Michael Thomas Perone's Blog, page 2

Attack of the Green-Eyed Monster

Don’t make me jealous… You wouldn’t like me when I’m jealous…

Jealousy is a fickle beast. It’s not an emotion I’ve experienced often in my life, like happiness or sadness (okay, mostly sadness). It comes and goes like the shifting of the tides, and usually, I can just brush it away after a few days like an annoying gnat that landed on my arm. (Alright, way too many nature metaphors right out of the box.)

The first time in my life I can remember being jealous—and I mean really jealous—was in elementary school. It was actually with one of my best friends, someone who I based a character on in my first two novels. While he wasn’t terribly bright, my friend could seemingly do anything: fifty sit-ups in a minute, make all the girls swoon, and have our teachers cracking up, so much so, they would overlook the inconvenient fact that he would sometimes skip homework. He was handsome and hilarious and had, what the kids now call, “ris.” (For more info on recent dialect, see my blog on Gen Z.)

One day, I was riding my bike around town with my friend (shades of Danger Peak right there), and we happened to run into a bunch of girls on their own bikes. They started following us, so we both peddled faster trying to get away in a kind of flirtatious chase. Eventually, I got tuckered out (I was a chubby kid; picture Vern from Stand By Me) and gave up.

“Okay,” I said, slowing down as the girls approached. “You got me.”

“Ew!” one cried as they all passed by me on their way to my friend. “We don’t want you, fatty!”

A year or so later, I heard my friend arguing with his Mom, not to their knowledge. (I was using their bathroom, and they were in the next room.) His Mom was upset over a bad grade on another one of his tests. She ended the argument by saying, “Why can’t you be more like Michael?” My heart immediately went out to him, and my jealousy was cured right then and there. After all, everyone is good at different things, right?

The next time I was jealous (say it with me now)—really jealous—was in college. There was a girl I was pining over for months. I finally worked up the courage to ask her out, and to my surprise and delight, she said, “Yes.” We only went on a few dates, and then she stopped returning my calls. I wondered why—until I saw her and a mutual acquaintance at a party. Apparently, she was auditioning both of us to be her next boyfriend, and he won. I actually got into a fight with the guy that night (sorry to disappoint my readers, but it wasn’t a physical altercation), and towards the end, we sort of hashed it out as guys do—okay, as bros do. Basically, I agreed that the “better man won”—not that he was a better man than I was but that he and the girl were a better match for each other. Looking back at our few dates, I realized we never really had that much in common anyway. Jealousy cured once again.

Decades later, I’m afraid the dreaded, green-eyed monster has struck again, and it’s ironic I say this because the object of my jealousy actually has green eyes—but that’s not the reason I’m jealous. I’m not going to get into too many specifics, but she’s a fellow local author who has exactly what I want: thousands of social media followers; a profile in Newsday, Long Island’s premier newspaper; a traditional, though small, publisher (not a hybrid); and regular book signings. In fact, she recently was the guest of honor at a private book club/signing, and literally almost 100 people showed up. She also gets recognized several times a month and even sold out a Barnes & Noble once. Meanwhile, I’ve been struggling to secure a single Barnes & Noble signing.

You might be thinking: “Authors like Stephen King have all that your friend has and more, plus millions of dollars. Why aren’t you jealous of them?” I don’t count huge authors like King because they’re on a level I’m never going to achieve (and deservedly so), and I’m fully comfortable with that. Up until recently, I thought my friend and I were basically on the same level. I was wrong.

Jealousy, I’ve come to discover, is a mixture of admiration and anger: admiration for the person who’s where you want to be—and anger at yourself for not being there. Sometimes that anger is misplaced on the object of your jealousy itself. You rationalize to yourself: “Well, they don’t really deserve all this success they’re having. I’ve been busting my hump for years and don’t have a fraction of what they have!” But in the end, you know the only person you’re fooling is yourself.

I’ve been searching for cures online (there are lots of listicles on the subject; apparently, I’m not the only one cursed by this disease), but they all sound like impractical bromides to me, e.g., “Just appreciate the stuff you already have.” Sure. Easier said than done. So I turned to other authors on Twitter (again, I refuse to call it “X,” Elon), wondering if they sometimes felt the same.

Turns out, we are legion.

As the old saying goes, “In life, there are always going to be people ahead of you, and there are always going to be people behind you.” And the older you get, the more you realize these sayings are centuries old because they’re true. Maybe impractical bromides aren’t so useless after all.

