Robert James Russell

In the second “We Know So Little” post at Pidgeonholes—my recurring series about being awed by the world around us—I ponder turkey vultures on Long Island and the inescapability of the wild around us, no matter where we are:

Across the street, a neighbor comes out and makes a loud phone call to animal control. They’re afraid, can’t fathom this monster so close to their house and family. They wave their arms wildly, try to shoo the bird away. They don’t know what to make of this carnage.

Feel incredibly proud and honored to have done the artwork for musician Jesse Young‘s new album, Heart of Me, out March 1, 2019. I’ve known Jesse for almost eighteen years; he’s an incredible friend and a mesmerizingly-talented musician.

And this is something new to me, seeing something I illustrated on iTunes. Pretty pretty pretty neat. 

Here’s the front and back of the album (and there will be a physical release, too):

You can pre-order Heart of Me on Bandcamp or on iTunes.

I’m doing a recurring series at Pidgeonholes called “We Know So Little”—featuring micro-essays and original art—about being awed by the world around us.

In this first post, I explore a miraculous fig tree on Cyprus (that grew out of the remains of a dead man), and what it means to be alive.

And while researchers retrieved some of Ahmet’s clothing in the soil, beneath the tree—allowing his family to properly mourn and make peace decades after his disappearance—his mortal remains survive now in these branches, this smooth white bark, these deeply-lobed leaves, this particular woodsy-sweet fragrance.

I’m incredibly honored to have my mythical flash “Son of Paul Bunyan”—about torrential storms and Lake Superior islands and sunken ships—up at matchbook literary magazine. I’ve wanted to write a Michigan fairy tale for a long while, and am so grateful.

After he buried his father in an enormous coffin made from towering cured pine logs, he thought often of leaving the island, of swimming the chopping inland sea, to proclaim his inheritance from man, proclaiming he was half them, half something else—to be worshipped, absolutely—but also to seek love, yes, to be held. Then the drink would take him, drag him down and, instead, he would wrestle the bears and hunt with the wolves and break the necks of the geese for sport and chide Babe until he felt sickly satisfied in his depravity.

A huge shout-out to Brian and the team at matchbook for making this an incredibly easy (and rewarding) process—this is, absolutely, a dream publication.

My breathless flash fiction piece “Red Rope” is up at Pidgeonholes today and I’m so so grateful. It’s about regret and a rollerskating rink about to be demolished. Plus, I got asked to contribute the below art to the project: double excitement. 

When we pulled up to the skate rink I was reciting Motownphilly from memory and she wasn’t impressed but I kept going and the rink was exactly how I remembered: it looked like a corrugated metal airplane hangar with a crooked white banner hanging off the side advertising in blocky red text the FREE COMMUNITY SKATE—right behind it, still, the American Legion post sat sagged and tired and it was mostly the same, but now the paint job’s gone from seafoam green to red and white stripes…

I’ve long loved the work that Pidgeonholes publishes, and I’m grateful to editors Jennifer Todhunter and Cathy Ulrich for picking this up.

Honored to create this accompanying art for E.F. Flynn’s beautiful short essay “Blue Inventory” at Synaesthesia Magazine—check it out.

I’m honored: My creative nonfiction piece “Anthropocene Moves”—about life and loss and bringing extinct animals back from the dead + paired with original illustrations by John Vestevich—was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by decomP!

You can read “Anthropocene Moves” here (or, there’s audio of me reading the piece at the top of the story page, if that’s your bag!). I’m just so grateful to be a part of this amazing cohort. A huge thanks to Jason Jordan (and the rest of the decomP team) for being so gracious.

I was stoked to make an illustration for Tania Hershman’s first-place flash fiction piece “So Many People” for Synaesthesia Mag. It’s a fantastic piece of writing–do check it out.

I’m grateful: Part 1 of my essay series “Rhinestone Cowboys”—where I muse about Western films and dismantle the genre in order to understand this critical period in American history and the important voices that have been re-written out of this time period—was nominated for a 2018 Best of the Net by Coil Mag.

…we don’t understand the many broken treaties, the taking of land, the attempt and failure of reaping the West’s resources, the failed city-states, the disastrous laws and monstrously heinous xenophobic thoughts and actions, the many dead paving the way for the Modern West, oh goodness, so many dead.

I”m thrilled to be a part of this stellar cohort. A huge thanks to Leah Angstman of Coil for the recognition.

You can read “Part 1: All Down But Nine” online here.