“Why is that so interesting?”
“Perception, my dear! Perception is everything!”
Lisa shook her head, not liking his words one bit. She challenged, “So you’re obsessed with the moon, so what? What does that have to do with eating enough food to feed a starving nation? Let me guess: shrimp’s from the sea, and the sea has tides, which are affected by the moon and stuff.”
His eyes glinted. “Yes! Now you begin to understand! She is perceived as barely a slice, yet she is full and round and beautiful. Are all the people who see a crescent moon merely wrong most of the time? Or is there something more going on? Recognizing—nay, acting upon—the disparity between reality and perception unlocks the doors to so many secrets. Have you noticed how I look thinner?”
Her face clouded. Had she ever! He was eating over two thousand shrimp a day, yet was skinny as a rail! He looked almost as thin as he did when he first started coming three weeks ago. Meanwhile Lisa was getting huge and ate nothing.
“It’s a matter of perception and reality,” Mr. Arno explained. “Believe me, the secrets of the moon can be applied to people, if they are clever enough. We are not as directly affected—as the tides are—but we are not immune to her influence. Oh, no. Ask any ER physician. There are always more accidents during a full moon.”
Lisa’s frown deepened into confusion and annoyance. Noting her expression, Mr. Arno returned to his usual blandness.
“Of course you don’t believe a word I am saying.”
She smiled grimly at him. “I think you’re nuts.”
He sniffed disdainfully, then returned his gaze to his plate of shrimp. “Am I?”
Bloated hands waved over the mound as if seeking heat from a fire.
“Perception led me to transference. In the beginning I merely looked thinner than I was, like glorious Luna herself. But after exploring her secrets, my manipulation of perception led to something marvelous—to transference! It all begins with perception. It is everything.”
“No!” Lisa suddenly cried. “Perception is nothing! I’m not who I look like. I’m not!”
Mr. Arno seemed unfazed by her outburst. He coolly reviewed her for a moment, then his white mustache quivered.
“Perhaps not right now,” he said, a knowing twinkle in his eye. “But you will be. You will be.”
Books by Brian David Bruns
Fiction:
The Gothic Shift
In the House of Leviathan
The Widow of Half Hill
Nonfiction:
1. Cruise Confidential
2. Ship for Brains
3. Unsinkable Mister Brown
4. High Seas Drifter
Cruise a la Carte
Comstock Phantoms:
True Ghost Stories of Virginia City, NV
Rumble Yell:
Discovering America's Biggest Bike Ride*
*USA REBA Grand Prize Winner
Praise for The Gothic Shift
“A delightful balance of whimsy and the grotesque, with a glimmer of moonstruck romance. Bruns creates well-imagined, realistic settings for his lively characters.”
- Kirkus Reviews
"I was squirming in my seat to find out what would happen in the end."
-Reader's Favorite Reviews
“A juicy collection of stories, with some great character development and a lot of original ideas. Recommended!”
-Horror After Dark
"The stories in this volume are little nibbles at the edges of you mind that show the Gothic style can resonate with even hardcore horror lovers. Recommended.”
-Hellnotes
“I found this book to be an extreme delight. Bruns builds each piece with a subtle tension rather than in your face horror. But do not misunderstand that statement: the horror is there and very real."
-Horror Novel Reviews
Unsinkable Mister Brown
Gold- USA Best Book Awards
Silver- Paris Book Festival
Bronze- London Book Festival
Bronze- Hollywood Book festival
Finalist- Book of the Year, Humor- ForeWord Awards
Finalist- Book of the Year, Travel- ForeWord Awards
Ship for Brains
Bronze- London Book Festival
Bronze- New York Book Festival
Bronze- San Francisco Book Festival
Bronze- New England Book Festival
Finalist- Book of the Year, Humor- ForeWord Awards
Cruise Confidential
Gold- Book of the Year, Benjamin Franklin Awards
Gold- Book of the Year, Humor- ForeWord Awards
Bronze- New England Book Festival
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Brian David Bruns
All rights reserved
Cover design by Brian David Bruns
Produced in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form—except quoting brief passages in a review—without permission in writing from author or publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Bruns, Brian David
2nd ed.
Produced by World Waters
ISBN: 978-0974521763
LCCN (PCN): 2012935175
1. Travel/Essay 2. Cruise Ships 3. Humor
Notes
1. The outrageous experiences of working the restaurants on Carnival Cruise Lines is narrated in its entirety in Cruise Confidential. I was the first American to survive a full contract below decks without quitting in the company’s 30-year history.
2. My tumultuous auctioneer training is narrated in its entirety in Ship for Brains.
3. Laureen Niamesny’s album, Free Again, is available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple Music, and others.
Unsinkable Mister Brown (Cruise Confidential 3) Page 40