Part fractured fairy tales, part nightmare fuel

Support a local author… if you dare

Grace Mercurio
Posted 10/31/24

“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 …

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Part fractured fairy tales, part nightmare fuel

Support a local author… if you dare

Posted

“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. The collection of short stories, including an eerie ghost story, was published Oct. 14 and is a perfect read for the spooky season.

“The Electric God and Other Shorts” may hit closer to home than you might think; the book was written by Michael Thomas Perone, an award-winning author from West Islip.

The local author has written for many newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore City Paper, and currently works as a senior editor. After writing stories for fun throughout his life, he felt some of his stories were too good to be locked in a drawer—and readers agreed.

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.

“The Electric God and Other Shorts” is  Perone’s first published collection of short stories. To channel the raw creativity and imagination unique to children, Perone reworked short stories he wrote in his later teenage years. Perone reviewed dozens of stories he had written over the years and selected his six favorites to rewrite, which coincidentally all reinforced the same theme: a sane person trying to survive in an insane world.

“Most of these stories were written when I was in high school and reflected how I was feeling at the time,” said Perone. “I always felt like an outsider and a loner. I remember feeling in high school how backwards everything was. Sometimes you write what you cannot put into words to explain how you feel, by putting it into a story.”

Many of the protagonists in the book are teenage outcasts trying to figure out their weight in the world, much like the target demographic of “The Electric God and Other Shorts,” which Perone recommends for those aged 14 or 15 and up due to darker and macabre themes.

The book recently hit No. 1 in the short stories category for new releases on Amazon. To learn more about Michael Thomas Perone and his recent releases, visit www.michaelthomasperone.com.

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