Upon this Chessboard of Nights and Days: Voices from Texas Death Row

In this unique book, prisoners on Texas Death Row share their feelings, hopes, fears, and memories with the reader through a series of nonfiction pieces and original art.

 

Excerpts:

 

"But the thing is, I don't want to get out of prison.  This life is all I've known for thirty years."--Perry Austin

 

"Death Row has one of the best collections of black widows I've ever seen."--Les Bower

 

". . . we will remain faceless and nameless inmates with just a number, lost and forgotten. . . ."--Anibal Canales

 

"But when you pop the top of a Coca-Cola the smell of freedom is released."--Ivan Cantu

 

"So my life on deathrow is a struggle of equanimity, a testament of fortitude, and a story of indomitable will."--Derrick Johnson

 

"The thing is, none of us get a second chance--not really.  Time passes us by and we have to live with the consequences of our actions, or in my case die for them."--Anthony Shore

 

"One can be physically incarcerated, but free in his mind, his thoughts, actions, and how he chooses to look at life's journey."--Charles Thompson

 

"Most of us became lost souls as children."--Carlos Trevino

 

"Maybe someone will re-evaluate their life based on these few words and make a change for the better before it is too late."--Perry Williams