Michael Thomas Perone's Blog, page 10

The Kindle Version of Danger Peak Will Be FREE This Weekend!

This Memorial Day weekend, the Danger Peak eBook on Kindle will be FREE to download. You read that correctly. I’m crazy Mikey, and my deals are IN-SAAANE! Sorry, I just channeled the ghost of Crazy Eddie there. (Rest in peace, playa.) For two days only—Saturday, May 27th and Sunday, May 28th—Danger Peak will be up for grabs, so get it before I change my mind and return to sanity! Here is the Amazon link to the Kindle version of Danger Peak:

KINDLE LINK

There really isn’t much more to say than that, so rather than spoil this post by blathering on and on about something irrelevant, I’ll just quote my favorite movie of the past decade: “Let’s Boo-Boo!” (Google it.) Happy Memorial Day, and here’s to the start of an awesome summer!

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: Five Songs That Explain What My Next Novel Is About

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble (and again, the Kindle eBook will be free this weekend!):

AmazonBarnes & Noble

The Beta Testing of My New Novel Is Almost Done

I know I used this pic before, but I love it.

This update will be short and snappy. The beta testing of my new novel is almost complete, and while there’s still plenty of work to do, it’s not too shabby! Here is a sampling of the feedback I’ve received so far (to prove that I’m playing fair with you folks, not all of it is flattering):

“Amazing!”

“Bravo!”

“Sorry, but I didn’t quite get it.”

“Your writing has improved (since Danger Peak).”

“I found it a little confusing.”

“Better than Danger Peak.”

“The ending needs work.”

“Very strong writing.”

“Kind of a mind trip.”

“Takes a while to get going.”

“Once I figured out what you were doing, I was all in.”

“The greatest novel ever written.”

Okay, I made that last one up (fooled you again!), but the rest were real! Now onto rewrites!

In other Danger Peak news, I want to thank everyone who took part in my Kindle promotion last Saturday. Thanks to your efforts, Danger Peak surged to the top 13 books in the popular category of Coming-of-Age fiction. (Who says number 13 is unlucky?) This is by far the highest the book has ever placed.

Proof!

In other other Danger Peak news, my interview with The Books That Make You podcast currently has over 500 views on YouTube, which is a lot for me considering most posts I make on Facebook get two “Likes” (and one is from my wife). If you haven’t checked it out yet, listen to me talk about the inspirations behind Danger Peak, how writing is like therapy, working in the genre of magical realism, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (for some reason). The video is embedded below:

(I warned you this blog would be short.)

MTP

P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble

Happy Star Wars Day!

Today is May 4th, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. (May the 4th be with you!) It also happens to be my birthday. But I wasn’t just born on Star Wars Day; I was born specifically on May 4, 1977, the same month and year that the original “Star Wars” was released in theaters. In other words, this is the most “Star Wars” birthday you can possibly have. As of now, I only know of one other person who shares this exact birthday (year and all), and she’s a celebrity, of sorts: the actress Emily Perkins, who starred as Brigitte in the “Ginger Snaps” Canadian horror film trilogy, but you may know her better as the “punk receptionist” from the massive hit “Juno.” (She’s the one who said candy-flavored condoms made her “boyfriend’s junk smell like pie.”)

I suppose there are worst films to be tied to. I’m grateful I wasn’t born on Rex Manning Day, because I’ve always found “Empire Records” overrated (there’s basically no story, and it’s nowhere near as amusing as it thinks it is), though I love and own its soundtrack and adore director Allan Moyle’s earlier movie, “Pump Up the Volume.”

But lucky for me, I’ve always been a huge “Star Wars” nerd, well before my birthday became its namesake’s holiday. Go ahead and ask me: “How much of a ‘Star Wars’ nerd were you?” I’m such a dork, I wore a “Star Wars” T-shirt to my SATs in 1994. (I guess I was hoping for a little Force-fueled fortune on my college entrance exams.) Keep in mind that this was over a decade after the previous “Star Wars” movie, “Return of the Jedi,” and half a decade before the first, dreadful prequel, “The Phantom Menace,” so the pop-culture zeitgeist was definitely in a “Star Wars” desert at the time.

Growing up, I played with my Kenner “Star Wars” dolls until they fell apart and used to watch the original movie recorded off T.V. on a VHS tape with my brother so many times, we literally wore it out. Also, going to see “Return of the Jedi” in theaters with my family was a day I will always cherish. (The speeder-bike chase scene blew my six-year-old mind and maybe planted the seeds for the bike chase scenes in Danger Peak.) “Jedi” was the only film in the original trilogy I saw in the theaters since I was too young when the first two came out. (I’m not counting the re-releases in the late ‘90s with the ill-conceived extra footage.)

In fact, if you read Danger Peak, you already know how important “Star Wars” is to me because it’s a major plot point of the book: it’s how Robert and his brother Danny bonded. They would watch the movie at home all the time and then reenact the scenes with the toys. They even had “Star Wars” sleepovers when Robert slept overnight in Danny’s room, and they pretended his bed was the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, with Robert playing Luke Skywalker and the older Danny naturally playing Han Solo. It should come as no surprise, especially to those who know me, that these details were based off my relationship with my late brother.

