About the Author
Larry McCoy is a retired businessman and public servant. The lifelong Mississippi resident enjoys writing, photography, and karaoke. His other works include The Last of the Mississippi Juke Joints and upcoming novels The Love Family Reunion, The Robbery on the Pee Vine Track, Done Got Over, and The Trial.
NEWS RELEASE
Contact
Information: 109 Sharanne Lane, Brandon,
MS 3904
Phone – 601-214-1497
Email larrymccoy1@aol.com;
Social Media www Bookbaby.com
Join the Search
McCoy’s novel
“Fatherless” released
Mississippi
Delta native, Larry McCoy has penned and released his first novel,
“Fatherless.” Set
in the 1950s Jim Crow Mississippi Delta where cotton is king, McCoy captures
the struggles of a family surviving desertion, poverty, racism and more.
When a father suddenly disappears from the life of a young
boy, a new role is carved out for Arthur as he struggles through life's
challenges. Growing up as the eldest male child in a family destined to support
themselves by sharecropping on a cotton plantation during the Jim Crow era, Arthur
daydreams about the day this daddy will return. In the meantime, his colorful,
hard-working mother is focused on keeping her four children fed, clothed and
protected from the likes of people who murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till in a
community not too far from the Hobbs Plantation where Arthur came to know the
life of sharecroppers. As Arthur's family moved from shotgun house to shotgun
house, the personal stories of characters in and out of their lives are painful
at times and joyous and funny at other moments. Nicknamed Bird, Arthur finally
figures out how to fly above poverty, pain, many injustices, and a seemingly
hopeless longing for the love of his father.
If young Arthur could write well, he would have written this
book. However, it's 1955 and school is a special treat reserved for those who
can't physically work in the cotton fields or who are not from poor black
sharecropping families. In the Deep South, the 1950s were thick with down-home
blues, racism, sweat, cotton, tobacco, and mosquitos with just a touch of
tenderness. To Arthur, none of that was the most important matter in his life.
Every day that his sharecropping mother went to work was a day for him to
ponder the impacts of being the "man" of the house and more time to
explore and become frustrated about why his father was missing, when he would
return and just where in God's name was, he! "Fatherless" is not the
typical sob story of a child who grew up without a dad. In
"Fatherless," author Larry McCoy takes us on a journey through the day-to-day
existence of a sharecropping family in the Mississippi Delta. He does so
through the eyes of an abandoned child and manages to stay true to the dialect
and authentic culture of the time. Peppered with stories of humor, history,
pain and life lessons, "Fatherless" reveals the private thoughts of a
young boy as he grows in coping with loss and begins to focus on hopes and
opportunities of each new day.
McCoy is a retired businessman, youth coach, and police
officer. Born and raised near the mighty Mississippi River amidst the cotton
fields of Bolivar County, he now lives in Central Mississippi and continues to travel
the back roads of the magnolia state capturing photographic records of remains
of its iconic blues and juke joints. Listening to stories of elders throughout
the Delta inspired McCoy’s creative efforts to writing. The Alcorn State
University political science alumnus and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity,
Inc. often carries his passion for karaoke to music joints and events to small
towns throughout Mississippi. His other works include The Last of the
Mississippi Juke Joints. Pending book releases include "The Love Family
Reunion," "The Robbery on the Pee Vine Track", "Done Got
Over" and "The Trial."
Fatherless is available in numerous bookstores, online at _Amazon,
Barnes & Noble. Books A Million, Baker & Taylor, Walmart and via iBook,
The Book Company, Kobo and other sites where book are sold. The E-Book generally sells for less than $7.00
and the paperback is less than $21.00 plus shipping.