Stage of Fools: debut novel by Sean Pauzauskie. Book One of The Thomas Mariner Neurotechnology Trilogy (Literary Fiction)
Literary Fiction: Novel, Forthcoming from High Frequency Press, October 20, 2025. PRE-ORDER.
Stage of Fools is a haunting and evocative literary novel that explores the fragility of identity, the weight of legacy, and the redemptive possibilities of love and memory. Set at the intersection of high-stakes ambition and deeply personal reckonings, the story unfolds from the unlikely vantage point of Steven Levinson—a powerful San Francisco business magnate rendered silent by a near-fatal accident, and now trapped in a coma in intensive care.
As his body lies inert, Steven’s consciousness drifts through memories, regrets, and long-buried secrets. The recent estrangement from his daughters weighs heavily—their love seems to have turned to resentment, and he fears that their once-iron bond has corroded beyond repair.
A new experimental treatment, ultrasonic thalamic stimulation, offers a glimmer of hope for awakening. Meanwhile, Steven projects his own shadow onto Thomas Mariner—who finds himself at a personal crossroads, attempting to navigate the uncharted waters of San Francisco.
As the novel weaves between past and present, consciousness and unconsciousness, a larger picture emerges—of lives knotted by ambition, trauma, and the longing for connection. Along the way, new insights arise about the decisions that shaped not only Steven’s fate but that of those he holds most dear. Through his search for meaning, the story charts the universal struggle to reconcile the past with the possibility of a better future.
Echoing the tragic resonance of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Stage of Fools offers a modern meditation on power, forgiveness, and vulnerability. With lyrical prose and emotional depth, Stage of Fools captures the rhythms of contemporary life while drawing timeless connections between fathers and their children, mentors and protégés, and youth and age.
As memory blurs with imagination and reality folds into dream, Stage of Fools is a meditation on whether healing is ever truly possible—and what it means to awaken, in both mind and heart.
ISBN: 978-1-962931-31-1; LCCN: 2025905204. Hardcover with dust jacket and printed case laminate. $30.00.
"Sean Pauzauskie is from that great tradition of doctors who also excel in literature. As with Walker Percy, another example, we get in Pauzauskie’s Stage of Fools the tragicomedies of the flesh as well as the acutely sketched-out questions about the mind and the soul. Sean Pauzauskie is a very promising novelist, with a big heart and unique angle, as shown in this uniquely rewarding new work."
—Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm
“Stage of Fools offers an innovative, compelling appropriation and repurposing of Shakespeare’s King Lear. But the principal character lies comatose in a San Francisco hospital, able to hear, think, and feel. Recollection and disintegration drive a bold family narrative toward a riveting conclusion and epiphany. Pauzauskie, by creating multi-faceted characters, skillfully refashions the story of an old king into a modern-day enriched parable of hope, suffering, and loss.”
—David Bergeron, author of The Duke of Lennox
Sean Pauzauskie was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and raised in Topeka, Kansas. He was educated in Kansas, California, and Texas, and holds an honors degree in literature. He was mentored by and wrote his thesis with—a favorite pupil of Vladimir Nabokov—named Stephen Jan Parker, who encouraged him to "get a day job" before writing seriously. He became a practicing neurologist as a result of this advice. Including Stage of Fools, he has written five novels, a collection of short stories, an autobiography and a work of drama.
He lives with his wife and Siberian husky in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where he enjoys fishing, sports, traveling, composing piano music and mountaineering. His literary scholarship has been presented in such places as at the International Vladimir Nabokov Society Conference in Montreux, Switzerland. Learn more at seanpauzauskie.com.
Literary Fiction: Novel, Forthcoming from High Frequency Press, October 20, 2025. PRE-ORDER.
Stage of Fools is a haunting and evocative literary novel that explores the fragility of identity, the weight of legacy, and the redemptive possibilities of love and memory. Set at the intersection of high-stakes ambition and deeply personal reckonings, the story unfolds from the unlikely vantage point of Steven Levinson—a powerful San Francisco business magnate rendered silent by a near-fatal accident, and now trapped in a coma in intensive care.
As his body lies inert, Steven’s consciousness drifts through memories, regrets, and long-buried secrets. The recent estrangement from his daughters weighs heavily—their love seems to have turned to resentment, and he fears that their once-iron bond has corroded beyond repair.
A new experimental treatment, ultrasonic thalamic stimulation, offers a glimmer of hope for awakening. Meanwhile, Steven projects his own shadow onto Thomas Mariner—who finds himself at a personal crossroads, attempting to navigate the uncharted waters of San Francisco.
As the novel weaves between past and present, consciousness and unconsciousness, a larger picture emerges—of lives knotted by ambition, trauma, and the longing for connection. Along the way, new insights arise about the decisions that shaped not only Steven’s fate but that of those he holds most dear. Through his search for meaning, the story charts the universal struggle to reconcile the past with the possibility of a better future.
Echoing the tragic resonance of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Stage of Fools offers a modern meditation on power, forgiveness, and vulnerability. With lyrical prose and emotional depth, Stage of Fools captures the rhythms of contemporary life while drawing timeless connections between fathers and their children, mentors and protégés, and youth and age.
