To the Bones

Valerie Nieman's In the Lonely Backwater, winner of the 2022 Sir Walter Raleigh Award, has been called "not only a page-turning thriller but also a complex psychological portrait of a young woman dealing with guilt, betrayal, and secrecy." Dead Hand is a sequel to To the Bones, a horror/Appalachian/ecojustice novel that was a finalist for the 2020 Manly Wade Wellman Award. She is the author of three earlier novels, a short fiction collection, and three poetry books. An upcoming novel, Upon the Corner of the Moon, releases in spring 2025. This is the story of the Macbeths you never knew, rightful rulers who united Scotland in the tumultuous 11th century. A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she worked as a reporter and editor before becoming a writing teacher at North Carolina A&T State University, conferences and workshops. She has held state and NEA fellowships.