Jay S. Bell and Welcome to Cottonmouth
Author Jay S. Bell’s novel with a specialty drink inspired by the book.
About the Book: COTTONMOUTH, TEXAS. POPULATION: CLASSIFIED
What does the US government do with spies and special operators when they pass their expiration date? They retire them to a small town deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas, where they’re certain to cause no trouble.
A collection of broken spies, former double agents, and retired operators lives in secrecy, under the watchful eye of the government in the small, deep-woods town of Cottonmouth, Texas.
Devlin Mahoney is the de facto mayor of these special citizens, charged with keeping them in seclusion, hidden from the world, which he does from the office of the town’s only motel.
But the peace of this sleepy village is shattered when a pair of women, on the run from a vicious criminal, drops into Mahoney’s lap and he’s forced to choose between doing what’s right and doing what he’s told.
About the Beverage: Jay recommends pairing his book with a Texas Snakebite, which is a derivation of the original Snakebite, because “The Cottonmouth Water Moccasin is a mean-as-hell, unrepentant pit viper noted for the white insides of its mouth. Which is the last thing you see before it tries to kill you. The setting of the novel WELCOME TO COTTONMOUTH is an East Texas town in the deep woods. The town hides in a remote location, surrounded by wilderness, and is completely harmless...until you step on it. A Texas Snakebite is a much more pleasant experience than the bite of a cottonmouth, though be careful. They can be dangerous if mishandled.”
RECIPE
- 1 part lager - 1 part cider - 1 shot of mezcal
About the Author: JAY S. BELL wears the secret identity of a Typical Boring Suburban Man by day, then transforms to a keyboard punching wordsmith by night. Born and raised in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas against a Forrest Gump backdrop of the Vietnam War, the moon landings, Watergate, hippies, and the JFK assassination. Bell describes himself as an abysmal student who abhorred reading until his father, in desperation, turned to the classics—Conan the Barbarian.
Fast forward to an early career in retail loss prevention, marriage, and firstborn son, Bell wrote his first, as he describes “horrible, no good, very bad” novel with his infant son sitting on his lap. He bravely showed it to a few folks, which encouraged him to stick to his day job. Which was fine by him because kid #2 came along and food needed to be put on the table.
Twenty years passed. The kids grew up. Career changes happened. Bell moved from crime fighting to sales. Somewhere in there, his urge to write returned. In 2011, he got serious about it, joining writer groups and receiving feedback via online forums. “I wrote and wrote and wrote. And I loved it.”
Bell currently resides less than thirty miles from where he was born. He is a cancer survivor who worked his way up through two long and fulfilling careers, raised two kids to adulthood, has owned and been owned by many cats, and has been married to his lovely wife for over thirty years. “I’ll keep writing until saner people take my keyboard away and wheel me out to sit on the porch…where I will have a book cracked open on my lap.”
WELCOME TO COTTONMOUTH is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Target.
FOLLOW JAY S. BELL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JayScottBellAuthor
X: @Pprbackwrtr
Instagram: @jaysbell2025
Author Website: https://www.jaysbell.com
