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Dark Matter: The Strife and Crimes of ThomasX
A survivor’s look at the science of the soul, self destruction, death, art, music, time travel and the mysterious matter that makes up most of our universe. Thomas has unique insight into four and a half decades of hardship, loss and reanimation. Full of wit and humility, Dark Matter speaks as a painful trek through the birth of a star, it’s subsequent implosion and radiant redemption. It’s a gift from the deepest reaches of the universe in a timeless war of balance. A hero's journey through the abyss. The hero has a thousand faces. Give it one more—yours.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 12, 2016
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April 4, 2016
Dark Matter: The Strife and Crimes of ThomasX
Written in the bunk in a Texas prison, ThomasX pens a painful, dark memory of his life. Neglect, poverty, lack of adult love and worthy role models make him learn every lesson in the hardest way possible.
Penned with humor and stark, take-no-prisoners detail, the tales rehash somewhat typical Texas childhood and teen shenanigans until playing with drugs and crime take a dark turn and his step-brother dies in a tragic, and heartbreakingly pointless accident. That death becomes a sad compass point of guilt that the author returns to time and again.
Despite crappy schools and an even worse homelife, Thomas was a smart kid who loved books and learning, and his cunning made him not only a survivor but a thriver in his version of the underworld. Creative in survival skills, as well as art and music, the author also includes lyrics of his original songs that are relevant to the stories in the chapter.
His story is no doubt familiar to young people who find themselves stuck in the cycle of abuse, addiction and despair, with few resources or trustworthy people able to help them break out, or a salve for their pain. The undercurrent in this story is a quest to find out who his real father is, trying to dig through the lies and intentional misdirections, and he eventually becomes a reluctant and woefully immature father himself and runs the risk of recreating his own dysfunctional family yet again.
The story is not unlike both of Augusten Burrough’s most well-known memoirs, “Running with Scissors” and “Dry”. I felt a queasy familiarity with the similar themes of a damaged, negligent mother with her own addiction issues, and the kid running wild who is desperately looking for a trustworthy, loving place to land.
While reading this book, I had to stop and take several breaks because it was so painful to imagine a parent treating their child with such indifference...and frustrating when the young adult narrowly escapes certain death and idiotic scrapes with the law… just to make the same stupid mistakes over and over. And yet I kept getting pulled back in. I wanted so strongly to find out how Thomas ended up escaping his f’d up past, and become the deep, spiritually and self-aware survivor and brilliant author.
Written in the bunk in a Texas prison, ThomasX pens a painful, dark memory of his life. Neglect, poverty, lack of adult love and worthy role models make him learn every lesson in the hardest way possible.
Penned with humor and stark, take-no-prisoners detail, the tales rehash somewhat typical Texas childhood and teen shenanigans until playing with drugs and crime take a dark turn and his step-brother dies in a tragic, and heartbreakingly pointless accident. That death becomes a sad compass point of guilt that the author returns to time and again.
Despite crappy schools and an even worse homelife, Thomas was a smart kid who loved books and learning, and his cunning made him not only a survivor but a thriver in his version of the underworld. Creative in survival skills, as well as art and music, the author also includes lyrics of his original songs that are relevant to the stories in the chapter.
His story is no doubt familiar to young people who find themselves stuck in the cycle of abuse, addiction and despair, with few resources or trustworthy people able to help them break out, or a salve for their pain. The undercurrent in this story is a quest to find out who his real father is, trying to dig through the lies and intentional misdirections, and he eventually becomes a reluctant and woefully immature father himself and runs the risk of recreating his own dysfunctional family yet again.
The story is not unlike both of Augusten Burrough’s most well-known memoirs, “Running with Scissors” and “Dry”. I felt a queasy familiarity with the similar themes of a damaged, negligent mother with her own addiction issues, and the kid running wild who is desperately looking for a trustworthy, loving place to land.
While reading this book, I had to stop and take several breaks because it was so painful to imagine a parent treating their child with such indifference...and frustrating when the young adult narrowly escapes certain death and idiotic scrapes with the law… just to make the same stupid mistakes over and over. And yet I kept getting pulled back in. I wanted so strongly to find out how Thomas ended up escaping his f’d up past, and become the deep, spiritually and self-aware survivor and brilliant author.
Displaying 1 of 1 review