To be honest, it was weird seeing my birthday become a national holiday over the years. I used to love my birthday precisely because it was far, far away (see what I did there?) from any other holiday. My childhood friend Chris was born on Christmas (now you know how he got his name), and, while handing him a present, his cheap family members used to tell him that day, “This is your birthday gift and your Christmas gift.” Since my birthday is nearly half a year past Christmas, I didn’t have to worry about an overabundance of gifts around the same time with a dearth of the same the rest of the year. (The same can’t be said for my older daughter who was born in December; she’s reaching the age when she’s just figuring this unfortunate detail out.)

Then one year I realized my birthday is actually close to a holiday: Mother’s Day. I learned this the hard way when my family decided to celebrate my birthday and Mother’s Day on the same day. I’ll never forget my Grandma calling over her shoulder just as she was leaving my house that night, “Oh yeah, and happy birthday, Michael,” as if it was an afterthought.

Then I figured out that there’s yet another holiday even closer to my birthday: Cinco de Mayo, the day after my special day. Truth be told, this day was never important growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but in the 2000s, it suddenly became a big deal. Around the same time, it also became tradition to throw a giant sombrero on my head and cart me off to the Mexican restaurant Don Ricardo’s near my home for dinner and sangria on my birthday. Sadly, the place has since closed, and that tradition ended.

Finally, there came a day when I realized my birthday is a holiday. Just after I joined Facebook in (I think) 2008, someone sent me a meme on my wall on my birthday. It was Yoda saying, “May the 4th be with you!” I remember thinking how considerate and clever that person was. I foolishly thought he came up with the idea and specifically created this catchphrase just for me and my birthday. (I didn’t even really know what a meme was at the time.) Then dozens more people started sending me similar messages with different “Star Wars” characters but the same catchphrase. I quickly Googled the phrase and discovered the holy day of Star Wars Day—even more important than the Wookiees’ Life Day—on May 4th, my birthday. I remember initially being bummed that my birthday wasn’t special anymore, but if I had to choose one film series to be connected to, they couldn’t have picked a better one.

I’m not going to fight it anymore; I plan to embrace Star Wars Day, and to prove it, I’m going to give all of you a gift. This Saturday, May 6th, you can download a Kindle copy of my book Danger Peak from Amazon for FREE. You read that correctly. If you’ve been putting off picking up a copy of my book, now there’s no excuse. This will be for a very limited time (only one day), so get it while you can. (Looks like I buried the lede here, but for those who stuck through this whole blog until the end, here’s your reward.) Happy Star Wars Day, and May the 4th Be With You!

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: The Beta Testing of My New Novel Is Almost Done

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble (and the eBook will be free on May 6th!):

AmazonBarnes & Noble

Danger Peak Is Getting Revamped Again (but it’s not what you think)

This is the last time the cover will look like this.

This will be another short and sweet blog. Danger Peak is getting updated yet again, but it’s probably not what you think. I’m not touching the text; I’m just updating the cover. No, I’m not changing the image of the motorbike on the mountain. (I’m not even touching those cute little lightning bolts.) I’m adding an award seal from my Fall 2022 BookFest Award in the category of Young Adult Action and Adventure. I’ve been toying with adding award seals to my cover for a while now. Technically, I could’ve added three award seals, including The September 2022 Literary Titan Gold Book Award and The 2022 Firebird Book Award in the category of Magical Realism, but 1) I thought that would clutter the cover (you wouldn’t be able to read the title!), and 2) my BookFest Award is probably my most prestigious one and also the one I’m proudest of. (It’s why Danger Peak was featured in an electronic billboard in Times Square.)

As a side note, I don’t count my Honorable Mentions in The 2022 New York and Hollywood Book Festivals or being a finalist in the 2022 American Fiction Awards in the category of Inspirational as awards. I don’t want to be a bridesmaid, book award competitions. You need to put a ring on it! (by “ring” I mean an award seal, in this tortured metaphor)

Anyway, here is the new full cover:

Up until now, the only way to get a copy of my book with an award seal (or three) was if you personally knew me or if you happened to be one of the lucky few people who won one of my Goodreads giveaways, as I would place my award stickers on the cover as a bonus. Now all you have to do is click on the Amazon or Barnes & Noble link below to get your very own copy of Danger Peak with an awarded seal of approval. So what are you waiting for? Click away for some back-in-time, action-adventure ‘80s goodness. It’s good for you and guaranteed to help you live longer!*

* This book is definitely not guaranteed to help you live longer.

That’s it for this week, folks. I don’t know about you, but after all these recent blog updates (some of them major), I’m pooped! Don’t forget to check out my video interview with The Books That Make You podcast when it “drops” on YouTube this Thursday (I’ll update my last blog with a link), but for now, I’ll be taking a break for the next few weeks, unless something exciting happens with the book. Until then, I’m back to working on my new novel, and you’re back to your regularly scheduled lives.

