Strutting and Fretting

"At the forefront of all the serious new fiction released this year." - Midwest Book Review

Got reservations? Noncommittal Bob does - about his life. And his wife has left him. And he's broke. Party

School's over, and Bob has landed an acting job at a major repertory theatre on the California coast. But instead of relishing his success, Bob is preoccupied with doubts about his talent, his life choices and his future.

But hey - four months of solid work is something, right? Maybe, just maybe, Bob can turn his life around over the summer - and perhaps be invited to keep his job in the fall. But it may take a resolve and a determination that Bob does not, at this point in his life, have an abundance of:

"Who am I to think I can do this? My marriage is failing, my tenure in the Ivory Tower of Education is over and my MFA degree is really a great credential for a career in fast food. What does it matter to the deep fryer guy that I've done the definitive Macbeth at age 24?"

Life to Bob: Make something happen. October is bearing down fast.

"McKeon times these beats impeccably; he writes with a kinetic energy that propels Bob's darkest and funniest moments at the same pace, making for both a fully realized narrator and a compulsive read."- Kirkus Reviews

"This superb work of fiction peels back the layers of Bob's] carefully guarded soul for readers to explore. It is a masterful examination of a young man struggling to balance chronic low self-esteem with a performer's perpetual need for approval."- Publishers Daily Reviews

"McKeon's ability to blend drama of the stage with real-life events packs a powerful punch for readers, leaving them stinging long after the book has been set down. The author's balancing act between absurd humor and existential philosophy makes his story a paragon of Bukowski's dirty realism."- The BookLife Prize