Reedsy review by Lukanyo Mbanga
“The beauty of this novel is that on top of the fabulous characterization, simple, eloquent and evocative writing— the sad elements are balanced brilliantly with a quick-witted humor and a fast-moving pace. The novel cleverly uses Mikey’s (the protagonist) return home as a way to seamlessly reveal more about the characters and Mikey himself.”
https://reedsy.com/discovery/user/lukanyombanga
Oversized comedian Mikey Haskell believes he has escaped the pain from his breakup with Karen by going on the road for six months. His first few days of being home in the Twin Cities sets him straight. At first, he believes he can only move forward by declaring he is in love with his best friend, Alaine. When that does not go well, he tries to leave all human emotion behind by becoming an animal-like being.
This animal persona sets himself loose on the comedy-circuit of 1995 and on all the people he cares about. Mikey is locked inside the persona and fights to make sense of what has happened to him.
I hope you enjoy my novel. If you do read it, please review it on Amazon and Goodreads. Your honest review helps out authors by making our books get more exposure. The best way to promote any book is word of mouth.
| Shattered | Details |
| Primary Genre | Contemporary Dramatic Fiction / Gritty Dark Comedy • Blends modern realistic drama with a dark, quick-witted look at the 1990s mid-century stand-up comedy circuit. • Described as a character-driven psychological study akin to “Joker meets the stand-up comedy world”. |
| Core Themes | • Alienation and Rejection: The raw, universal feeling of being unwanted and profoundly misunderstood by society. • Mental Breakdown and Primal Regression: Escaping human emotional pain by retreating into a savage, animalistic id stage persona. • Bitterness vs. Redemption: The trajectory of becoming hardened by hardships and the internal struggle to find healing. • Unhealthy Self-Care and Guilt: How internalized guilt manifests physically through destructive coping mechanisms like binge eating and alcoholism. |
| Target Audience | • Mature Audiences of Contemporary Fiction: Adults who enjoy gritty, emotionally heavy, and unconventional character studies. • Fans of Dark Psychological Stories: Readers looking for stories about vulnerable protagonists, toxic mental cycles, and the blurred lines between performance and reality. |
You can read a review of my book here:
http://wisconsinauthorreview.blogspot.com/2022/02/shattered-by-thomas-cannon.html
“Sure to spark meaningful conversations, mature audiences of contemporary dramatic fiction will have a hard time putting this one down.”
Wisconsin Author Review
My name is Tom Cannon.
There is a lot of me in Mikey. Like many authors I have read, I wanted to share deep emotions to connect with a reader that needs a connection. Mikey cannot handle his grief and I wanted to write about bitterness. About becoming hardened after hardships.
However, I am not Mikey Haskell. For those of you that have read the book, I won’t throw any furniture around. The truth is that while my initial tone and concept of the story has remained the same, the story and Mikey got more intense as I became a better writer. I made it as intense as I could. By publication date, I have seen how mental illness is intense. Ugly. The people are not and should not be judged for it. People can be healed and pulled out of ugly cycles of despair.
Shattered is available everywhere online. It is available at Caramel Crisp, Apothecary Books Store, and The Book Store in Appleton, Wisconsin
- ASIN : B09LHW2GMT
- Publisher : Tumbleweed Books
- Publication date : December 31, 2021
- Language : English
Thomas Cannon Author
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Thomas Cannon Author 