Uppercut

Uppercut is about 99er Rogers being laid off from his job in LA/NYC and having his unemployment run out. He ends up moving to Mexico to make a go of it. The book includes a harrowing episode where Rogers is detained by Homeland Security at the Tijuana border for 22 hours (with good reason) while staring down a 10-year sentence and $200K fine. But Rogers is determined to leave the U.S. for a better life in Mexico, while at the same time Mexicans are crossing the border into the U.S. for their own improved shot at life. "Uppercut is the story of a bona fide writer bravely baring his soul, warts and all, enduring test after test, surviving on promises and hope, who has not only lived it, but walked-the-walk with true grit, humor, and humility. A tour-de-force memoir that is both riveting and inspiring." Sam Millar, author of On the Brinks"You're driving through the desert and you're running outta gas. That's what this book is about, man. You're on the skids with your back against the wall, but you just keep your hustle going, pushing your luck again and again." u.v.ray, author of Drug Story"Mark is a hardcore gritty writer. He king-hits your senses. No bullshit. He might give up a few jazz sentences, but that's about all, and that's when he's feeling expansive, which is very rare." Vanya Vetto, author of Garuda Travels"This gritty work is full of flashbacks and recollections (it is a memoir, after all) but, in many ways, it's about the precariousness of living in this moment...the precariousness of life, anywhere, but especially life on the edges of things, which is where Rogers seems to have spent much of his. This book, finally, is also about the precariousness of the idea of home-of an American home. The precariousness of the so-called American Dream." Steve Lambert, author of The Patron Saint of Birds"An uppercut is designed to catch a fighter off guard. It's delivered from close range, and unlike showier roundhouses and haymakers, it's known to serve up a more efficient knockout. As such, Uppercut is the perfect title for this Mark Rogers memoir. Rogers is a creative and prolific soul-a novelist, a screenwriter, a freelancer over the course of this book's story. He's also a devoted husband and a modest man looking to make ends meet as money dries up, legal issues roll in, and drama develops at the Mexican border. 'Last night I had a dream I took out the trash, ' Rogers writes. 'Who says dreams can't come true?' He's an incisive, caustic writer, but not without a sense of romanticism or hope. His story is sure to knock readers off their feet, with little chance of answering a ten count." Michael Chin, author of The Long Way Home"Mark Rogers knows that the stylish, polished picture frame in which we live is riddled with holes, in which worms live." James Sallis, author of Drive"Mark Rogers is in Mexico, and has been on a Balzacian spree these last few years, pumping out first-rate novels at the rate, it seems, of approximately two a year. I'm hooked on them." John Foy Lord author of Fun City Solitaire"Mark Rogers' memoir Uppercut is the story of one man's, one family's journey to make it through hard times on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. Rogers is that rare prose writer who has learned the right lessons from Charles Bukowski, though stylistically this work more closely resembles that of Knut Hamsun in its honesty and emotional rawness. Rogers presents a panoramic view of an America transforming into something unrecognizable at the time of the action (2008-2015), but all too recognizable today. Ultimately this is a tale of struggle, transformation, and dare I say redemption. Well worth the read, I highly recommend getting your copy today." Danny Shot, author of WORKS