Russell Reece
Writer

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I have written a novella and a novel: 

Lenny’s Farm (27k word novella)  Currently sending this to selected contests and publications.

It’s the summer of 1956. Eleven-year-old Jimmy and his mom, Charlene, have a special bond that helps them cope with his dad, Frank’s, bouts of alcoholism and erratic behavior since returning home from the Korean War. Jimmy is frustrated but patient with his father. He imagines Frank's war service was like the heroic stories in his GI Joe comic books. And now the family is at a day-long party at Lenny’s farm with expectations of a pleasant afternoon in the country. But Frank’s old sergeant, Vic, shows up, along with Rita, a woman Frank has had dealings with in the past . In the course of the day, as the party grows wild and out of control, Jimmy is confronted with sobering information about his dad and his relationship with his rock-solid mom is tested beyond his wildest imagination.

Bird Song -working title (98k word novel) Currently resting this between revisions.

Bird Song is the story of  eleven-year-old Daniel Hatfield and Ruby, a successful, middle-aged, African American artist still haunted by the murder of her grandfather 40 years earlier. It is the summer of 1935 and Daniel lives with his parents on a tenant farm in rural Delaware. Daniel's father, Lester, is a racist and religious zealot. His mother, Ethel, is completely self absorbed and blames her son and his large facial blemish for everything that goes wrong in her life. Ruby and Daniel meet and a powerful relationship forms. But can it survive the  inevitable clash between Ruby and Lester?

 

                                    

Page last updated  07/24/2020