We recently connected with Chris Ahrens and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I grew up near East Los Angeles where a lot of my classmates ended up dead from drug abuse or gang-related violence. These were good people and good friends who, because of circumstances beyond their control (mostly abusive or absentee parents) had gone down some dark roads. By the age of 30, I could count 14 of my friends who had died from un natural causes. Over time stories of violence have been so glorified by some media outlets that a kid without family or any real direction, looks to crime as a way out. My mission is to show a way out through the stories on my God N’ Gangsters YouTube channel. These people have been branded menaces to society, but all of them have something good inside. My goal is to help bring that out.

Chris, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Anyone seeing my report cards in my youth would have advised me to become anything but a writer. Straight F’s in writing from the sixth grade, on.! I was bad at grammar and good at story telling. Since creativity at the time (1950’s-1960’s) was not considered as important as following the rules, I found myself at the bottom of the class. Still, I had one success to hang onto. I was in third grade when I wrote a story about a boy in our class who was beating everyone up. When, the story, titled “Big Bully” was read aloud by our Teach, Sister Mary Victoria, the class howled, the bully scowled and later loosened two of my teeth. Wow, writing is more powerful than a left hook. I would become a writer. Since then, I’ve had millions of words published in magazines as diverse as the LA Times, “Family Circle” and “Outside.” I’ve written 10 books, and been editor-in-chief of three publications. Recently noting that youth culture was coming in large part out of prison by way of gangster rap, and watching the equally destructive trend away from reading, I continued telling my stories, this time through film, first with the award-winning documentary I directed, D.O.P.E. (Death Or Prison Eventually) and currently through my newly formed YouTube channel, God N’ Gangsters. While I continue writing regularly for such publications as the Coast News and The San Diego Reader, I also find fulfilment in videoing some of the nation’s toughest criminals on their rise, fall and redemption. The stories are meant as an entertaining warning shot to youth, who often consider gang life glamourous. Another joy for me is helping outsiders learn the craft of writing and letting them know that if I can become a writer, anyone can.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When someone says that you have to bleed for your craft, believe them. While I have not physically bled (unless you count the time I was punched in the face for my parody on a classmate) writing has cost me greatly. So much so, that I gave it up for a season. It was then I went to a real estate school. Now many of my friends are realtors, but not me. I was about to take the test when I looked up at the man in the pea green soup and checked pants, combover hiding who he really was. For reasons I did not yet understand, my mouth went dry and my heart pounded. I ran out of that room and gratefully chained myself to my desk, writing and getting rejected hundreds of times. It was painful in the way training for the Olympics must be. Now, I don’t want to fool anyone into thinking that I have since made a lot of money. I have not, but I haven’t dreaded a Monday morning in over 40 years. I call that success

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was so poor that I was living on a friend’s couch, hoping he would have chicken for dinner, because he always threw the best part away, the skin. When he went to bed, I would fish the skins out of the trash, pilfer a slice of Wonder bread and indulge in a feast as I typed my latest story by flashlight. One day my friend said someone was on the phone for me. It was an editor for Family Circle saying they were buying a story I had written about my mother and would I accept $850 for the piece. Man, for that amount of money (this was in the early 1980’s btw) I would have eaten the manuscript, staples and all. From there I moved into a bedroom and even bought a used car. I had made it!

Contact Info:

• Website: Perelandrapublishing.com
• Instagram: Godngangsters
• Facebook: Christopher M Ahrens
• Youtube: God N’ Gangsters

Image Credits
The man holding my book is actor, Danny Trejo. Danny narrated my film, D,O.P.E. (Death Or Prison Eventually.) He is seen here holding my novel, Twilight in the City of Angels. The children are my grandchildren,