Several weeks ago, I was randomly contacted by a bestselling author because my profile caught her eye, and she likes to offer support to up-and-coming writers like myself. I was shocked she “slipped into my DMs” (again, as the kids say) because she’s so big, one of her books was actually adapted into a Netflix series. (I made sure to verify it was her—besides the infamous “blue checkmark”—and I’m not going to namecheck her here in case she gets bombarded by people asking for advice, not that this blog has a ton of followers.) After talking about how we got our start writing and her asking some really poignant questions, I asked her if she ever had a low turnout to a book signing before. I found her response so profoundly moving, I decided to inline the whole thing here:

I’ve definitely been there. Early on, I did signings where I barely sold a thing, awkward smiles, lots of people walking past. It’s disheartening, but totally normal. Every author has those slow starts. It is such a surreal feeling when people actually show up because they’ve read your work. But don’t underestimate yourself; every author starts somewhere, and the fact that you’re putting yourself out there is huge. The right readers will find you. Just keep writing, keep showing up, and that moment where someone says, “I came just for you” will happen.

From her typing fingers to Yahweh’s ears.

Thank you, famous author (again, no spoilers). Jealousy cured for a third time? Well, we’ll see…

MTP

P.S.: This was based on an Instagram post I made a few weeks ago, but since it didn’t get much attention, I decided to turn it into a full-fledged blog.

P.P.S.: If you’re wondering what the deal was with my two-sentence blog earlier this week when I answered the question how I balance home and work life (“I work from home”), I was simply answering a WordPress prompt and didn’t realize my answer was also going to be sent to all my blog subscribers. Oops. Sorry about that. Side note: This two-sentence “blog” currently has more “Like”s than anything else I’ve written on this site, so what does that say about my blog?

P.P.P.S.: Don’t forget the Danger Peak audiobook is finally here!

P.P.P.P.S.: The new edition of The Electric God and Other Shorts is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

Simple answer

How do you balance work and home life?

I work from home.

A Roundup of 2025 MastiCon Pics and The Electric God Gets a Trailer!

It’s been a little over a week since The 2025 MastiCon comic con at The Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library. (That’s a mouthful!) Normally, I do a writeup of what happened, but I figured a visual tour would be more interesting, especially since I learned that this event was more suited for a costume contest than selling your literary wares (no pun intended on the word “suit”).

This was the sign that greeted me when I entered the event. Well, they almost got my name right! You can’t really blame them, though. After all, as everyone knows, “Michael” is a very uncommon name that’s notoriously difficult to spell.

I apologize for repeating this pic from above, but I wanted to offer a fuller description here. A week before this event, I received my 10 x 10 tent in the mail. My wife and I tested it by setting it up in our backyard. That was the easy part. Getting it down was the other side of the equation. For whatever reason, one of the top support beams just would not collapse, no matter what button we tried to push or rod we tried to shove, and we ended up snapping it. I was going to get another tent, but there was precious little time, so I just brought a roll of Gorilla tape with me to the event and hoped for the best. Luckily, I happened to set up next to an engineer, who helped me put the tent together properly. As you can see from the above pic, it was more or less flawless. Of course, there was a gust of 90 mph wind later that almost toppled the whole thing over, but those are the unpredictable elements you deal with when choosing to hold an event outdoors.

Haven’t I seen this movie before? The guy who helped me set up my tent has his back to the camera here. Thanks again, Tim/Ken, and sorry I forgot your name! (And, unlike a certain cinematic knight, I hope you won against Death.)

One of these kids is my daughter. Try to guess which one! (Hint: She’s the one not wearing a costume.)

RAWWWRR!! Well, it was almost Star Wars Day.

If this Transformer didn’t win the costume contest, it was definitely rigged.

***

In other MTP news, The Electric God and Other Shorts finally has a book trailer. Danger Peak was given a trailer shortly after it was released, so I figured it was about time to apply the same treatment to my short story collection. It only took 7 months! Of course, this means I should probably get around to creating a trailer for Déjà View (I don’t count the quick promo that Publishers Weekly made filled with positive pull quotes from their review), but I digress. Anyway, I’m no Spielberg or Lucas, so please don’t expect a big-budget affair. It’s a modest visual teaser highlighting most of the stories in the collection, so without further ado, here it is!

I’ve also included the trailer on the book’s homepage. If it piqued your interest in The Electric God, mash that Amazon or Barnes & Noble button below!

