2. Novels
Any inquiries pertaining to my work(s), please email me: jjsmithauthor (at) gmail (dot) com
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Rabbit
This is a literary fiction novel completed at 75,000 words. It is about a young author wrestling with early onsets of his mental illness.
Forwarded with a Letter to the Editor and a list of revisions, J introduces his recently accepted manuscript. J is our defunct author, a struggling American poet and college graduate entrenched in his late twenties. An amassing debt causes him to rethink his career as a traveling folklorist. “Give it another shot,” his female friend advises. But J’s upcoming road-trip is derailed by a distress call from his homeless, schizophrenic father.
A second Letter to the Editor warns that, in order to appreciate his recent revelations, wading through an emotionally abusive childhood is necessary. J blurs the lines between “fiction” and “memoir,” expounding on divorce, suicide, and sizes of the largest known stars in our universe. His book Rabbit is layered into five acts, structured by a 4,000 mile road trip through Arizona where his father roams depreciating streets.
An only child, J dreams of creating a family with his dearest female friend. He is afflicted with visions of their hypothetical offspring. “Bastard son of a womanizer,” J narrates. “What sort of father will I be?” Folklore’s relevance is lost to him, the road-trip derailed, interviews skipped. Rather, the cosmos enraptures him. A newfound interest in physics seizes J’s motivations.
Rabbit is an exploration of “self” within the West American landscape, a movement through the abstractions of mental illness, its damage, and its necessary repair.
Excerpts of Rabbit have been read aloud at Portland venues. Audience responses are overwhelmingly positive.
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Fourth Project
This does have a title which I am withholding at the moment. It is a literary fiction novel centered on a widower’s family and a recent school event upsetting the city. It is affectionate, comical, and dark.
