New Books Network Michael Kardos, "Fun City Heist" (Severn House, 2025)
Dec 2, 2025
Michael Kardos, a two-time Pushcart Prize-winning author with a rich background in music, shares insights about his latest novel, Fun City Heist. He discusses the quirky life of Mo Melnick, a former band drummer turned beach chair renter, who grapples with a reunion gig and a scheme to rob a beachfront resort. Kardos also reflects on transforming personal experiences into fiction, the comedic aspects of perfect pitch, and Mo’s evolving relationship with his estranged daughter. Get ready for laughs and heartwarming moments!
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Boardwalk Haunted Mansion Roots
- Michael Kardos worked at a beachfront amusement park in high school and it became a vivid setting for his fiction.
- He returned to that haunted-mansion boardwalk imagery repeatedly while developing Fun City Heist during COVID.
Place Becomes Fiction Through Memory
- Kardos describes his Jersey Shore as a fictionalized place filtered through years away from it.
- That distance let him shape a specific, slightly altered shore that serves the story's tone and memory.
Experience Playing Bad Clubs
- Kardos drew on years of playing bad clubs to write authentic gig scenes and band life.
- He and his fictional band had fleeting regional success that left long-term questions about identity and future.
