Set at the end of the 1980s, Déjà View is a coming of age novel with a supernatural elements, and joining me for this episode is its author, Michael Thomas Perone. We sit down to talk about his novels Déjà View and Danger Peak and the inspirations behind them.

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If you’re interested in learning more about the author or buying his books, there are links below.

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), Yahoo!, and WhatCulture!, among others. His debut novel Danger Peak was called “the perfect teenage boy crusade” by Publishers Weekly and “a compelling bildungsroman about grief and finding wisdom” by Kirkus Reviews. If nothing else, he learned the word “bildungsroman” from the experience. He works as a Senior Editor in Manhattan and lives on Long Island with his wife and two daughters.

Déjà View: A Kid Nightmare: Twelve-year-old Bobby Dalton doesn’t want to grow up. All his life, he has relied on the imaginary games of childhood with his best friends Joe and Max to get him through the tough times. But this all changes when his Seventh-Grade class buries a time capsule to commemorate the end of the 1980s. Now Bobby is being haunted by visions: ghostly doppelgangers of himself, his friends, and others. He calls them “déjà view.” Are these visions real, or has his imagination finally gotten away from him? And if they’re real, what do they want? Bobby needs to figure this all out to survive his childhood…and his life.

From the author of the award-winning Danger Peak, Déjà View is a darkly funny coming-of-age dramedy with a sci-fi twist, cranked up to eleven. But even more, it’s at once a pulse-pounding thrill ride and a haunting portrait of paranoia, mental illness, and the unbearable sadness of growing up.

Danger Peak: What’s on top of Danger Peak? That’s what thirteen-year-old Robert Kin and his two best friends, wisecracking and loyal Chris and sweet but put-upon Rinnie, want to find out in their small suburban town of the late 1980s. The three teens are members of the motorbike-racing club the Wild Boars, and with the inadvertent help of their eccentric technology teacher, Dr. Howard (who prefers to be called “Doctor,” not “Mister,” thank you very much), they build Robert a better, faster, and stronger dirt bike—piece by piece. Haunted by flashbacks of his older brother Danny, who died trying to scale Danger Peak the year before, Robert becomes obsessed with conquering the magical mountain. For the respect of his friends and school, and with the aid of his improved Action Bike, he discovers what lies beyond the peak of the mountain—and maybe even beyond the bounds of Earth itself. Filled with humor, adventure, and, most importantly, heart, Danger Peak is an inspiring story about what it takes to achieve your dreams—and what it means to feel alive.

Danger Peak, winner of multiple literary awards, is sure to entertain both teens and adults with its nostalgic look back into what it was like growing up in the 1980s.

The music for this episode is “Elsewhere” by Jim Hall, taken from his album Synth Kid and is available on the Free Music Archive.