Author Description

Concrete & Juniper is a stunning glimpse into the bloody, raw world of Johnny No Bueno. Drafted into conflict at an early age, No Bueno's first siege takes place in his violently broken home. In adolescence, he becomes a soldier of the streets, a mercenary imprisoned by addiction and fighting a losing battle for identity with fists and syringes. As an adult, finally freed from shackles of substance, he finds himself at ground zero waging a brand-new war, this time as a crusader for divine revolution. No Bueno takes us to the front lines with his weaponized words. We travel to every dark place he's been; places that most of us will never go. He is both vulnerable and vitriolic, and although the stories may be different, it is the sameness that is most striking, the humanness that connects us. We see ourselves through his distorted lens. We relate to his struggle to become more than the sum of his parts. We cheer, we cringe, we are at times collateral damage. We bear witness. We are moved. We are changed. Just like with Johnny No Bueno's first book, We Were Warriors, with Concrete & Juniper, we are made warriors too.