MTP

P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble (with the new award seal!):

AmazonBarnes & Noble

The Books That Make You Podcast Interviewed Me About Danger Peak and Writing in General

Way back in February, the popular literary podcast The Books That Make You interviewed me about Danger Peak and the writing process in general. Although my Back to the ‘80s podcast interview was released first, this interview was actually recorded first. It’s also my first (and, so far, only) video podcast interview, so watch/listen to me have a nervous breakdown during my first ever podcast interview!

The interview is first going to play on the radio station MyStar95.com this Sunday, April 9th at 5 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. PST (8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST). Yes, that’s also Easter, but c’mon, listening to a guy talk about his book from the ‘80s has got to be more interesting than a forced dinner conversation with extended family, right? Plus, as I mentioned before, I have a nervous breakdown! It’s really a wonder to behold!

Here is the radio station’s website:

MyStar95.com Website

A video podcast of the interview will be posted on YouTube next Thursday, April 13th (lucky number, indeed). I will update this blog with the link when that happens. It will be available from everywhere people get their podcasts. It is distributed through Libsyn and available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, iHeart Radio, and everywhere podcasts are downloaded. In the meantime, here is the podcast’s website:

The Books That Make You Podcast

And here is the Books That Make You YouTube channel:

The Books That Make You YouTube Channel

Enjoy!

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: Danger Peak Is Getting Revamped Again (but it’s not what you think)

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” vs. “Snoopy the Musical”

Best. Broadway musical poster. Ever.

And now something absolutely no one was asking for: a 2,670-word, track-by-track breakdown and comparison between the two Charlie Brown musicals: “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and its sequel “Snoopy the Musical.” The general consensus is that the former, being the original, is far superior, and indeed, if you’re only counting the number of times a musical has been produced—whether Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, or your local junior high—“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” wins hands down. But I’m not convinced.

To be honest, I’ve been wanting to write this blog for years—even before this website existed—but I figured no one would care, except for the occasional reader who happened to star in one of these productions. But I asked the webmaster of this site if it was okay to post such an inessential piece (a really swell guy named Mike Perone—you should meet him!), and he was like, “No problem, man!” so I’m going ahead with this anyway, clicks be damned.

Before I begin my overthinking analysis, I want to set a few ground rules. I’m not comparing the “stories,” such as they are, between these two musicals since they’re both just cobbled together from various strips of the classic “Peanuts” comic by the great, late Charles Schulz. We’re just comparing songs here to see which musical is most worth its salt. Also, in this blog, I’ll only be referring to the 1999 Broadway version of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and the 1983 West End production of “Snoopy the Musical” in London because, well, those are the only versions of these musicals’ cast albums that I own. The 1999 “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” starred a post-“Rent” Anthony Rapp as Charlie Brown, a pre-“Wicked” Kristin Chenoweth as Sally, and a, uh, post-“Jurassic Park” but pre-“Jurassic World” B. D. Wong as Linus. This production featured a full orchestra. Meanwhile, the West End production of “Snoopy the Musical” starred a bunch of no-name Brits trying to sound American—and mostly failing—and the entire “orchestra” consisted of a piano, drums, and the occasional bass and/or organ. So right away, besides being much more famous than its sequel, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” has all the advantage. Let’s see if that advantage lasts, starting with the original:

