Jim Gauer is a mathematician, published poet, and Venture Capitalist. Jim Gauer is a mathetician, published poet, and Venture Capitalist Joy Williams is an American novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Best-known for her short fiction, she is also the author of novels including "State of Grace," "The Quick and the Dead," and "Harrow." Williams has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, a Rea Award for the Short Story, a Kirkus Award for Fiction, and a Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.