 Penguin Random House Audio presents Scenes From My Life, A Memoir, by Michael K. Williams with John Sternfeld. Read For You, by Dionne Graham. This book is a work of memoir. It is a true story based on Michael K. Williams' best and honest recollections of the events of his life. The following individuals portrayed in the book were given assumed names in the interest of privacy and discretion. Barry, Bill, Daniel, Darlene, Dina, Joni, Kay, Mr. S., and Walter. Co-authors note. We all are works in progress. Everybody is a work in progress. Michael Kenneth Williams. Michael K. Williams, Mike, to those who knew him, died on September 6, 2021, a few weeks before we were due to turn in this manuscript. He and I had been working for two and a half years on various drafts and iterations of this book, which began as one thing and gradually evolved into another. After his passing, the book was completed off of the extensive interviews he gave me. Mike was open to sharing his personal story and experiences, because he thought his journey, his openness itself, would offer solace to others. He was adamant that the book he wanted to write shouldn't be about self-glorification but was instead an honest chronicle of what he'd been through and how it informed the man he became. He wouldn't want to hide the fact of what killed him, his addiction, and he spoke openly about the daily struggle the disease was for him and for so many others. There are references in this book to how we thought he was one false move from having it all slip away about the fragility of life, and how it all could be snatched away at any moment. These are all directly from him. This is how Mike felt and how he spoke. Early on in the process, he finished telling me an embarrassing story connected to his drug use, and I asked if he was okay with putting it in the book. Yes, definitely. He said, I don't think I have the liberty of leaving that out. The liberty of leaving that out. It told me so much about it, how he felt his struggles had to be about something more than just himself, how he suffered, and how it was not in his nature to deprive anyone who might benefit from the sharing of that suffering. He knew how pain kept inside, multiplies, and how pain shared subtracts. This idea would come up again and again in our work. Sometimes my phone would ring and it would be Mike in a frenzy, that deep and raspy baritone excited about some news piece he saw on television. Sample complete. Ready to continue?