In my forthcoming novel In the Lonely Backwater, Maggie collects not tangible items but names and categories. She's in a difficult situation, and the discipline of organizing things into taxonomies is one way of making her life work.

"As I said before, this backwater, this flooded valley of worn-out tobacco fields and pine scrub, is my Lapland. When Carl went to Lapland, it wasn't as if no one lived there or had ever named anything or seen any of the plants. But he saw it for the first time as a scientist. So, if I'm seeing this plant or spider for the first time, it's a discovery for me, even if someone from Chapel Hill has the thing dried out and pinned down in a forgotten case somewhere."

I would love to see what you collect! I'm posting more of these on Twitter and Instagram — connect with me there!

In the Lonely Backwater arrives May 10

Three months until In the Lonely Backwater is released! Please add to your "want to read" shelf on Goodreads and comment when you get the chance—reviews on Amazon and B&N are very much appreciated. If you're a reviewer or book blogger, it's available on Edelweiss.

Pre-orders are now being taken. If you order from Regal House (which has limited-edition hardcovers in addition to paperback) then I will personalize and include a mini-broadside of one of my poems, also signed. You can also pre-order from Scuppernong Books, Bookmarks, Pig City Books, Sunrise Books, and other fine indie bookstores.

You might enjoy my recent essay on "Building a Detective" at Inkheist or a short craft tip on colorful writing at the Sisters in Crime YouTube channel.

Looking forward to seeing you in person!

FEB. 16, 7 pm - Reading in the "Four on Fourth Series" at

Bookmarks, 634 W. Fourth St. #110, Winston-Salem, NC.

MARCH 22 - 5:30 pm. Facebook Live with Sara E. Johnson

and Landis Wade at Charlotte Readers Podcast.

MAY 14 - In discussion with Frank Morelli at Pig City Books,

21 S. Main St., Lexington, NC. Time TBA.

MAY 21-22 - Greensboro Bound literary festival, Greensboro, NC.

I'll keep updating my calendar on my website. Among events later in the summer, I'll be appearing at the Carolina Mountains Litfest and teaching at Wildacres Writers Workshop and the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Keeping in Touch

If you have a book club, writing group, or a high school science or writing club, I'd love to talk (in person or virtually) about Maggie's world. Get in touch through my publicist, Gold Leaf Literary, or here on my website. All of my social media can be accessed through linktr.ee/ValNieman

In the Lonely Backwater has been supported by grants from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural and Natural Resources.