The title—and first—song of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” is just a simple march with a bunch of platitudes for lyrics. It’s not a bad song, per se, but it’s hardly worth naming your entire show after.“Schroeder” is literally just Beethoven’s “Midnight Sonata” (the title character is playing it on his toy piano) with Lucy loudly and obnoxiously screeching over it. Next song.“Snoopy”: Okay, here we have the first decent song. The melody is lovely, and the lyrics are clever, as Snoopy muses about his simple life as a dog lying on his doghouse: “Cozy home, board and bed/Sturdy roof beneath my head.” Then the song’s tempo and orchestration switch on a dime—similar to Snoopy’s imaginative, temperamental mood—when he fantasizes about being a jungle animal. It’s delightful but would fit more in the show’s sequel since, you know, it’s very specifically about Snoopy.“My Blanket and Me” isn’t terrible, but it’s mostly an instrumental with some spoken-word dialogue sprinkled throughout. Sorry, but in my mind, instrumentals aren’t befitting for a Broadway musical since musicals are supposed to be all about the vocals.“The Kite” is another decent song, though it never reaches the heights of “Snoopy.” (See what I did there?) Again: good, not great.“The Doctor Is In” is an okay song. It’s not spectacular nor spectacularly bad. To be honest, I don’t have much to say about this track, as it’s not something that lingers in your memory. (I always forget this song exists when I play the CD.) And that’s the song’s problem.“Beethoven Day” is cute and spunky. At least it’s an improvement over the last song, though that’s not saying much. I have a nitpick, however, because they make it seem like Schroeder is the one who’s usually upset with things being “too commercial,” but that was always good ol’ Charlie Brown’s problem, especially during his Christmas special. C’mon, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” get your Peanuts canon right!“The Book Report” actually boasts a great idea for a song. Unfortunately, its execution is a different matter. I love the idea of a group of kids fussing, in various ways, over completing a homework assignment, but for me, the song never gels or reaches the melodic heights of the second attempt at this song in the musical’s sequel. (See “Edgar Allen Poe” below.)I’ll admit, “My New Philosophy” is a delight, but it’s more in the delivery than in the music. The melody is nothing special, but Kristin Chenoweth as Sally acts the HELL out of this song. She goes from cute to sassy to spiteful in a flash, and it’s no wonder she was a future Tony winner.“T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game)” is just a sports chant—you know, the kind you hear at baseball games and other “sports ball games,” to borrow a phrase from Stephen Colbert. (“Give me a ‘T’! Give me an ‘E’!,” etc.) Honestly, I’ve always found these “songs” annoying, and, again, they don’t exactly lend themselves to a Broadway musical.Similar to “Schroeder,” “Glee Club Rehearsal” is just painful to listen to, and maybe that’s the point, as the kids are desperately trying to remain on key during a singing practice in their school while arguing about miscellaneous kid stuff (“Let go of my hand!,” etc.). I couldn’t listen to this track more than twice, and it’s been skipped ever since.“Little Known Facts” suffers from the same fate as the aforementioned “The Book Report,” where the idea is great, but the execution fails. The idea here is that one of the characters, in this case Lucy, is acting like a know-it-all (or, as the song proves, a “know-it-nothing”) telling all the other kids “facts” about life, like how bugs make the grass grow and snow falls up. It’s cute but, again, not very melodic, which is on par for this musical. Once more, the Peanuts gang got a second chance to get it right in the next musical. (See “I Know Now” below.)“Suppertime” is a rare treat, no pun intended, in that it’s actually a halfway decent song. Although the music would sound more at home at a supper club (hence the title), as Snoopy sings and dances for his dinner, it’s still tuneful and Broadway-ready, boasting a strong melody, which, as I’ve hopefully demonstrated so far, is unusual for this show. But (you probably know what I’m going to write), it would make so much more sense for this song to be featured in the sequel musical since it’s all about Snoopy.Okay, here we go. “Happiness” is the show’s first truly excellent song. The melody is gorgeous, and the song’s seemingly simple lyrics are poignant and profound: “Happiness is anyone and anything at all/that’s loved by you.” Good job, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Here is your first four-out-of-four-stars song. Unfortunately, it’s also your only one.You can’t count “Bows,” the last track here, since it’s just a curtain call for the cast with a quick reprise of the last song, “Happiness.”

So there you go. That’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (at least the turn-of-the-last-century production of it), and out of 15 songs (14 if you don’t count the “Bows”), there’s really only a handful of decent to great songs here, with “Happiness,” the last proper song, being a standout.

Now onto the sequel, “Snoopy the Musical”:

