Books*Reviews*Etc: THE MORTIS by Jonathan R. Miller

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NEW LITERARY THRILLER EXPLORES SURVIVING MODERN SOCIETY
Biracial Author Offers Unique Perspective on Marriage, Race and Culture.

THE MORTIS

Jonathan R. Miller

Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 9, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1495476723
ISBN-13: 978-1495476723

summary

A husband and wife are staying in a luxury hotel on a remote islet when the sickness comes. In a matter of days the resort is overrun with the ill and the dying, all of them lost in a psychosis brought upon by the disease. The islet quickly falls, and the only safe haven is Cãlo, a southern township that the locals—the indigenous population who used to serve as resort workers—call their home.

The couple is forced to flee into La Sielve, the wildlands, and what follows is an out-and-out struggle for their very survival, a series of unnerving trials that test their bodies, minds, and their relationship with one another.

They soon learn that the islet is not the only place affected by the sickness, that it's everywhere, and that the carriers are only those with European heritage, and at first the husband and wife—him biracial, her African-American—believe they may be immune, that they may be able to ride out the collapse. But when they begin to notice signs of the sickness in themselves, in each other, they start to wonder if they're really as healthy as they hoped.

A story of love, loss, and the struggle to maintain one's humanity in the face of animalism, The Mortis explores the lengths we will—and sometimes won't—go for each other during the crises we face, delving into themes as diverse as marriage, culture, race, societal structure, and ideological rigidity.

author

Jonathan R. Miller writes literary thrillers featuring characters that struggle with race and diversity. He has written three novels, Three-cent (2011), Delivery (2012), and The Mortis (set for publication this month (June 2014), and has been featured in/on THE HUFFINGTON POST, CITY LINE, BLACK RENAISSANCE, and the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, among others. Miller, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, was born in Illinois, lived in Los Alamos, New Mexico for most of his childhood, and then became a California transplant after undergraduate school at Stanford University. He was an 8th-grade teacher for 7 years in the Oakland public school system, and since then he's worked in the technology industry in Silicon Valley, CA.

Miller's own biracial heritage -- black and white -- has had a strong influence on his thought processes and writing style, and his novels deftly explore issues of race and ethnicity while providing rich, layered, rewarding, moving, and exciting storylines dealing with universal themes.

Please email if you have any questions, feedback, or if you would like a sample in PDF or hardcopy format (the address is books at jonathanrmiller.com -- please note the "r").

Thank you very, very much for reading.

review

The book wasn't just about an epidemic and the horrific outcome. It was about how strange and odd situations can affect relationships and the people in them.

Mr. Miller wrote a story about the relationship between a husband and wife and their struggle to survive. This wasn't like someone getting a cold, this was a pure terror struggle for trying to stay alive. The author doesn't write stories that are "up front". They are stories that you have to delve into and really put the situations and the people into your mind and sort out what is going on. The author doesn't just lay it out like a children's story. His plot is leaves it to the reader to decide what is actually happening. The author leaves it up to the reader to discover what the story is REALLY all about. Mr. Miller gives you time to get the characters into your mind, he doesn't rush you. As you turn the pages, the story picks up a little so that you don't become bored.

Their struggle for survival not only was a survival of the body, but of the minds and their relationship with each other. I feel the story was not only about an surviving an epidemic but surviving what society expects in relationships. Society as a whole can be very narrow minded and very unaccepting. The couple in the story find the disease is everywhere but only affects people of European heritage. The story shows how no matter how much you think you have a solid relationship, it can be torn apart by those around you, simply for the way people believe. It, in my opinion, doesn't make them wrong for believing what they choose. I feel they are wrong for expecting everyone else to believe the same as they do. Sometimes, relationships can't survive the disease. I felt like the disease was the non acceptance of others. That can put a lot of pressure on a couple and how they feel about each other. It can be isolating, even with a partner, you can feel so all alone. The disease can not only destroy the body, but the beliefs and relationship also.

I believe this would be a good book for everyone to read and as you're reading, open your mind to the differences in what people believe, No one is saying you have to believe that way. Just don't push your beliefs on others. Everyone should have the choice to live their lives in a happy, satisfying way. Just don't push!
I received a complimentary copy of THE MORTIS from the author, Jonathan R. Miller and Smith Publicity for my view of the book. No other compensation took place.