Man in the Blue Moon

Written by Michael Morris

Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

An incisive novelist in the Southern tradition, Michael Morris has garnered comparisons to Harper Lee and Flannery O'Connor. Set during the tumult of World War I, Man in the Blue Moon follows Ella Wallace, a single mother fighting a corrupt banker to keep her family's ancestral land. So when a mysterious man arrives on her doorstep with promises of help, Ella reluctantly places her trust in him. But it soon becomes clear that things aren't on the up and up, putting Ella's land-and her family-in jeopardy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781470328351

Michael Morris

A fifth-generation native of Perry, Florida, a rural area near Tallahassee, Michael Morris knows southern culture and characters. It is the foundation and inspiration for the stories and novels he writes. Upon graduating from Auburn University, Michael worked for U.S. Senator Bob Graham and then became a sales representative for pharmaceutical companies. As a sales representative, Michael decided to follow a life-long desire and began writing in the evenings. The screenplay he penned during this time is still someplace in the bottom of a desk drawer. It is when Michael accepted a position in government affairs and moved to North Carolina that he began to take writing more seriously. While studying under author Tim McLaurin, Michael started writing the story that would eventually become his first novel, A Place Called Wiregrass. The novel was released in April, 2002 and is currently in its third printing. A Place Called Wiregrass was named a Booksense 76 selection by members of the American Independent Booksellers Association as and is part of the southern literature curriculum at two universities. Michael's latest novel, Slow Way Home, will be released by Harper Collins on September 23 and his work can be seen in the southern anthology Stories From The Blue Moon Café II. Michael and his wife, Melanie, reside in Fairhope, Alabama.

Reviews for Man in the Blue Moon

[brokenteepee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ella is a smart woman brought low by a no good man. Her aunt had high hopes for her and she was hoping to study art and hopefully go to Europe some day but she fell hard for con man Harlan and his smooth talking ways. Soon she finds herself alone and trying hard to pay off a mortgage Harlan took on her land by forging her name. A mortgage he took with the help of a local shady, sleazy banker who wants Ella's land for himself.Just as things seem to be at their worst a box arrives from the Blue Moon Clock Company. It's fully paid for and Ella figures she can just sell the clock and put the money towards the mortgage but that box brings her much more than a grandfather clock! The contents of the box will change her life in more ways than one.Oh, what a fantastic book. Finally, after a string of "eh" books this was one I could lose myself in and just enjoy the magic of the writer's words. Mr. Morris brings WWI era panhandle Florida to hot, humid life. The characters are so well defined as to be recognizable in people I know and their quirks and manners bring the town of Apalachicola to life. You really want to root for this woman who has been beaten down by life, her useless man and her supposed friends. You want her to succeed.The writing is simple, almost spare but it is perfect for the story and what a story! Built upon a tale spun to the author by his grandfather and constructed into a novel of complexity and depth with traveling preachers, false healers, real healers and strong women. All woven together in a tale that was very hard to put down.

[revslick_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Ella Wallace is scrambling to keep her three sons and herself from the poorhouse after her opium-addicted husband vanishes. Morris attempts the classic Southern format ala Pat Conroy unfortunately paper thin characters and a story that should have ended 100 pages before it does makes for more Southern drawl than Southern tale.

[cynthiarobertson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When a mysterious oblong box arrives in backwater Dead Lakes, Florida, its contents complicate things for Ella. It isn’t easy, but Ella Wallace is doing the best she can; she runs the family commissary and takes care of her three sons, Samuel, Keaton and Macon. Her husband Harlan, a gambler and opium addict, has run off and abandoned them, but not before losing her family land to the town bully, Clive Gillespie.

Clive wants Ella—always has—though he will settle for the town’s crazy girl in a pinch. Sixteen year old Ruby wears a red sequined turban and treats the town’s occupants to a one woman parade every Friday (and don’t you dare argue with her if it isn’t Friday) complete with high-stepping, and a pumping baton that is slightly dangerous to bystanders. When Harlan forged his wife’s signature and lost Ella’s land to Clive he set his wife squarely down in the path of both Clive’s ambition, and his long thwarted lust. Aided by Narissa, a Native American woman who just arrived one day and never left, and Lanier, a cousin to her missing husband, Ella battles Clive for possession of the land she cannot give up.

