The Doughnuts

The Doughnuts is the story of one epic summer in the early 21^st Century and the mysterious alignment of a tenuously connected group of novelists, screenwriters, filmmakers, and detectives. As each of them grapples with the latest of life’s adventures, their journeys and work collide in unexpected ways as they explore the challenges of creativity, self-doubt, fame, betrayal, romance, addiction, recovery, success, failure, mysterious disappearances, and the search for gluten-free doughnuts.

During their manhunt for the Unabomber, federal agents had erroneously arrested the reclusive novelist, Frank Baker, as he fit the terrorist’s profile, while living in shack in northern Ohio. After Baker’s identity had been revealed, author Lydia Gilmore used the opportunity to profile the infamous novelist in her book, Positive Identification. As The Doughnuts commences, Lydia is visiting a film set in Los Angeles where an adaptation of her book is being produced. It is now her intention to track down the movie’s equally mysterious screenwriter. This sets off a complex web of connections between more than a dozen filmmakers, screenwriters, novelists—and a couple of comically inept private investigators—as they travel from Hollywood to New York City to the Lake Erie Islands. As the plot progresses, the tale picks up so many odd characters, you’ll need a scorecard to keep track. Ultimately, The Doughnuts becomes increasingly complex and so flat-out crazy, it will have the reader thinking: “This has got to be 100% true!”

Randy Russell has published fiction (Universe City, 5 Minutes Late, Nine Lies), and has written and acted in movies (American Job, The Pool, Modus Operandi). He has also written for Utne Reader, Factsheet Five Zine Reader, and Talkhouse. Russell has published countless zines, including Mickey Rourke, American Job, and The Sweet Ride, and was the proprietor of the book/zine store, The Secret Goldfish, and punk record store, Garbage Inc. Over the years he’s played in over a dozen bands, including The Ragged Bags, Moonlove, and Happy Trails. Currently, he writes for the website, rspeen.com, and is a frequent guest on The Randy Russell Podcast. He is a Capricorn.