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” has a much better poster. Off to a bad start already.Truth be told, “The World According to Snoopy” is about on par with the other musical’s title song, in that they’re not very special but they serve their purpose in introducing the major characters of the show. Still, I’ll give this one the slight edge simply because it’s more musical.“Snoopy’s Song” is slightly annoying, with the kids barking, “Sit up! Lie down! Roll over! Play dead!” over and over at Snoopy, but if I had to choose between this song and Lucy’s terrible, ear-piercing screech over Beethoven in the other musical’s second song, “Schroeder,” I’m going with this one every time.“Woodstock’s Theme” is an instrumental, similar to the first musical’s “My Blanket and Me,” so I have to judge it by the same criteria. However, the music in this song, with its jazzy piano and staccato percussion, is superior to the other instrumental, so this one wins.“Hurry Up Face” is surprisingly contemplative and almost melancholy, as Lucy bemoans her less-than-stellar looks over a droning organ line. Any song that make you sympathize with Lucy gets high marks.“Edgar Allen Poe” is the first standout track of the musical. As I wrote in my breakdown of the last musical’s songs, the idea behind this song is similar to “The Book Report,” only instead of the kids worrying about doing their homework, they’re worried about being called on by their teacher, particularly Charlie Brown who gets every answer wrong. The key here is in the vocal arrangement of the parts, as over an appropriately jittery piano line, the kids (well, adults playing kids) actually achieve a sort of beautiful harmony that was nowhere near the former track. The ending, especially, is inspiring, as all the parts come together like a neat jigsaw puzzle. It has to be heard to fully appreciate.“Mother’s Day” is a throwback, old-fashioned tune that befits an old-school Broadway musical (the actor playing Snoopy particularly hams it up), but to be honest, it didn’t move me much, despite the actor’s best intentions.As I mentioned in my previous write-up, the idea behind “I Know Now,” where kids are insisting to others how much they know by listing things that are very much wrong, is similar to “Little Known Facts,” only the music and vocal arrangement here are above and beyond the first musical’s track. Also, the lyrics are cleverer and inspire a chuckle or two: “I know now that your body isn’t leaking when you cry.” Too cutesy? Hey, it’s Peanuts! Lighten up!“The Vigil” is another excellent song about Linus waiting for The Great Pumpkin. It’s a harrowing tale as he stays up all night with Snoopy, backed by a jumpy piano line and bouncy drumbeat. Your heart really goes out to Linus in a way not felt since the classic holiday special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” only the song manages to do it in less than 4 minutes instead of half an hour (okay, 25 minutes after cutting commercials).Right after one superb song, we get another with “Clouds,” a beautiful meditation on what fancy creatures, characters, and scenarios the kids dream up by staring at the various shapes of clouds in the sky. The kids see Camelot, the Eiffel Tower, all twelve apostles, and other important historical figures, and then they ask Charlie Brown what he sees. Of course, straight out of the comic, Charlie gets the big punchline at the end: “I was going to say a horsey and a ducky, but I changed my mind.” And, not to overemphasize it, the music is really beautiful, perfectly capturing the wistful nostalgia of a lazy childhood day gazing at clouds.After two great songs in a row, the next was bound to be a letdown, and it is here, with “Where Did That Little Dog Go?” a mournful ballad about Charlie missing Snoopy. Similar to the former musical’s “The Doctor Is In,” I don’t have much to say about it aside from the fact it almost immediately evaporates from your memory as soon as you hear it, and maybe that’s a good thing. After all, the less said about this song, the better.Things pick up with “Dime a Dozen,” a jaunty tune about Lucy hawking a litter of pups. The lyrics and their expert delivery are just hilarious: “Dime a dozen!/Special today!/A dime a dozen!/Take ‘em away!!”“Daisy Hill” wasn’t featured in the animated special in the late ‘80s that made me fall in love with this musical in the first place, which is a shame, because it’s definitely one of the better songs in the show. Even though it’s not the greatest song in the musical, this one, more than any other, sticks in my memory days—sometimes even weeks—after hearing it. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the haunting, circling piano line that propels the melody as Snoopy longs for his former home, the titular puppy farm. What starts off as a simple country tune becomes something much more towards the end; when the kids join Snoopy as his backup singers, it’s almost sublime.“When Do the Good Things Start?” is simple and fun but not much more. It’s a perfectly serviceable filler song.Of course I’m going to be biased when a song is titled “The Great Writer.” I could really sympathize with Snoopy as he agonizes at his typewriter trying to find the perfect word (“It was a dark and stormy evening?/It was a dark and stormy night! Night? Right!”), though, this being the modern age and all, I use a computer. This song is epic, taking you through a full story’s worth of funny twists and turns—complete with sound effects!—with the occasional question or two from Charlie Brown, the critic: “What about the king?” Chalk up another solid track for this musical.I defy anyone not to tear up a little upon hearing “Poor Sweet Baby,” Peppermint Patty’s sentimental ode to her unrequited crush, Charlie Brown. This song is better heard than described, so here: “Poor Sweet Baby” on YouTube.“Don’t Be Anything Less Than Everything You Can Be” is a toe-tapping group singalong about the joys of reaching your full potential, as exemplified by the lyrics: “Don’t be a leaf if you can be the tree/Don’t be a raindrop if you can be the sea.” It’s actually good advice, and not just for kids. These are words to live by, set to a snappy show tune.“The Big Bow-Wow” is another showstopper and perfect vehicle for Snoopy’s tuneful showboating. In that way, it’s similar to the last musical’s “Suppertime” but with far superior lyrics and a stronger melody, which seems to be a pattern with this sequel.At last, we get to the finale, a song you’ve probably heard before. Look, I realize the philosophy behind “Just One Person” is not very healthy. After hearing it, my friend, who was a Psychology major, remarked that it was harmful to teach kids to wait for others to like you first before you believe in yourself, but I don’t care. As someone who grew up with very low self-esteem (and still suffers somewhat from it today), this song makes me cry, especially the last line, “Then maybe even you/can believe in you…too.” This song was recycled for the Jim Henson tribute on T.V. right after he passed, with all the Muppets singing this song together just before the debut of the new Kermit the Frog, whose voice was never right again (ugh). Anyway, it’s a superb song at least on par with the last musical’s standout track, “Happiness.”

So, if you’re keeping score, almost every song in this musical is good to great, with a few exceptions, so you know where my heart lies. I’ve heard it said that there were a few productions that combined the best songs of both musicals, but really, you only need to take “Snoopy,” “Suppertime,” and “Happiness” from “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and cut a few songs from “Snoopy” to make the ultimate Charlie Brown musical. I hope one day that happens. I’ll be in the front row, cheering along Charlie and the gang.

MTP

P.S.: Next blog: Another major announcement—oh, the suspense!

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble

The ‘80s Radio for Us Website Features Danger Peak

Truer words have never been spoken!

Just a quick blog today: The ‘80s-centric website ‘80s Radio for Us is featuring a post on Danger Peak, including the book’s full front and back covers, trailer, and synopsis, as well as my bio. The “totally awesome” ‘80s Radio for Us plays rock, pop, and new wave songs from (when else?) the ‘80s. It also promotes news items specifically tailored for the decade of big hair and skinny ties (hence my inclusion). You can see the post here:

‘80s Radio for Us Features Danger Peak

And, to get your daily ’80s fix, visit the main page of ‘80s Radio for Us here:

‘80s Radio for Us Main Page

Like I wrote before, it was short and sweet today. I promise my blog next week will be longer! (much longer, in fact—it may actually be my longest one!)

