I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the THE ELECTRIC GOD AND OTHER SHORTS by Michael Thomas Perone Blog Tour
hosted by Rockstar Book Tours.
Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
Author: Michael Thomas Perone
Pub. Date: October 14, 2024
Publisher: Wheatmark
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 251
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N
A small town becomes obsessed with
television—to the point of madness.
A cheerful innocent confronts the harsh reality of the world and is forever
changed by the experience.
A struggling author begins receiving strange messages on the paper he uses to
write.
A bullied, brilliant teen is put through the wringer of his high school and
comes out the other side insane.
A detective of the future discovers he may be investigating his own untimely
demise—and that of the world’s.
These and one more dark fable await
you from the imaginative mind of the award-winning author Michael Thomas
Perone. Part fractured fairy tales, part nightmare fuel, The Electric
God and Other Shorts follows characters who struggle to
remain sane in an insane world and features stories that will keep you up at
night, wondering what might be lurking in the shadows.
For the readers: can you tell us a little
bit about your book and the characters?
I’ve always wanted to publish a collection of my best
short stories, but I was worried that the reader would be ping-ponging back and
forth between themes. If you read my last book, Déjà View, you’ll know
that theme is very important to me, but after going through dozens of my
stories and selecting my six favorite ones, either by sheer luck or dumb
coincidence, almost all the stories have the exact same theme: that of a sane
person trying to survive an insane world. That’s something that I can
unfortunately relate to all too well.
Who was your favorite character to write?
What about your least favorite?
I don’t know if he was my favorite character,
but I have a special fondness for Brody Crawling from the story How to Save
a Drowning Butterfly. I don’t want to give too much away, but he’s a
cheerful, innocent, naïve 19-year-old who has spent almost his entire life
inside his house, and in the story, we follow his adventure—or I should say
misadventure—as he finally leaves his home and enters the dreaded real world.
Needless to say, things don’t go well. He’s probably the character I most
relate to. My least favorite character is the unnamed student in The Shovel.
He’s bullied beyond all recognition at his high school, which is also something
I can relate to, but he does the exact opposite of what I would do. I was playing
with the book’s overall theme of how to survive an insane world, and this
character absolutely does the wrong thing. I want to be clear about that before
I get angry emails!
What is your favorite passage/scene in your
book?
Probably my favorite scene, which is also the
most action-packed, is in Investigating the Future’s End, where the main
character Bill Hartly is attempting to drive himself to the hospital as he’s
bleeding out from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. On top of this, he’s being
chased by a pair of assassins in their own cars, and the bullets are flying
freely and fiercely. I was especially proud of the line, “An enemy bullet
ricocheted off his trunk with a cartoonish Ping! sound.” I actually
laughed when I wrote that. Sometimes you surprise yourself.
What kind of research did you have to do
for the story?
Two words: high school. Seriously, my books
usually are based on my school experiences. Even though it took place in junior
high, Danger Peak was about my time in elementary school, Déjà View
was about my time in junior high, and this book was about how out of place and
crazy I felt in high school. Besides following the school theme, I’ve always
felt like a square peg trying to fit a round hole.
What are you working on next?
I have an idea for another book, but I just
wrote three books in the past 3 years (four if you count my blog book that I’m
giving away for free at my website here: www.michaelthomasperone.com/blog).
After promoting The Electric God, I’m taking a well-deserved break!
Lightning Round Questions
What are you reading right now? Or what do
you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?
I’m reading David Foster Wallace’s mammoth,
over 1,000-paged Infinite Jest. This has been a bucket list read for me
ever since I was told it was the defining novel of my generation (Gen X). I’m
only a quarter through it, and some of the language is deeply beautiful, but
I’d be lying if I said it was an easy read. There are almost 400 footnotes
alone!
Favorite social media site?
I’m old-school (the title story of my book is
a screed against electronics), so I try to avoid social media as much as I can,
but these days, that’s like saying you try to avoid driving, especially if
you’re an indie author like me and trying to get your work out there. If I had
to choose one, I’d go with Facebook, though Instagram may overtake it soon; I
seem to get a lot more interaction on that one.
Favorite Superhero or Villain?
The Joker, though that last movie was abysmal
(and this is coming from someone who was a fan of the first).
Favorite TV show?
The Simpsons. I’ve seen every single episode at least
once, and that’s saying something since it’s been on for over 35 years, though
I should say I’m only a huge fan of the first eight or nine seasons. If you had
told me when I was 12 that this show would still be on the air in my mid-40s
when I have a wife and two children, I’d never believe you.
Sweet or Salty?
Sweet. Just like me!
Any Phobias?
I hate bugs of any kind, especially praying mantises
(so creepy!), though, ironically, I have no problem with spiders. Maybe that’s because
we have a common enemy, since they eat bugs. Also, I’m a sucker for Charlotte’s
Web.
Song you can’t get enough of right now?
Anything from the ‘80s. Again, I’m
old-school.
2024 Movie you’re most looking forward to?
The answer was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,
but I saw it already. It was good but not as good as the first one, which is
what I was expecting. Totally nostalgic though.
Do you play video games? If so, what are
some of your favorites?
I recently bought a SNES adapter for my TV, so now I’m playing all my old Super Nintendo games from the early ‘90s. Once more from the top: old-school! As an old school gamer I approve! Love me some Zelda and Mario :)
About Michael Thomas Perone:
Michael Thomas Perone is an award-winning author who has
written for The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, Long
Island Voice (a spinoff of The Village Voice), and The Island Ear
(now titled Long Island Press), among others. Online, he has written for
Yahoo!, WhatCulture!, and other websites that don’t end with an exclamation
mark. His debut novel, the action-adventure Danger Peak, was the
recipient of multiple awards, including The Fall 2022 BookFest Award in the
category of Young Adult – Action and Adventure. His follow-up, the
coming-of-age/sci-fi mindbender Déjà View, won First Place at the Spring
2024 BookFest Awards in the category of Young Adult – Literary and Coming of
Age. It was also a finalist of The Eric Hoffer Book Award. He currently works
as a Senior Editor and lives on Long Island with his wife and two daughters.
Sign up for Michael’s newsletter!
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Giveaway Details:
10 winners
will receive a finished copy of THE ELECTRIC GOD AND OTHER SHORTS, US Only.
Ends November 19th, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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11/4/2024 |
Interview/IG Post |
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11/4/2024 |
Guest Post |
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11/5/2024 |
Guest Post/IG Post |
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11/5/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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11/6/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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11/6/2024 |
IG Post |
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11/7/2024 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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11/7/2024 |
Excerpt |
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11/8/2024 |
IG Post/TikTok Post |
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11/8/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Two:
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11/11/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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11/11/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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11/12/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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11/12/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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11/13/2024 |
IG Review |
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11/13/2024 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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11/14/2024 |
IG Review |
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11/14/2024 |
Review |
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11/15/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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11/15/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
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