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: Attack of the Green-Eyed Monster

P.P.S.: Don’t forget the Danger Peak audiobook is finally here!

P.P.P.S.: The new edition of The Electric God and Other Shorts is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

The Electric God and Other Shorts Has Been Revised for a Second Edition!

This baby’s running out of room.

As I did with my other books, The Electric God and Other Shorts is getting revised for a second edition! So what kinds of changes can you expect? Well, first of all, I’m adding the BookFest award seal to the upper right corner of the cover, since the book won in the category of Short Stories. I’m also adding a “Praise for The Electric God and Other Shorts” section to open the book that will feature some of the more noteworthy positive reviews the book has garnered since it was released last October. Additionally, I’ll be rearranging my “Books by Michael Thomas Perone” page by genre (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry). I’m even revising the Dedication page because I didn’t like the fact that I repeated the word “for” in its one line.

Of course, there will be quite a few updates to the actual text of the book, as after reading it for the fiftieth time, I wasn’t completely satisfied with some of my word choices. I wanted to get the language as precise as I could so there would be limited interference between the story and the reader. One such change is adding a bit of gore to the end of Paper Language, just to give the denouement maximum impact. (Yes, I just used the word “denouement.” Who said this blog can’t be classy every now and then?) I also slightly revised my “About the Author” page to include the two new award wins for The Electric God. Finally, I made a small change to my bio on the back cover. This will probably be the last version of this book, mostly because I can’t think of anything else I’d like to change.

***

In other MTP news, I recently learned that The Electric God and Other Shorts received a rave, 5-star review from The Book Revue several months ago. Better late than never! Here is a snippet:

The Electric God and Other Shorts is a mesmerizing dive into the surreal and the darkly imaginative. Each of the six stories creates its own world, yet they are united by themes of human obsession, societal flaws, and the tenuous grip we often have on reality. The thing I liked most about this collection was how well it mixed biting humor with deep existential problems. The stories aren’t just fun to read; they make you think about what it means to be human, often in disturbing ways. …What sets this book apart is its willingness to delve into extremes without losing its grip on the larger picture. Perone does a great job of pointing out the silly things in modern life, like media addiction and the fight for creativity, while never ignoring how fragile people are. …This collection is for people who like science fiction and fantasy that isn’t afraid to take chances, change people’s minds, and give them both thrills and time to think. Everyone can enjoy The Electric God and Other Shorts, whether they like dark settings, psychological twists, or biting social criticism. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to read it again and again after you finish it. 5 out of 5 stars.

I’ve already updated the book’s homepage with this blurb. If you want to read the full review, click on the button below:

The Book Revue Review of The Electric God

***

In other, other MTP news, my next book signing is just around the corner! I’ll be signing discounted copies of Danger Peak, Déjà View, and The Electric God and Other Shorts on Saturday, May 3rd at The 2025 MastiCon at The Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library (201 Montauk Highway, Moriches, NY). MastiCon is an annual community Comic Con celebrating arts and crafts and pop culture with various vendors from the worlds of sci-fi, literature, and sometimes both—like me! The event will run from 12 to 4 p.m., and attendance is free.

Here is a promotional flyer the library designed:

In addition to receiving a signed book that’s cheaper than you can get on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, I’ll be giving away a free personalized bookmark and small, ‘80s toy with every purchase! (while supplies last) So come say “Hi” and wish me an early Happy Birthday, as it happens to fall on the following day, May 4th. May the Fourth be with you!

MTP

P.S.: To the Goodreads giveaway winner of a personalized, signed copy of The Electric God and Other Shorts who then proceeded to immediately put said copy on Amazon for a price below the regular one upon receiving it in the mail, free of charge: Who hurt you? Why even be on Goodreads or participate in the giveaway in the first place? Do you enjoy reading or just money? Here’s a hint: You’re not going to get rich putting my books on Amazon. (I should know from personal experience.) You must be pretty hard up to try to earn money this way. Why don’t you try the stock market? Oh, wait…

P.P.S.: Don’t forget the Danger Peak audiobook is finally here!

P.P.P.S.: Again, the new version of The Electric God and Other Shorts is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

The Electric God and Other Shorts Won Second Place at The Spring 2025 BookFest Awards!

