Spin Cycle

One exhausted son searching for community.
Nine misfit strangers learning to be better caregivers.
One letter with an outrageous request.
One confidant.
One choice.

180 Days

Infidelity.
Architecture.
Punk Rock.
Clonazepam.

Spin Cycle:
Notes from a Reluctant Caregiver

“An Intimate yet epic journey digging into the messy truths and secrets connecting parents and their children.”

Barry Hertz

author of The Globe and Mail

180 Days:
Infidelity. Architecture. Punk Rock. Clonazepam. 

“Alfredo Botello, who has an eye for detail and an ear for dialogue, has somehow managed to create a new and different take on a young marriage gone wrong.”

Howard Chesley

Booker Prize nominated author of Free Marcus Katz

Reviews

Greg Fields (short)

“Alfredo Botello paints his characters with a deft and sensitive touch, one that provides subtle insights into the anguishes and disappointments of growing older."

Greg Fields
author of The Bright Freight of Memory, PEN/Faulkner Award nominee

Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail

“An intimate yet epic journey digging into the messy truths and secrets connecting parents and their children.”

Barry Hertz
author of The Globe and Mail

Liam Callanan

“Funny and wrenching by turns, Spin Cycle: Notes from a Reluctant Caregiver, is a thought-provoking journey through the harrowing world of modern caregiving.”

Liam Callanan
author of When in Rome

Bella Andre

“Botello manages to delve into themes of guilt, frustration, and resentment with a pen that is both compassionate and razor sharp—and with hope and humor, even in the bleakest of moments. A must read for anyone who feels lost in the wilderness caring for an older loved one.”

Bella Andre
New York Times bestselling author of The Sullivans“Botello manages to delve into themes of guilt, frustration, and resentment with a pen that is both compassionate and razor sharp—and with hope and humor, even in the bleakest of moments. A must read for anyone who feels lost in the wilderness caring for an older loved one.”

Howard Chesley

"Alfredo Botello, who has an eye for detail and an ear for dialogue, has somehow managed to create a new and different take on a young marriage gone wrong. It is both laugh-out-loud funny and acute in its perception. His powers as a writer of dead-on conversation remind me of Martin Amis. Read this book."

Howard Chesley
Booker Prize nominated author of Free Marcus Katz

Mike Dirnt

“Loved it. 180 Days reads like coffee or drinks with an old friend. Smart, funny, emotional, and naughty. Filled with musical Easter eggs and authentic Bay Area details offered up in spades. It’s a painfully relatable love story that poses so many questions—and so many answers—in vivid and raw detail. Hella yes!”

Mike Dirnt
Bassist, Cofounder of Green Day

Murray Silverstein – short

"What a deep and abiding pleasure to find in Alfredo Botello’s debut novel, 180 Days, a fresh voice to love. In this story of a marriage on the rocks and the wild, desperate, at times funny struggle to save it, Botello has created a real page-turner. "

Murray Silverstein
Award-Winning Poet of Any Old Wolf, Coauthor of A Pattern Language

Elaine Szewczyk

“Screenwriter Alfredo Botello’s action-packed novel—part Bay Area love story, part punk rock anthem—is a race-against-the-clock tale that will remind readers of the profound power of redemption and second chances.”

Elaine Szewczyk
Author of I’m with Stupid

Brian Krans

180 Days is a timely, nerdy love letter to the Bay Area, long-lost-love-filled vacations staring at buildings in Barcelona, growing older, and the crushing realization that love takes work. A must-read for fans of 99 Percent Invisible and second chances.”

Brian Krans
Award-Winning Bay Area Journalist, Author of Assault Rifles and Pedophiles: An American Love Story

Ted Kissel

“A compelling and deeply insightful exploration of love, forgiveness, and self-discovery, Botello’s 180 Days skillfully delves into the complexities of human relationships, offering a raw and authentic portrayal of the challenges faced by many, making it a truly remarkable and thought-provoking read.”

Ted Kissel
Author of Betrayal in the Casbah

Greg Fields

“Alfredo Botello’s debut novel delves into themes of self, uncertainty, passion, loss, and the overwhelming need for each of us to redeem ourselves, to surmount past mistakes and reclaim who and what we really are. With an intensity that mirrors the depth of these themes, Botello’s story floats lyrically, carried by characters—Tomas and Naomi—who are memorable, vulnerable, complex, and very, very human. An outstanding and moving piece of writing that merits a spot on any library’s top shelf.”

Greg Fields
Author of Through the Waters and the Wild, 2022 Winner of the Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction

Liam Callanan

“A love letter to art, architecture, music, dreams lost and found, innovative plumbing, and, finally, love itself, 180 Days is smart, funny, and fearlessly romantic. . . . The novel’s characters may be running out of time, but Alfredo Botello’s boundless talent is just getting started.”

Liam Callanan
Author of When in Rome

AUTHOR, SCREENWRITER, ARCHITECT, BAR OWNER

Alfredo Botello

Alfredo Botello is a screenwriter who has worked on projects ranging from the indie Sundance Global Short La Revolucion De Iguodala to the studio tent pole Fast and Furious 9. He is a Fulbright Fellow in architecture and a Nicholl Fellow in screenwriting. In addition to screenplays, he has written for The San Francisco Examiner Magazine, Metropolis, Diablo, Surface, The Utne Reader, Style, The East Bay Express, and The Monthly. Botello also co-owns two dive bars in downtown Oakland, Radio Bar and the Ruby Room, and at home dotes on his two Corgis, George and Dotty.