Nicole Jeffords is an Austin-based fiction writer who explores the hidden motives and unvarnished truths of human behavior.
I write stories that aim to come as close to the truth as possible.
Much of my fiction is inspired by people I’ve known or observed — relatives, public figures, strangers whose behavior lingers in the mind. I disguise them carefully, but I do not soften what I see.
This website is the first home for my short stories and serialized work, their first stop before making their way further out into the world.
Subscribers to Ruthless Fiction receive each new story before anyone else.
Browse the collection and see what unfolds.
Most Recent Short Fiction
Stalker
When a captivating client vanishes, cosmetics clerk Rosie Garcia sets out to return the purchases she left behind. What begins as a harmless errand slips into something far more dangerous as curiosity hardens into obsession, and Rosie crosses the fragile line between watching and wanting. Some curiosities don’t fade… they attach themselves—and begin to stalk back.
Most Recent Nonfiction
The Fat Girl Marches on Selma
In the spring of 1965 when the problems in Selma erupted, my college friend, Audrey Lazlo, and I packed overnight bags and hopped on one of the buses leaving for the beleaguered city. Participating in the march on Selma, albeit mostly from the kitchen of a church in D.C., was one of the great distinctions of my life. Not only because race relations were high on my list of concerns, but also because soon after, Audrey disappeared for a month. We never found out exactly what happened, but this was a time when women lived in a climate of fear and suspicion when it came to women’s healthcare, something women feel in red states now, 60 years later.
Most Recent Political Story
Getting the Dirt
(A Tommy Duncan story)