Some members of Generation X have a nostalgic sweet spot for the mid-1990s. It was a time when the latch-key freedom of the '80s still reigned over life online.
That's the setting for author Kevin Wilson's captivating novel, "Now is Not the Time to Panic." It's a tale of rural teen friendship, loneliness and artistic rebellion in an era where you had no clue what was going on beyond the borders of your town.
Wilson joined Wisconsin Public Radio's "BETA" to talk about his novel, and he admitted there's both a practical reason and an artistic reason for setting it in the '90s.
"The artistic reason is that I grew up in the '90s and one of the things I love is, is that moment right before technology really opens up the world," Wilson said. "For me, living in a rural town in the '90s, there was a kind of isolation that I think made you get weird if you wanted something that you couldn't have."
Wilson said this lack of connectivity to the wider world led to more imaginative fleets of fancy.
"You also don't really know everything that's out there. So, you invent something, and you think you're the first person that made it. And that makes you a little weird too because you feel magical," he said.
His novel centers on a pair of 16-year-olds, Frankie Budge and the new kid in town, Zeke. The two spot each other at the town pool and find a kindred spirit in each other during the ennui of summer. Frankie is an aspiring teenage writer. She’s bored with her small town until she meets the talented artist, Zeke. Together they create a suspicious graffiti poster which creates widespread panic among the quiet town.
"They kind of recognize the loneliness of each other. And the summers for teenagers are kind of unstructured and unfamiliar. And so, in this moment, I think they realize, 'Hey, we can hold on to each other, we can do fun stuff. We can be less alone,'" said Wilson.
Wilson shared that in addition to identifying and solving the other's loneliness, Zeke and Frankie inspire and ignite a respective weirdness and creative rebellion in each other.
"Both of them are artistically inclined, and one of them writes and one of them draws, and they've got this whole summer ahead of them," Wilson said. "And Zeke suggests that they collaborate on a project, and so they decide to make a poster where Zeke will provide the art and Frankie will provide the text, and they feel like they can spend the whole summer hanging it up and kind of making themselves known to their tiny little town."
The cryptic words that Frankie comes up with for the poster in question are:
"The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us."
Wilson admits that he himself did not create that statement for the novel, but rather repurposed that quote from his late friend, Eric.
Back during his freshman year at New York University, Wilson roomed with his cousin. Eric was his cousin's best friend. Eric and Wilson, like Frankie and Zeke, found a kindred spirit in each other.
"We hung out, and I just really liked him. He was super charismatic. We would make little movies. He encouraged me to write," Wilson said.
And write he did. In fact, Kevin was paying the bills writing a 500-page procedural manual for medical equipment that would be posted to the newly burgeoning internet. During his fits of boredom, he was inserting lines into the copy to see if anyone would notice. After alerting Eric to this small act of rebellion, Kevin asked Eric if he'd like to contribute a quote.
"I was like, 'I'm writing stuff that's slightly apocalyptic, a little strange.' And he said, 'Oh, I've got you.' And he said that line and for whatever reason, it just burned itself into my brain and I've held on to it ever since," Wilson recalled.
While few people saw Kevin's spin on medical procedure, the townsfolk in "Now is Not the Time to Panic" do see Zeke and Frankie's posters.
"I think people get freaked out in a tiny town. A mysterious poster pops up. You think you know everyone. So, you either imagine someone in your town is evil and weird or strange people have invaded your town. Either way, it's not great. And so, it causes more of a panic than they think," Wilson said.
To share more would spoil the fun of the novel. Wilson hopes though that much like his first novel, "The Family Fang," that "Now is Not the Time to Panic" has a chance to be adapted into a movie.
"Anytime you write something and you get to meet Nicole Kidman, you're like, 'I would like that to happen again,'" Wilson quipped. "One of the things I've kind of learned is just how unpredictable the film industry is. You never quite know what's going to happen. I know that it's out there and I'm hopeful that somebody wants to take a chance on it. And just the idea of seeing it on the big screen is fascinating."
If "Panic" is adapted to the big screen, it would formally visualize the catalytic poster. For his part, Wilson says that he's received no shortage of fan interpretations that can be both flattering and disconcerting.
"It's so strange. Since the book has come out, I've actually had multiple people send me their idea of what the poster looks like, which has been a little disconcerting, but also just amazing to see it actually in front of me," he said.
"You spend your entire life writing inside your own head and you imagine this thing and it's a private enterprise. And obviously, when you send a book out into the world, you want it to connect with people," Wilson said. "But then, there's always that moment where you're like, 'Oh, people have seen this, people have imagined people have taken it and done something with it.' And you're always like, 'I hope I did something good here.' And so far, it's been lovely. But you're never quite prepared to hear the signal come back to you."