Cleveland County author writes book of short stories
A Cleveland County native has just released a collection of short stories influenced by her time in Mexico.
April Deyton Vázquez, who was born and raised in Lattimore, released her first book, “Scapegoats,” Jan. 10.
According to the description of the book, the short story collection “plumbs the depths of a variety of essential human experiences — among them marriage, death, war, and migration — but always in a way that sheds light, that makes us re-examine these realities that face us so often we sometimes forget to really see them.”
Vázquez said initially, her family moved to Mexico so she could homeschool her children, and it turned out to be the perfect environment to do so.
“When the kids were little, we’d read aloud every day at lunch, and if the book was particularly good, we’d just carry on reading after the meal, sitting on the patio watching colorful, exotic birds peck at the fruit at the top of our guava tree,” she said. ‘If I could time-travel, I’d relive those lazy, sunny days when we could do anything we wanted with our time.”
She said it was a very inspiring place.
“The Chilean writer Isabel Allende wrote that magical realism is not a literary device because the world is actually full of magic, and in Mexico, it can certainly seem that way,” Vázquez said.
She said some of the stories in the book are influenced by real people and events, like “Father Chuy of the Sagrada Familia,” which is based on the dozens of real priests who have been killed for speaking out against narcotrafficking.
“León, Guanajuato, where we lived, is the setting for half the stories in the collection, and they’re all full of details about everyday life in Mexico,” she said.
Vázquez, who describes herself as a voracious reader from a young age, said she was influenced by good teachers growing up, including Sue Rash, mother of author Ron Rash.
She said she grew up freely roaming the little town of Lattimore.
“I grew up in Shady Oak Acres, a circular block about a mile around,” she said. “The neighborhood is much quieter these days, but back then, it was teeming with kids. I remember one house where the mother would blow the car horn a few times to call her boys home for supper; the only rule was that they be within earshot—a pretty big radius! We all just ran wild. We struck up impromptu kickball games at different houses and roamed the woods and fields all over Lattimore. It was a nice way to grow up.”
Vázquez said she attended Lattimore Elementary School in the 1980s and among the teachers who influenced her were Linda Hendrix, Joyce Short, Cheryl McSwain and Sue Rash.
“They read aloud to us every day from classic children’s books like Where the Red Fern Grows and The Borrowers,” she said. “Sue Rash in particular taught me to love words, to value the art of good storytelling. She also encouraged me to write my own stories. Later, at Crest High School, Merry Lynn Ramsey built on that foundation of love of literature, as well as encouragement and support. She taught English in fresh, unconventional ways, like bringing in songwriters like Bob Dylan alongside Shakespeare.”
Vázquez said it was a whole new way of approaching literature, and she took a lot of those techniques with her when she herself became an English teacher.
She said in addition to being a voracious reader, she started making up stories at a young age.
“One thing that I think was formative was the fact that my grandmother wrote poetry,” she said. “Seeing her write impressed upon me not only that anyone can be a writer but also that it’s okay to write for yourself, just because you enjoy it. She didn’t plan to publish her poems; she wrote them for the sheer love of writing. This may be one reason why I never considered publishing any of my work until I was in my 30s, though I had been writing – poetry and stories – since elementary school.”
Vázquez said this is her first book, and it actually came as a bit of a surprise to her.
“On Good Friday 2025, I received an email from Zach Czaia, the head of One Subject Press, expressing interest in publishing a collection of my stories,” she said. “Since I generally publish my work in indie journals with pretty niche readerships, the email was quite unexpected. But of course it was very gratifying to hear that my writing had resonated with someone, and the folks at One Subject have been amazing throughout the publishing process. I’m so glad that my work found a home there.”
Vázquez said she is currently working on her dissertation about the transformative power of literature, something she knows well from experience, and is looking forward to writing creatively again after she graduates with a PhD in May from the University of Delaware.
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