Based in the Arkansas Ozarks, author Nancy Hartney is a creative writer producing short stories, poetry, nonfiction, and novels. Her first book, If You Walk Long Enough, is a Vietnam War book that examines a wide range of social issues and human experiences. The Blue Bottle Tree is her latest endeavor, available through local bookstores, online retailers, and various e-formats. She might be called a Southern Gothic writer or a Southern author, but her work expresses feelings we all can share.
The Blue Bottle Tree
A second novel by Nancy Hartney, published by the Ozark Hollow Press, is on store shelves. It won the Oklahoma Writers Federation 2025 Best Fiction Award. Oklahoma City.
Two women- Susan Pea Butler and Letta Davis – struggle to protect their families from the grip of Major Butler, town patriarch. The blue bottle tree and an ancient crone provide rough guidance as the women navigate the racial shoals of 1970.
If You Walk Long Enough
Nancy’s debut novel, a Vietnam War story set in the Deep South, brings love and sorrow together at the intersection of the Civil Rights and Women’s Movement.
It is a story of survival and respect. It’s a tale of love lost, found, and changed. Even the ghosts have changed…
On bookshelves now.
If the Creek Don’t Rise
Tales set in the Deep South of hard-used characters who offer nothing except grit—and, sometimes, love—as their currency. Available through Pen-L Publishing, Amazon, and independent bookstores.
Washed in the Water: Tales from the South
Set between 1950 and 1980, each vignette stares at an individual in the southern landscape. Hard lives, daily survival, and lessons about living reverberate among the characters. Available through Pen-L Publishing, Amazon, and independent booksellers.
 | “Descanos on a Southern Border” selected for publication Winter 2020 by Pearl River Quarterly, a Starfeather Publication. Five free verse poems, three journals: “April 30, 1975: An Ending with Footnotes” selected by Dash Literary Journal, California State University, Fullerton, speaks of the last day the United States had a presence in Vietnam. “Before the Kudzu” published by Stonecrop Magazine, College of Western Idaho, Nampa, tells of love and time. Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Washington, North Carolina, published “The Honeymoon,” “Things We Collect,” and “If You Walk Long Enough (with Apologies to Alice of Wonderland).” |
 | “The Bull and the Kitten,” Seven Hills Review 2015, looks eyeball-to-eyeball at the meaning of endurance. Available through Amazon.com |
 | Set in Palo Duro Canyon of Texas, “A Matter of Respect” is a tale of racism and injustice. Look for Rough Country Volume 1 at Amazon. Authors in this issue include Brett Cogubrn, Amy Hale Auker, Dusty Richards, and others. |
 | Does a tree have soul? Perhaps. Read “The White Oak’s Tale” in The Best of Frontier Tales, Volume 1 at Pen-L Publishing and Amazon. Authors also published this issue include Pamela Foster, J.B. Hogan, Dusty Richards, Ellen Gray Massey, and others. |
 | First published in Echoes of the Ozarks VI, my short story, “The Cane Grinding,” is a coming of age tale. Look for it at Amazon.com. |
 | Cactus Country Volume 1 is an anthology of 39 tales including “Racing the Kentucky Mare” available from Amazon.com. |
Nancy Hartney 