Name Ain’t Sugar, by Michael Baham

Name Ain’t Sugar is a comic prison tale set in Louisiana during the nineties, told by a very unlikely narrator. We hear of Brad, a simple cowboy from the piney woods of Bossier Parish, who has had little contact with the world beyond those woods. At Angola Penitentiary, Brad serves his time in a secret prison camp for “problem” inmates. On his quest to compete in the prison rodeo, Brad faces prejudice—but also discovers he has more friends than he realized.

There are prison rodeos, a prison break, a chain gang, and a riot. The story includes a prison medic, two beauty queens, an arsonist, two Saints fans, a dog, six cats, a turkey, a dozen cows, and a unique horse. It begins in New Orleans and explores serious subjects such as grief, prejudice, gender identity, and death—though always told with hope and humor.

The narrator may be speaking of Angola when she tells Brad, “We’re just at the bus station. This isn’t the end of the line.”