The Electric God and Other Shorts won Second Place at The Spring 2025 BookFest Awards in the category of Short Stories! The BookFest is one of the largest online book festivals/award competitions in the world. This marks the third time and year in a row that one of my books won at this prestigious event. Déjà View won First Place last year in the category of Young Adult – Literary & Coming of Age, and Danger Peak won Second Place the year before in the category of Young Adult – Action and Adventure. And while it would’ve been nice to win First Place in this category of course, as Déjà View did in its own, Short Stories is a much wider and more competitive category than the previous categories I’ve been awarded for, so I’m thrilled all the same. In other words, it’s not like I won for Women’s Fiction Ghost Mysteries Set in the Victorian Era.

You can view the public-facing page of my official BookFest award announcement below:

The Electric God BookFest Award Page

And you can view my award certificate here:

I’ve already updated the Electric God homepage with the award seal, and I’ll update this blog later when they post the video montage of all the BookFest winners, including The Electric God. I want to thank Desireé Duffy, Founder of The BookFest, and the judges for having such good taste in independent literature 3 years in a row.

***

In other MTP news, I’ll be signing my books at the 2025 MastiCon at the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library on Saturday, May 3 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. MastiCon is an annual community Comic Con celebrating pop culture featuring multiple vendors from the worlds of sci-fi, literature, and sometimes both (like me!). The library is located at 201 Montauk Highway in Moriches, NY. So stop by to get your discounted copies of Danger Peak, Déjà View, and The Electric God and Other Shorts—and get a free bookmark and small ‘80s toy! Also, you can wish me a happy early birthday, as it’s the very next day. May the 4th be with you!

MTP

P.S.: The Danger Peak audiobook is finally here!

P.P.S.: The Electric God and Other Shorts is still available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

Enter the Goodreads Giveaway for The Electric God and Other Shorts!

The good folks at Goodreads are doing another giveaway of my latest book, The Electric God and Other Shorts! You may be asking, “Didn’t I just have one?” and you’d be right! The reason why is because I also did two Goodreads giveaways of my other two books, and Goodreads had a deal this month that made it cheaper to list my book. For the next week and a half, you can enter to win 1 of 10 copies. You now may be asking, “Don’t you usually list your books for 2 weeks?” and you’d be right again! But the aforementioned Goodreads promotion was only valid until the end of this month, and I listed my book late. As before, each copy of my dark short story collection will be personally addressed to the winner and signed. Also as before, you need to be a Goodreads member to enter the contest. (But don’t worry; it’s free to join.) The giveaway began today and will end Monday, March 31st. Here are the relevant links:

Goodreads Book Giveaway The Electric God and Other Shortsby Michael Thomas Perone

Giveaway ends March 31, 2025.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

This may be the last Goodreads giveaway I do of this book (remember, I only did two for my other books), so good luck to all who enter!

***

In other MTP news, my interview on The Donna Drake Show will air around the country today, March 21st, and tomorrow, March 22nd (today in Tampa). For my New York peeps, it’ll be on Channel 10 on Optimum (Cablevision) and Channel 55 on Fios from 6 to 7 a.m. tomorrow. If 6 a.m. is too early for some people, feel free to DVR/TiVo it. It’ll also be available on The Roku Channel. For everyone else, please check your local listings!

MTP

P.S.: The Danger Peak audiobook is finally here!

P.P.S.: The Electric God and Other Shorts is still available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

It’s Anniversary Time Again!

This month marks the third anniversary of this here website! It was launched in March 2022 in order to promote my debut novel Danger Peak. At the time, I thought that was going to be the only book I wrote. In fact, the website’s domain was http://www.dangerpeak.com, which still works btw; it’ll just redirect you to the new web domain. Honestly, I didn’t think my website would last longer than a year.

Three happens to be my favorite number, so this is an extra special anniversary for me, even if it’s not divisible by 5. As always, I’m going to post my five favorite blogs of the past year below. I want to thank everyone who has followed me from the beginning (Hi, Mom!) and all the new followers. So without further ado, here are my Top 5 blogs of the past year. They’re not necessarily the most popular, but I like ‘em. (As usual, these are in no order.)

How to Speak Gen ZA Weekend in the 1980s vs. a Weekend in the 1990sThe Last Day of Elementary SchoolCrazy Movie Coincidences (R.I.P. Gene Hackman)The Top 5 Episodes of The Wonder Years

Honorable Mention (if only because of how long it took me to put the pics together in this blog):

The Electric God and Other Shorts Photo Essay

You’ll notice none of the Top 5 blogs have anything to do with my books; I tried to focus on the creative entries instead of the ones where I’m merely pushing my wares. Here’s hoping I make it to another year before I finally throw in the towel on this crazy dream/vocation/hobby/calling/aspiration/whatever-you-want-to-call-it of mine!

