The Work
Title: Canvas of Scars
Summary: Wandering alone late at night in the dark. Searching for meaning as your heart melts in your ribcage. A longing to be alive, but you’re dead and staring through a veil to experience a semblance of life. Canvas of Scars is a collection of dark poetry, short prose, and art with themes of PTSD, depression, psychosis, and other dark subjects.
Link to buy: https://books2read.com/u/4AePLk
Favorite piece, quote, or moment:
At the End of Time is one of my favorite poems from the book. It was written in a spur of the moment while dissociating, so the imagery was very strong. I’d went on a walk before writing it, and I described everything I was seeing and feeling as if it were a stage play. Like everything was a set and I was on the outside of it all as an observer.
About me and why I created the book:
I’m a nonbinary trans masculine author and artist, and I’ve also spent a lot of my life struggling with various mental illnesses, including CPTSD and a panic disorder. Canvas of Scars wasn’t something that was planned, it just became what it was over time as I wrote more and more poetry privately on one of my blogs. The art in the book is also drawn by me, and they’re all pieces that were, again, not meant for publication but as vent art to help me cope. I eventually combined them all in an effort to talk honestly about severe mental illness and trauma, as well as show visually how scary things can feel. It became a part of my work as an advocate for mental health awareness, and as a way to share my own story of survival.
Future projects:
Right now, I’m juggling a few different works in progress. One of them is called The Soulless Ones, and it’s a Backrooms-inspired sci-fi that also takes inspiration from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. It’s about four people who wake up in a strange, indoor community to find that they can’t remember their past. No one else is there, and nothing else seems to exist beyond the four walls around them. Another work in progress is the third book in my series, The Requiem Series. It’ll be the final book in the main storyline, and I’m really excited to get back to the fantasy themes of the first book; angels, demons, and a bit of a Biblical apocalypse will unfold.
Links:
Website – https://shaneblackheart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaneblackheart/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@shaneblackheart
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/shaneblackheart.com