Clive has big plans for the land, home to a magical spring that is still visited by locals who believe the waters can heal. He lures a famous evangelical preacher (Hear me now!) and the preacher’s sickly wife to Dead Lakes with dreams of building ‘Eden’, a money making center of enlightenment and healing. But to make that happen Clive must first vanquish Ella, and that proves more difficult than he thought it would be. Turns out it requires hired thugs.

Man in the Blue Moon explores topics of spiritual healing, addiction, greed, gossip, faithfulness and the lust for power. Particularly enjoyable are the sly wit behind the conversation during a breakfast shared by Myer Simpson, the Reverend Simpson and the local school teacher. And the depiction of Clive as a small man who will do anything to get what he wants. In the character of Clive, Morris’s writing is at times chilling in its portrayal of a malevolence made doubly horrifying by its easy believability and its complete lack of conscience.

In an escalating battle that will leave three of the main characters dead, Michael Morris’s Man in the Blue Moon delivers a beautifully depicted tale of the struggle between good and evil that lingers in the imagination long after closing the book.

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ella is a smart woman brought low by a no good man. Her aunt had high hopes for her and she was hoping to study art and hopefully go to Europe some day but she fell hard for con man Harlan and his smooth talking ways. Soon she finds herself alone and trying hard to pay off a mortgage Harlan took on her land by forging her name. A mortgage he took with the help of a local shady, sleazy banker who wants Ella's land for himself.Just as things seem to be at their worst a box arrives from the Blue Moon Clock Company. It's fully paid for and Ella figures she can just sell the clock and put the money towards the mortgage but that box brings her much more than a grandfather clock! The contents of the box will change her life in more ways than one.Oh, what a fantastic book. Finally, after a string of "eh" books this was one I could lose myself in and just enjoy the magic of the writer's words. Mr. Morris brings WWI era panhandle Florida to hot, humid life. The characters are so well defined as to be recognizable in people I know and their quirks and manners bring the town of Apalachicola to life. You really want to root for this woman who has been beaten down by life, her useless man and her supposed friends. You want her to succeed.The writing is simple, almost spare but it is perfect for the story and what a story! Built upon a tale spun to the author by his grandfather and constructed into a novel of complexity and depth with traveling preachers, false healers, real healers and strong women. All woven together in a tale that was very hard to put down.

[tammy7ford7cuevas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Harlan Wallace has disappeared; first into an opium-induced haze, and now he has disappeared completely. His wife Ella has been left on her own to finish raising their three sons in the Florida Panhandle town of Dead Lakes, just outside of Apalachicola. The banker, Clive Gillespie, can't wait to get his hands on Ella's property, and when it seems that Ella won't be able to meet the mortgage, a mysterious man appears and begins to help. Soon, everyone is talking about the new man in town and his healing gift. When his past catches up with him, the town of Dead Lakes is changed forever. If Mark Twain and Flannery O'Connor had a son who was taught by Harper Lee and he sneaked a few Stephen King novels when they weren't looking, you would have Michael Morris. Since I assume this didn't happen, I was left speechless. First , it was set in my favorite Florida town, Apalachicola, and even mentioned my favorite island, St. George Island. The Florida Panhandle has a feel and a flavor to it that you will never find in The Land of the Mouse or farther south in Miami. Michael Morris has captured that feeling and flavor in one fantastic novel. I could see the swampy areas, the cypress, the Spanish moss hanging from the trees in the town, and the bay emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. His characters are so well-drawn that I could see them. And he has developed some really quirky, interesting characters. Characters like this only come along once...well, once in a blue moon! 5 stars Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Blogger Network book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[suefernandez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In a time when women weren't supposed to have to run a household, Ella is forced to do so, due to her husband putting her family land, her heritage, at risk...before he left. One day a box shows up, marked "This Side Up." The book then gets very interesting...this isn't a cookie cutter plotline.It has a southern feel (which I'm drawn to), the characters are all very well done...you feel you know their personalities and motivation.There are touches of mystical happenings as well. It's a good book on how people react when the chips are down, small downs, how people deal with things that frighten them, etc.I finished this in the middle of the night, and I was up even longer thinking about it.