MTP

P.S.: Next blog: A well-deserved break!

P.P.S.: The Danger Peak audiobook is finally here!

P.P.P.S.: The Electric God and Other Shorts is still available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

I Made My Television Debut on The Donna Drake Show

“Stop me if you’ve heard this one…”

I recently made my television debut on The Donna Drake Show to talk about my books, one of which bashes television! How did it go? Much better than I expected, actually. I’m a writer, not a performer, and was very nervous, but I only messed up once (I couldn’t remember one of the awards Déjà View won), but fortunately, the taping wasn’t live, so they were able to edit around it.

As mentioned before in an older blog announcing this appearance, The Donna Drake Show is an inspirational talk show that airs on certain CBS affiliates in 10 markets, including New York, Boston, Dallas, and Seattle. Donna has interviewed over 17,000 people, including Robert De Niro, Mike Tyson, Tony Bennett, Kelsey Grammer, Jane Fonda, and Mel Brooks. And now I’m one of them! Towards the end of the interview, Donna almost made me cry. (She’s that good!) Watch your back, Oprah!

Not counting being in the audience of the tapings of several episodes of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, The Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, I’ve never been on a T.V. set before, so it was interesting to see how the sausage is made. It was fun watching the P.A.s and stagehands move the furniture around a zillion times to get the camera angles just right. Also, I felt like a celebrity when they mic’ed me. Honestly, it was a surreal experience: equal parts daytime talk show and Wayne’s World.

My episode will air on multiple CBS affiliates across the country, including New York, Boston, Dallas, and Seattle, on Saturday, March 22nd, but this is a sneak preview. Right now, only the YouTube version of the interview is available, but I’ll update this blog once I learn more details about the specific channels and times. Anyway, enough stalling. You can see my interview embedded below. Just remember that the camera adds 10 pounds.

I’ve also updated my Bio page with the video. Happy watching!

MTP

P.S.: Next week’s blog: It’s Anniversary Time Again!

P.P.S.: The Electric God and Other Shorts is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

P.P.P.S.: And don’t forget Danger Peak is now available as an audiobook!

Danger Peak on Audible

The Danger Peak Audiobook Is Finally Here!

Buy the ticket. Take the ride.

Huzzah! After being in the works for nearly a year, the Danger Peak audiobook has finally arrived this week! In fact, it was ready this past Monday. Why am I only announcing it now? Good question! I was actually out of the country on vacation and didn’t want to try writing and posting a blog on my tiny iPhone screen. (Also, I had really bad reception.) But that’s beside the point! The important thing is it’s here!

This is something that people have been asking me for ages (basically since the book was first published nearly 3 years ago). I guess people prefer listening to reading nowadays, and that’s fine by me—as long as you check out my book! As I reported before on this here blog, this is not just a standard, run-of-the-mill audiobook with some guy reading it. It’s going to be filled with sound effects (picture the turbocharger kicking in and the Action Bike revving up to full power) and even a synth-like ‘80s score powering the narrative. This is truly an immersive, cinematic experience. In other words, this is as close to Danger Peak: The Movie as you can get—for now!

And no, I’m not the one reading it; I’m a decent writer but can’t act my way out of a wet paper bag. (Just ask the high-school director of the one-act play I was in when I froze up on stage!) Instead, The DayDreaming Network, the company producing the audiobook, hired Brian Dewar McNamara, a bona fide actor who has starred in, among other projects, the feature film The DUFF, alongside Ken Jeong and Allison Janney. That’s pretty good company! Brian found a unique voice for each character, especially Robert and Rinnie, and he does a hell of a Dr. Howard. He perfectly captured his tone: a little wacky, condescending, and slightly sinister. For a 5-minute preview of the very beginning of the book, click the Amazon link below. For a more action-packed preview, check out my Instagram page, and click the Reels tab to search for an older post about the audiobook.

That’s it! All you folks need to do now is get to clicking! Danger Peak is available on over 50 audiobook platforms, but here is the Amazon link (because I’m sure as hell not posting 50 links):

Danger Peak audiobook on Amazon

And remember, if you’re already an Amazon Audible member, you get to listen to this thing for free. Lucky you!

