James Brown is an American novelist who has also written short fiction and nonfiction. His third memoir, Apology to the Young Addict, is the last of a trilogy dealing with addiction, recovery, and helping others achieve sobriety. His acclaimed first memoir, The Los Angeles Diaries, is an intimate portrait of his dysfunctional family, covering his childhood, Hollywood script meetings, his splintered marriage and life with his older brother, the actor Barry Brown, and his sister, the actress Marilyn Brown, who both committed suicide. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Independent of London.
Novels and memoir
Living in San Jose, Brown studied creative writing at San Francisco State University and then attended the University of California, Irvine where he received an MFA degree in creative writing. His first novel, Going Fast, published in a limited edition by Border Mountain Press, was reviewed by Merritt Clifton in Samisdat: His second novel, Hot Wire, focuses on the struggles of a waitress and her three sons. The semi-autobiographical Final Performance, about two brothers in Los Angeles, was reviewed in Library Journal by Kimberly G. Allen, who commented, "Its characters imbued with an honest emotional depth, this work is compelling and profoundly moving." He followed with The Second Story Theatre and Two Encores. This River is a continuation of The Los Angeles Diaries, picking up where the first memoir ended with many of the same themes of family, addiction and recovery. Now in its fifth edition, Counterpoint is also reissuing the trade paperback of Los Angeles Diaries with a new introduction. Brown's third memoir, Apology to the Young Addict, is the last of a trilogy. His publisher describes it as follows: "Now sixty ― with years of sobriety under his belt―and the father of three sons, James Brown writes about finding a new path in life, making peace with the family whose ghosts have haunted him, and helping the next generation of addicts overcome their disease. Opening with the tragic tale of an elderly couple consumed by opioid addiction and moving through the horrors of a Las Vegas massacre, these essays draw on Brown’s personal journey of recovery to illustrate how an individual life, in all its messiness and charm, can offer a blueprint for healing. Evocative and hopeful, Apology to the Young Addict is a reinvention of the recovery memoir and a lasting testimony from a master writing at his peak." Author Jerry Stahl states: "James Brown’s Apology to the Young Addict does not just breathe new life into addiction writing, it does so with enough grace, heart, and grab-you-by-the-throat style to transcend the genre and qualify as genuine literature. These beautiful essays will serve as balm for survivors of the opioid crisis, those still struggling to make it out, and pretty much anyone else trying to stay sane in these insane times. Prose-wise―with all due respect to his late namesake―James Brown has earned his title as the Godfather of Junkie Soul."
