Where Excuses Go to Die cover
Congratulations to Highrise Press author John Espinosa Nelson! John has just been named one of ForeWord Review’s 2013 Finalists for the Book of the Year Award in adult nonfiction for his memoir, Where Excuses Go to Die.
John once justified his sense of moral superiority by using a fake revolver to rob corporate –never family-owned– bookstores. Hitting a few banks before getting caught, he was one of those too smart for his own good types who turned into the guy who thinks he’s too good for prison. The ensuing lessons in humility were destined to be whoppers, but John managed to keep his focus on the humor, heart, and humanity that ekes by in the unlikeliest of places: the California Department of Corrections.
“Visual,” “authentic,” and “engaging” have been used to describe John’s voice, and the imagery he offers here defies how we’ve been taught to recognize life behind bars. This isn’t rape, riots, and rotten food. Readers will laugh in places they don’t expect to — and they’ll never look at excuses the same way again.
Critical to John’s journey at the time of his incarceration was a journal in which he recorded what he found funny and poignant. As a clerk and a teacher’s aide, he attracted important mentors who saw potential in him that he could not yet see himself. John’s account became Where Excuses Go to Die, a genuine coming-of-age story that is ultimately about “getting character, or becoming one.”