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: Something absolutely no one was asking for.

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble

Loyola Magazine Interviewed Me About Danger Peak, My Time at Their School, and the Writing Process in General

courtesy Nicole Esposito Photography

This is my 50th blog post, so it’s fitting that I’m posting something special today. In their spring/March issue, Loyola Magazine, the magazine of my alma mater Loyola University Maryland, interviewed me about Danger Peak, my time at Loyola (when it was a college, not a university), and the writing process in general. Danger Peak was already featured in a past issue of Loyola Magazine in the “Bound by Hounds” section (the greyhound is the official mascot of Loyola), but that was a short blurb announcing that the book was published and won The 2022 Firebird Book Award in the category of Magical Realism; this is a full-page interview featuring yours truly.

I found the interview satisfying for a number of personal reasons. Of course, it’s always an honor to be celebrated by your alma mater as a grad who “made good,” as the saying goes, but there is another reason that the magazine might not even know about. Last year, I wrote a blog about my difficulty getting Danger Peak published. You can read it in full here:

My Publishing Journey in Miniature

At the end of the blog, I alluded to the fact that even though it was one of my longest posts, I only listed the highlights of what I endured and specifically omitted other stories. Well, I’m going to tell you one such story now.

Years ago, when I was looking for a publisher for Danger Peak, I was excited to learn that Loyola has its own student-run publishing house, Apprentice House Press. This is a program at Loyola where undergrads get to learn the publishing business, and authors, most of them Loyola graduates, get their books published. Win-win, right? On top of that, I learned that the house was founded by Andrew Ciofalo, my advisor and Writing & Media professor at Loyola. He was one of my favorite teachers there (if not my all-time favorite), and he even read a few of my stories to our class. He also selected me for a pilot internship at The Baltimore Sun as one of his “outstanding students” (his words, not mine), and that’s how I got to write there. In fact, the publishing house gives an award named after this professor every year to the book they deem most worthy of receiving extra help in the marketing department, assigning them a professional publicist.

If that weren’t enough of a connection, I discovered that the house is currently run by someone I went to school with during my Loyola days, and, while we weren’t great friends (he was several years older than me, and we hung out with different crowds), we performed together onstage in the annual, singing-and-dancing Fall Revue show for parents weekend every September. My book’s inclusion at Apprentice House has to be a lock, right?

I went online and filled out their application form, and at times, I felt like I was filling out my taxes. This collegiate publishing house wanted more information from me than any other agent or professional publishing house I approached. But, overconfident as I was because of my connections (I not only matriculated at Loyola but knew two people who worked at the publishing house), I figured at this point, the application was only a formality. Also, I thought my book was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

I took my time answering every question on that ridiculously detailed application. In one section where they asked me to list publications that might be interested in reviewing my book, I went overboard and listed the names and addresses of 20 potential reviewers when they only required half that. I spent days analyzing my responses to make sure they were just right, and one of my favorites was describing my writing style:

If I had to describe my writing style in three words, it would be “interesting, funny, and smart,” in that order. I have a simple, straightforward writing style. I don’t use a lot of “four-dollar words,” as my 6th Grade teacher used to say, but it’s how I use the words that are impressive. Also, as the author of a self-published book of poetry, my writing has somewhat of a poetic rhythm to it. The situations in my stories escalate into a crescendo in the finale, and the reader gets carried along by the momentum. Finally, I tend to add a sly sense of humor. Overall, I try not to bore the reader, even (and especially) as I’m “laying the pipe” of exposition that will pay off in later chapters.

In the end, after filling in my answers, my application form was seven pages long. Finally, I submitted it and waited. And waited. And waited some more. When I at last received an email from Loyola many months later, I excitedly opened it to read a form rejection letter. It’s not hyperbole when I tell you that I thought it was a joke. I read that email over and over again to make sure there wasn’t sarcasm or irony, but alas, they weren’t joking. They simply weren’t interested in Action Bike, which was the original title of Danger Peak. “How could this be?” I asked myself. “I had so many connections (at least more than the average applicant), and the founder of their publishing house and namesake of their annual award loved my writing! How did I get rejected from my ‘safety school’?” (so to speak)

My first instinct was to just delete the email, but foolish, stubborn me, I demanded more details, so I emailed the person back to ask why it was rejected, and I was told my “sentences were too long, and there were too many metaphors.” Ironically, I received the opposite advice when studying writing at Loyola: I needed to use more imagery/metaphors and expand the length of my sentences. Maybe I overcorrected?

Another criticism of my book was that there wasn’t enough emotion. Meanwhile, I’ve had people tell me the ending of Danger Peak had them choke up a little, though, in Loyola’s defense, maybe the reviewers didn’t get that far into my story.

