SOURCE: “Southside Life Inspires Author,” in Richmond Times Dispatch, May 15, 1988, pp. C1–C2.

In the following review, Neuberger relates how Hoffman enjoys living in a small, agrarian community in Virginia, and discusses the inspiration Hoffman draws from the landscape and the people around him.

Like almost everyone else in this small Southside town. Bill Hoffman can be seen each morning ambling to the post office, greeting others along the way.

In the afternoons, Hoffman will do chores around the small farm he and his wife share with their horses, dogs and cats.

But a typical resident of Southside, Hoffman is not.

He’s the author of nine novels and dozens of short stories, some collected in the recently published By Land, by Sea.

With the countryside just outside his office window, Hoffman has penned a pile of tales focusing on life in rural Virginia communities. The places often...