Title: A Matter of Perception
Author: Philip R. Morehouse
ISBN: 9798366647076
Page count: 278
Genre: Fiction; Survival/Adventure
Book Price: $14.99
Kindle Price: $4.99 or Free with Kindle Unlimited membership
Author Bio:
The author was born in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, where he worked on the family's farm. His grandfather taught him how to fish, set a trap, and stalk big game. Learning these skills was crucial to the family's survival.
After high school, he enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to an amphibious ship, where he participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade. He later rescued Americans from Haiti during the Dominion/Haiti Crisis and served an extended hitch during the Vietnam War. Returning home, he married and joined the Army National Guard, serving in aerial and ground support photography.
Among the many diverse jobs, he worked as a professional writer and photographer for over 60 years. Now, with his children grown and on their own, he pursues what he loves the most - writing true-to-life, survival, adventure-type stories from which he draws on his past experiences, training, and extensive research.
Tell us about your book:
"A Matter of Perception" is a story about the perceptions of various social classes of people and how life for both is affected when the two clash. In one of these instances, the differences play out in this story between a poor girl raised in the North Carolina swamps and a boy raised by a wealthy family who falls in love with one another only to be separated by the boy's family as they have other marriage plans for him.
How does this book relate to your real-life experiences?
As the saying goes, "Once poor, always poor". I was born poor with no visible means of improving my cultural status until something altered my life's rudiments, as it does to the poor girl in this book.
How long did it take to write the book?
It took five months from concept to rough draft, initial edits, final edit, and proofing to finally see it published on 12/16/2022.
What inspired you to write the book?
This story was inspired by my mother, who always taught us that we are responsible for our success, not other people or external means – though they might be helpful at times. Now that I'm much older, I have chosen to write a story showing how good can overcome your circumstances and how evil can be defeated.
Let's talk about the writing process. Did you have a writing routine? Did you do any research, and if so, what did that involve?
I write during the late hours of the night and early morning hours. The process for writing this book and others involves research and exploring cultural diversities, how these differences affect each other within a certain culture, and the blending of these differences to form yet another culture.
What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?
I would hope that the reader understands that this story is more than some fable but a life lesson. That things really worth having can't be bought or sold – they must be earned.
Where can we go to buy your book?
This book is readily available online through Amazon.com as a softcover, a Kindle download, or at Barnes & Noble. If any of your bookstores should be out of stock, be sure to give them the following number: ISBN- 9798366647076.
Excerpt from this novel:
"Putting her hands on her knees, Mrs. Culver said in a voice of resignation, "You know, he loved you very much – but you weren't right for him – too poor with no chance of getting an education to help our family. We must marry up – not down to keep our families prospering. If you'd come from a wealthy, well-educated family, things might have been different for you and Owen."
"All he knew was that they had discovered that he wasn't who they thought he was. He knew from experience that the men on this ship went by the code that if you walk like a duck but don't quack like a duck – you're a dead duck. All it took was one little piece of your persona not fitting; something said, a gesture made, a slip of the tongue – the least little doubt, and it was easier to kill you than to take a second look."
"The leaders were out looking for the man who had ratted them out, and no one liked a rat. The head of the syndicate announced that he'd put a million-dollar contract on the rat payable to anyone who brought him in, dead or alive. He knew it would only be a matter of time before someone would get hungry and give him up."
"A young topless girl came up to him and said, "twenty will get you a hit," and he reached for his wallet producing a twenty, which the girl snatched as she handed him a cellophane-wrapped piece of black candy. As he was looking at it, she said, "one lick and you're high, two licks and you're out – three and you're dead, and then she melted into a maze of lights and human flesh all pulsating to the ear-splitting music that seemed to wrap itself around him."
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this summit. We have a huge problem - and it's getting bigger by the day. Currently, we are being flooded with a dope called "Sable", and I assure you, even though it looks like licorice candy, it is nothing of the kind. It is a highly addictive killer which is delivered in a cellophane candy wrapper containing methamphetamine and fentanyl."
"Kicking his shoes off, Owen put them under the bed and walked out to the refrigerator – but he never got there. First, he saw the blue jeans – thinking that was a poor place for Sean to leave them, then he saw a pair of feet sticking out of them and the rest of Sean's body in the twilight of the room. Owen gave him a gentile poke with his foot thinking that he'd gone out and had gotten drunk. He felt stiff and didn't move. Dropping to his knees, Owen felt for a pulse in Sean's neck, but there wasn't any."