I’ve had many (and I mean MANY) agents reject Danger Peak, and there was a time I came THISCLOSE to getting an agent who works at the same agency as the agent of the legendary Neil Gaiman, but I am not exaggerating when I tell you that Loyola saying “No” to Danger Peak hurt more than any other rejection I received. It felt personal and cruel and wholly unjustified. In a drunken fit that night, I threw out my Loyola keychain, which I was continuously using for decades since I graduated from the school in 1999. (Now you know how old I am.)

Well, you know the rest of the story: Danger Peak was published; it received unanimously positive reviews from numerous critics, including from some heavy hitters like Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews; it won three literary awards and was a finalist and Honorable Mention in three other competitions; it was featured in an electronic billboard in Times Square; it was listed at one point in the top 200 of Amazon book sales; it’s been added to the permanent collections of several libraries; and a year after Loyola rejected my book, they asked to interview me on the book’s success.

You can read the interview on Loyola’s website by clicking the link below, or read the unabridged interview in full directly below the link:

Loyola Magazine Interviews Me About Danger PeakWhere are you from originally—and where do you live now?

I’m from Long Island and still live there. I lived in Baltimore for 3 years after graduating Loyola, but then my world pretty much exploded. I lost my girlfriend, job, and apartment all in less than a year, so I moved back home and eventually got my own place. I guess you can go home again.

2. Can you tell us about your family: Are you married? Do you have children? Pets?

I’ve been married for 11 years and have two daughters, ages 7 and 10. I also have a Yorkie named Oreo because he’s black and white.

3. What did you study at Loyola? (major/minor/any Honors programs or clubs or organizations you were involved in as a student?)

I studied Communications with a concentration in Journalism. I also minored in Business, which probably was a mistake because it killed my GPA. I was the Features Editor at The Greyhound, and I used to tell undergrads, if you’re majoring in Journalism and aren’t writing for The Greyhound, there’s a problem there.

4. Anything you’d like to add about your time as a student at Loyola? A professor who inspired you or a class you loved?

Professor Andrew Ciofalo was a major inspiration. He used to read my stories in class and recommended me for Loyola’s pilot internship at The Baltimore Sun. That’s how I got to write there. John McIntyre was also a great teacher, and his copyediting class convinced me to become an editor.

5. When did you start writing—and are you a fulltime author or do you have another profession or vocation? If so, how and when do you find time for writing?

I’ve been writing since I was a kid, but it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that I took myself seriously as a writer, when my Mom reminded me that I would spend hours in my bedroom writing story after story. “No one told you to do that, Michael,” she said. “You did that on your own.” Unfortunately, writing doesn’t pay the bills, so I’m still a fulltime Senior Editor in Manhattan. I’m not Stephen King…yet!

6. How did you become interested in writing YA fiction?

Even though I’m in my 40s, I tend to think like someone in junior high. That hasn’t been great for my social life, but it’s helped put myself in the mindset of my characters. Also, I’m never going to be someone who can write a 500-paged masterpiece, and YA is generally shorter than regular fiction, so it suits me better.

7. What inspired Danger Peak?

I was inspired by three major sources: the old-school, 8-bit Nintendo game “Excitebike,” my many misadventures riding my bike around town with my two best friends growing up, and, unfortunately, the death of my brother when I was 8. Writing this book was both a love letter to my childhood and a way to reconcile the tragedy at the center of it. It was cathartic, to say the least.

8. Can you tell us a little about the main themes of the book—about what it takes to achieve your dreams and what it means to really feel alive—and what you hope readers take away from it?

There’s the obvious metaphor of climbing every mountain, especially since there’s a literal mountain in my story. But it’s also about dealing with and overcoming grief. I hope my book not only inspires people to chase their dreams but to cherish the people you have in your life while they’re here. Just because someone you loved is gone doesn’t mean the love you had for that person has to be gone as well.

9. How does your Loyola education inform or inspire your work as an author?

Loyola taught me to be a critical thinker and not accept everything at face value. That certainly helped when I was a critic the first few years out of college, and it’s helped in my writing; I try not to just describe things on the surface but to dig a little deeper.

10. What’s the greatest compliment someone can give you about your work?

The fact that they read it. Seriously, so few people read nowadays with the endless streaming options out there that I’m flattered if someone took the time to read my book, even though it’s not very long. Other than that, I’ve had a few kids tell me how much they love the book and were able to relate to it, which always surprises me because it takes place decades before they were born. I guess growing up is universal, no matter when you did it.

11. Where do you find your inspiration?

The usual places: life, dreams, conversations with friends. You can get inspiration from anywhere. I wrote a book based on a Nintendo game.

12. Are you working on another book? Can you tell us a little about it?

Danger Peak was more or less about the death of my brother, and my next one, if I ever find the time to write it, is going to be about the death of childhood. So far, I only have the outline, but it’s three times as long as the outline for Danger Peak. This doesn’t necessarily mean it will be longer, but it’s going to be more ambitious and cover more ground.

***

If you recall my previous blog about my next book, you’ll be able to tell that my answer to the last question was given last year.

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: Something absolutely no one was asking for.

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble

I Finished the First Draft of My New Novel, and It’s Pretty Good, Actually!

