A Soldier’s Redemption is a true, candid, no-holds-barred story of infamous former gangster disciple Lorenzo Louden, a.k.a. “Shorty G.”
Welcome to one of the September 4th stops on the blog tour for A Soldier’s Redemption by Lorenzo Louden with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
Talk about how you hope this book will impact troubled youth.
I purposely had this book written clean. I wanted trouble youth across the spectrum to be able to read this book. I wanted them to understand that it’s not about a kid that shot somebody, a kid that went to prison, or highlighting those things, but it was about a kid that went through the same things that they may be going through in life. His choices dictated what happened to him, which led to all the negativities. The positive things that he did going forward in his life, prevented him from going back to the old him. He created a not-for-profit organization, that worked with troubled youth and ex-offenders.
At one point he was able to return to the prison system to teach other inmates about the lessons he’d learned and how important education is. Education is a necessity that we cannot survive without, and we can’t grow without it either. The inmate students I helped in prison, as a continuation of the education, he was able to help them transition back into society. My hope and prayer for troubled youth is that after reading my they understand that they do have a choice in life no matter what anyone saying to them. God bless them with a mind, and they do have a choice and there are people out there that really want to help them if they would seek it out and receive it.
About the Book
A Soldier’s Redemption
Life of a Gangster (Shorty G)
by Lorenzo Louden
Published 4 July 2023
Tellwell Talent
Genre: Memoir
Page Count: 286
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A Soldier’s Redemption is a true, candid, no-holds-barred story of infamous former gangster disciple Lorenzo Louden, a.k.a. “Shorty G.” His story immerses you in the notorious world of gangs, taking you on a bone-chilling ride through the streets of 1970s Chicago. While serving 17 years behind bars, his militant rule of the underworld expanded from the streets to the prisons until a spiritual encounter directed his journey out of the darkness onto a miraculous path of purpose and possibility.
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Excerpt
Mom was always on the go—and too busy to do much loving on us. I had no sense of her having an actual job. I didn’t know how we were surviving without a dad. Whenever Mom would leave, she’d say, “Now, don’t open the door for anyone! I’ll be back in a couple of hours. I fixed some bottles for your sister, Ardie. You make sure she eats. And there’s food in the fridge if you get hungry.” (My name is Lorenzo, but people called me Ardie.)
She had already shown me how to put the bottle in Jan’s mouth, and how to change her cloth diapers carefully so I wouldn’t stick her with the safety pins.
One day, my Uncle Bubba, who was twenty-six, and my Uncle Leodis, who was twenty-four, were beating on the door, hollering for me to open it. (Mom was their baby sister, born in 1939.) There was no one home but me and Jan. I knew it was my uncles at the door, not strangers, so I would have opened the door. But the door had a double-sided lock that required a key.
I kept hollering through the door, “I can’t open it! I can’t open it! I don’t have the key!” My uncles went looking for the maintenance guy. Next thing I heard was the sound of keys jangling. Then the door opened and my uncles came inside. They had this look of shock on their faces when they realized there was no one home but me and my sister. There was usually some lady or another that showed up to sit with us when my mom took off. That one time when my uncles came by, we were there by ourselves.
Uncle Bubba and Uncle Leodis had their hands up over their noses and mouths. I’d been changing diapers and it was stinky in there. My uncles glanced at the roaches running around. There were always mice and roaches.
About the Author
Lorenzo Louden was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, but grew up on the notorious streets of the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, an area known as K-Town. He was raised in the foster care system until he was 14 years old. Lorenzo grew up on the streets and endured a lot of hardship as a young teenager. As an adult, he believed that his past did not have to dictate his future, so he strived to be the best he could be. During a 17-year stay, from 1977 to 1994, courtesy of the Illinois prison system, he gained 4 degrees, including a bachelor’s degree in business. In 2005 Lorenzo started a non-profit organization called Tower of Refuge, dedicated to aiding and assisting returning citizens. For the 10 years following, he and his team worked diligently to ensure that these individuals had the services and support they needed to make a smooth transition back to society. The organization had a 96% success rating over that 10-year period. Lorenzo, a noted motivational speaker, who has positively influenced the lives of hundreds of detainees, is also the published author of “A Soldier’s Redemption: The Life of Gangster Shorty G,” an autobiographical account of his life as a gangster.
CEO of Black Chamber of Commerce of Illinois in Bloomington, IL; granted a contractual employee position for the Illinois Department of Corrections for mentoring and educating individuals incarcerated prior to their release; current owner of Illini Construction & Waterproofing, LLC; a father to three wonderful young adults that are contributing hugely to the societies that they are currently residing; loving brother, uncle, and friend to all who he has encountered.
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Giveaway Alert!
The author will award a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.
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Thank you for hosting today.
Great excerpt and giveaway. 🙂
This sounds like a good read.