About Nicole
Nicole with her dog, Vinny, in front of one of her mother, Franyo’s, paintings.
I have had two creative careers, one as a portrait painter, and one as a fiction writer.
In college I studied comparative literature, while simultaneously accumulating hours in life drawing classes and studio art. In 1978, I earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University, where I worked with Stanley Elkin and Rosellen Brown. My first novel, Hearts of Glass, was published by Crown in 1992 and was described by The New York Times as the steamiest book of the summer.
Over the years, I moved between forms, writing short stories, novellas, and screenplays, and co-authoring High Frequency, a spoof on new age Austin. In 2016, I published my memoir, The World of Franyo, which traces my parents’ escape from Nazi Germany, my upbringing among art collectors in 1960s New York, a turbulent early marriage, and the long road to sobriety.
My serialized thriller, A Secret Grave, an art-centered mystery about a disappeared healer, illustrated with paintings and photographs, was originally published online in 2017 and 2018 and is now available on Amazon.
My work has often drawn from real lives — relatives, public figures, and strangers whose behavior lingers in the mind. I disguise them carefully, but I do not soften what I see. I write stories that aim to come as close to the truth as possible.
For many years, I also built a reputation as a portrait painter. After a decade of working in rented spaces, I built a studio behind my home in Northwest Austin in 2008, where I focused on commissioned portraits and faces that held my attention. My visual work became widely recognized, and I later helped found ArtProfiler, an online cultural magazine known for its bold mix of art, commentary, and serialized storytelling.
Over time, my creative focus shifted. I have since stepped away from painting and editorial work to devote myself fully to writing.
This website is now the primary home for my short stories and serialized fiction, the place where each piece begins its life before moving further out into the world.
Subscribers to Ruthless Fiction receive new work first.