The Electric God And Other Shorts

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐠𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

By Michael Thomas Perone

Pub. Date: October 14, 2024

Publisher: Wheatmark

Formats:  Paperback, eBook

Pages: 251

𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛:

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.

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:

“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓.”

It's a collection of short stories that deals with darkness. I got a disturbing yet great reading experience as it explores horror themes intermixed with ordinary. It definitely blurs the line between reality and imaginary, as the characters often find themselves in illogical situations. I appreciate the author for blending the supernatural things in reality so well. Without giving away the entire plot, I'll explain my favorites among them. 

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌. 𝑰𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆."

The story revolves around Bill who finds himself in a strange scenario as he faces a baby with supernatural power. 

"𝑻𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔."

The story deals with Jonathan, a writer who's immersing himself in writing, as he finds a mysterious message, it takes him back to his childhood and the deep bond he shares with the writing process, highlighting the differences of modern equips. 

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒛𝒛𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆."

The story follows Nick as he ends up in an abandoned house after experiencing some strange events. His memories from his high school days, his past facing his deepest fears of being an outcast.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑹𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔—𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍.”

“𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒛𝒛 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒑 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒘 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍.”

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫:

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.