This guy gets it.

I swore up and down, mostly to myself, that I wouldn’t write another novel, having gone through the wringer with Danger Peak, both in terms of crafting the story and getting it published, but a lot changes over time. For one, I already have a publisher, so that solves half the equation. For another, I actually missed the act of writing (if you don’t count these blogs). The art of creating something out of nothing and getting lost in my imagination make all the anguish of trying to find the right word worth it. So here I go again with Book 2 (title forthcoming).

As I mentioned in a previous blog, this will not be a sequel to Danger Peak (I promise there are no dead siblings in this one!), though I would classify it as a “spiritual sequel,” if that makes any sense, in that it takes place around the same time as my first book. (Do the Wild Boars make a very brief cameo in it? Maaaaybe…) The new book also covers similar themes. This time, however, I take the themes to the Nth degree.

A major theme of Danger Peak is about growing up, which makes sense since the tale is a coming-of-age story, but I’ve always felt I only lightly touched upon this subject. I wanted to really push myself and ask what happens when everything you’ve known in life—basically, your childhood—is more or less obliterated? Especially from a main character who, unlike Robert Kin, refuses to grow up? How do you adapt while remaining unadaptable? Also, something truly INSANE happens halfway through the book. Have I piqued your interest yet?

If you’ll excuse my love of alliteration for a moment, this next book is a cavalcade of contradictions and conundrums:

The title, which I’m not revealing yet, is simultaneously unique yet similar sounding to a bunch of other books. (I checked on Amazon.)It takes place over a much longer period of time than Danger Peak (the events cover the course of a year and a few months, while Danger Peak only covered a few weeks, if you don’t count the Epilogue), and yet the book is only slightly longer.It’s more autobiographical than Danger Peak and yet also more supernatural (the aforementioned insanity).Overall, there isn’t as much action in the book as Danger Peak, which makes sense since Danger Peak is very much an action-adventure novel and this one very much isn’t, but the finale of the new book has tons more action than the finale of Danger Peak. In fact, there are two finales.

I’m sure none of this makes any sense, but it will once you read it, especially if you understand my writing style. What I’m worried about, however, is that it’s an experimental book and not as commercial as Danger Peak (not that Danger Peak made me rich). There is a lot of ground I need to cover in the first half of the book because this story requires a big setup worthy of its huge payoff. For those who don’t have the patience to wait for the action, I’m afraid you might abandon the book before giving it a chance (or getting to that insane part). Without giving too much away, much like my first novel, the setup is there for a reason. The major theme of this book is the death of childhood, so each chapter in the beginning is either a celebration of a specific part of childhood or a sign of it dying. Again, all of this will make much more sense when you read it.

Finally (and this part might be giving too much away), a major difference of this book from the last one is that at the end of Danger Peak (Spoiler Alert!), Robert more or less gets what he wants, and it’s considered a good thing. In this book, I tried challenging myself by asking, “What would happen if the hero got what he wanted, but it was a bad thing?” Needless to say, the new novel will be darker and a little scary at times. The tone is tricky; it can be both silly and spooky, like a classic “Twilight Zone” episode or a good Halloween story. Also, as my Fifth Grade teacher might complain, it’s “a little violent,” but it has to be. It’s about growing up.

MTP

P.S.: Next blog: The Major Announcement I Was Talking About (It’ll happen this month, but I don’t know exactly when.)

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble

It’s DangerPeak.com’s One-Year Anniversary!

What gift do you get a website?

This month, specifically March 8th, is the one-year anniversary of the little website you’re currently reading, http://www.dangerpeak.com. I never thought I’d still be blogging a year later, but here we are. Now that my book has almost been out a year, and I’m working on book number 2, it begs the question of whether I should still name this website after my first book, which, at the time, I thought would be my only one (at least my only novel, if you don’t count my poetry and blog books). But I’ll worry about that another time. For now, I’d just like to celebrate by posting links to my five favorite blogs this past year, almost none of which had anything at all to do with Danger Peak—ironic, considering the name of this website. (Again, I should really start thinking of renaming this thing.) Here then, in no order, are my five faves (and an Honorable Mention at the end that isn’t quite as good as the others, but I still like it):

A Letter to My 12-Year-Old SelfHow to Write a Novel in Seven Easy StepsHow the Series Finale of the New “Muppet Babies” Almost Destroyed MeThe “Twilight Zone” of NostalgiaThe Difficulty of Living in the Moment

Honorable Mention:

A Writing Memory

In other Danger Peak news, my Goodreads giveaway is almost over. In fact, it’s ending tomorrow. Again, this will probably be the last time I do a giveaway for physical copies of the book (at least for a long time), so get in on the action while you can. As the lottery says, “You have to be in it to win it.” Here’s the link to the giveaway:

Danger Peak Goodreads Giveaway

btw, in case you were wondering, this blog (or, really, blog roundup) is not the surprise March announcement that I mentioned months ago, but it’s coming. Stay tuned!

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: Another Surprise Announcement

P.P.S.: Danger Peak is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

AmazonBarnes & Noble