When I see the young guys coming in, it's interesting, but like the hunger that they all have to want something more, though, you know.

And they're trying to figure it out.

And they're at that stage where they're like, no, no, I got a really good appeal issue, though.

And the wise part of you that knows that the appeal is such a long shot.

Like, you just feel bad telling them that.

But then you kind of, like, shift it to, like, well, if you have to do it, not.

I mean, I was like, yo, like, there's opportunities here,

and you just try to try to find them.

And sometimes they're right next to you.

Sometimes you just got to come up under the wing of somebody that's going to show you,

show you the ropes.

Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them. I'm your host,

Tracy Thomas, and today I am joined by John J. Lennon, who is a prison journalist and the author of a brand

new book called The Tragedy of True Crime, Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us.

This book explores the lives of four men who have all committed murder and are trying to find

their purpose behind bars. John J. Lennon offers a unique perspective to these stories because

he was convicted of murder

and sentenced to a 28-year life sentence, and he joins us today as he serves time in a New York

prison. John joins us today to talk about his experiences, what it's like to be a writer behind bars,

and why he felt that his perspective makes him uniquely qualified to tell these stories.

As a reminder, our book club pick for October is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley,

and we will be discussing the book on Wednesday, October 29th with Angela Flournoy.

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