As memory blurs with imagination and reality folds into dream, Stage of Fools is a meditation on whether healing is ever truly possible—and what it means to awaken, in both mind and heart.
ISBN: 978-1-962931-31-1; LCCN: 2025905204. Hardcover with dust jacket and printed case laminate. $30.00.
"Sean Pauzauskie is from that great tradition of doctors who also excel in literature. As with Walker Percy, another example, we get in Pauzauskie’s Stage of Fools the tragicomedies of the flesh as well as the acutely sketched-out questions about the mind and the soul. Sean Pauzauskie is a very promising novelist, with a big heart and unique angle, as shown in this uniquely rewarding new work."
—Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm
“Stage of Fools offers an innovative, compelling appropriation and repurposing of Shakespeare’s King Lear. But the principal character lies comatose in a San Francisco hospital, able to hear, think, and feel. Recollection and disintegration drive a bold family narrative toward a riveting conclusion and epiphany. Pauzauskie, by creating multi-faceted characters, skillfully refashions the story of an old king into a modern-day enriched parable of hope, suffering, and loss.”
—David Bergeron, author of The Duke of Lennox
Sean Pauzauskie was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and raised in Topeka, Kansas. He was educated in Kansas, California, and Texas, and holds an honors degree in literature. He was mentored by and wrote his thesis with—a favorite pupil of Vladimir Nabokov—named Stephen Jan Parker, who encouraged him to "get a day job" before writing seriously. He became a practicing neurologist as a result of this advice. Including Stage of Fools, he has written five novels, a collection of short stories, an autobiography and a work of drama.
He lives with his wife and Siberian husky in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where he enjoys fishing, sports, traveling, composing piano music and mountaineering. His literary scholarship has been presented in such places as at the International Vladimir Nabokov Society Conference in Montreux, Switzerland. Learn more at seanpauzauskie.com.
Literary Fiction: Novel, Forthcoming from High Frequency Press, October 20, 2025. PRE-ORDER.
Stage of Fools is a haunting and evocative literary novel that explores the fragility of identity, the weight of legacy, and the redemptive possibilities of love and memory. Set at the intersection of high-stakes ambition and deeply personal reckonings, the story unfolds from the unlikely vantage point of Steven Levinson—a powerful San Francisco business magnate rendered silent by a near-fatal accident, and now trapped in a coma in intensive care.
As his body lies inert, Steven’s consciousness drifts through memories, regrets, and long-buried secrets. The recent estrangement from his daughters weighs heavily—their love seems to have turned to resentment, and he fears that their once-iron bond has corroded beyond repair.
A new experimental treatment, ultrasonic thalamic stimulation, offers a glimmer of hope for awakening. Meanwhile, Steven projects his own shadow onto Thomas Mariner—who finds himself at a personal crossroads, attempting to navigate the uncharted waters of San Francisco.
As the novel weaves between past and present, consciousness and unconsciousness, a larger picture emerges—of lives knotted by ambition, trauma, and the longing for connection. Along the way, new insights arise about the decisions that shaped not only Steven’s fate but that of those he holds most dear. Through his search for meaning, the story charts the universal struggle to reconcile the past with the possibility of a better future.
Echoing the tragic resonance of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Stage of Fools offers a modern meditation on power, forgiveness, and vulnerability. With lyrical prose and emotional depth, Stage of Fools captures the rhythms of contemporary life while drawing timeless connections between fathers and their children, mentors and protégés, and youth and age.
As memory blurs with imagination and reality folds into dream, Stage of Fools is a meditation on whether healing is ever truly possible—and what it means to awaken, in both mind and heart.
ISBN: 978-1-962931-31-1; LCCN: 2025905204. Hardcover with dust jacket and printed case laminate. $30.00.
"Sean Pauzauskie is from that great tradition of doctors who also excel in literature. As with Walker Percy, another example, we get in Pauzauskie’s Stage of Fools the tragicomedies of the flesh as well as the acutely sketched-out questions about the mind and the soul. Sean Pauzauskie is a very promising novelist, with a big heart and unique angle, as shown in this uniquely rewarding new work."
—Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm
“Stage of Fools offers an innovative, compelling appropriation and repurposing of Shakespeare’s King Lear. But the principal character lies comatose in a San Francisco hospital, able to hear, think, and feel. Recollection and disintegration drive a bold family narrative toward a riveting conclusion and epiphany. Pauzauskie, by creating multi-faceted characters, skillfully refashions the story of an old king into a modern-day enriched parable of hope, suffering, and loss.”
—David Bergeron, author of The Duke of Lennox
Sean Pauzauskie was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and raised in Topeka, Kansas. He was educated in Kansas, California, and Texas, and holds an honors degree in literature. He was mentored by and wrote his thesis with—a favorite pupil of Vladimir Nabokov—named Stephen Jan Parker, who encouraged him to "get a day job" before writing seriously. He became a practicing neurologist as a result of this advice. Including Stage of Fools, he has written five novels, a collection of short stories, an autobiography and a work of drama.
He lives with his wife and Siberian husky in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where he enjoys fishing, sports, traveling, composing piano music and mountaineering. His literary scholarship has been presented in such places as at the International Vladimir Nabokov Society Conference in Montreux, Switzerland. Learn more at seanpauzauskie.com.