MTP

P.S.: Next blog: I Made My Television Debut on The Donna Drake Show

P.P.S.: The Electric God and Other Shorts is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble

Doing It for the Kids

What a handsome lad!

Late last year, I was invited to attend the West Middle School Book Fest in Brentwood, NY, as a guest author. Held yesterday on Valentine’s Day (or P.S. I Love You Day, depending on who you talk to), the Book Fest is an annual event where authors, librarians, and other literati (am I using that word correctly?) gather to teach the kids a lil’ something about reading and writing—hopefully while having fun. The first thing I saw when I walked into the school was a large poster of my ugly mug and the covers of my first two books promoting my attendance at the event (see the pic above). I was honestly shocked and humbled. As I walked down the hallway to the gymnasium where the event was taking place, I was floating on cloud nine…until two kids walked by, and one of them said to the other, “Hey, there’s that bald guy from the poster.” As Charlie Brown emoted: Sigh. Even after 35 years, I’m still getting bullied in the halls of junior high.

As I entered the gymnasium, I saw they had gift baskets filled with my two books and other goodies that would be raffled off later. I set up my table next to the raffle area and waited for the influx of children. Last year, I was told by the event’s organizer to design a literary activity to do with the kids at my station. I was racking my brain trying to come up with something, and I finally settled on listing the steps of how to write a novel (based on an old blog on this here website) out of order and asking the kids to put them in the correct order. I even marked the first step for them. This ended up being a waste of time, as hardly any kids wanted to do the activity.

My favorite moment was when I was meticulously going over all the steps of how to write a book with someone while pointing to my sheet, and the entire time, the boy was nodding his head, saying, “Yeah, yeah, uh-huh,” etc. When I finished my speech, I said, “Okay, now you can try listing the steps in order, and if you need any help, just let me know, or you can do it at home.” The kid looked up, nodded again, said “Great,” and then walked away, leaving the activity sheet on the table. It’s like, at least humor me and pretend you’re going to complete my meticulously created literary activity at home. This is why I didn’t become a teacher, folks. On the bright side, there was one boy who seemed to get it. He only needed some gentle goading, and he was able to list the steps in perfect order. It was a proud, if brief, moment.

The students attending the event were asked by their teachers to do a “scavenger hunt” where they walk from booth to booth and ask questions, such as, “Who’s one of your favorite authors?” or “What’s your favorite book?” I would say “Stephen King” in answer to the first question, and I can’t tell you how many kids replied, “Stephen who?” I understand that these junior high kids haven’t read any of his books, but about 60% of movies and T.V. shows in the past several decades have been based on his work. The name should’ve struck a bell. Also, in response to the second question, not a single student had ever heard of The Catcher in the Rye (“The Catcher and the what?”), though in their defense, that’s more of a high school book than junior high.

I have to say, this event became challenging and downright hilarious at times (of the unintentional variety). There were some kids who wanted me to write the answers down for them on their question-and-answer sheet. Then there was the girl who asked me, “Is being an author your dream job, and if so, why?” When I started answering, “Well, I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” she snapped, “But WHY?!” I guess she really wanted to make sure her questionnaire was filled out with all the deets.

Towards the end of the event, someone accidentally knocked the sign of my headshot and book covers onto the floor and cracked it. For those with photographic memories, I wrote about something similar happening to me in an earlier blog post. I dropped and broke this same sign directly before a book-signing event last year and had to scramble to Michael’s to buy another one. Now the new one is broken. It’s off to Michael’s again!

Reading back this blog, it sounds like I’m dumping on the event, but I actually enjoyed myself. I’m always delighted to hear what people think of my books, even if they’ve never heard of them before and only get the gist by reading the back covers. Also, there were at least a handful of kids who seemed interested in what I was saying. I could tell they were really paying attention to my answers, not just going through the motions. I assume they’re also this attentive in class. These kids, I predict, will go far. Other highlights of the event: I pitched my books to the Brentwood Public Library, my station neighbor was a cool teacher/author who kept good company, and the Jersey Mike’s sub for lunch was delicious.

Now, having reported all this, would I return to Book Fest? Uhhh…ask me again next year.

MTP

P.S.: Next blog: I Made My Television Debut on The Donna Drake Show

P.P.S.: The Electric God and Other Shorts is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

The Electric God on AmazonBarnes & Noble