This is an important and timely question explored in the highly acclaimed spiritual novel, SNOOZE: A STORY OF AWAKENING, winner of the 2015 National Indie Excellence Award for New Age Fiction.
Written with young adult and young-at-heart readers in mind, SNOOZE further proved its literary merit by being selected as a 2016 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Finalist in the Young Adult-Coming of Age category and receiving an Honorable Mention in the 2014 Beach Book Festival Prize competition in the General Fiction category.

Now for the first time ever, this epic visionary tale is being officially serialized—in both readable and audible formats.

You’re invited to join—either with eyes or ears—Max Diver, a.k.a. “Snooze,” along the razor’s edge of a quest to rescue his astronaut father from a fate stranger than death in the exotic, perilous Otherworld of sleep.

This inspiring tale interweaves a plethora of paranormal and metaphysical subjects, from Bigfoot and enlightenment to the Loch Ness Monster and time travel via the Bermuda Triangle.

In her review of SNOOZE published in INDIE SHAMAN Magazine, June Kent had this to say about what she described as “superlative fiction”: “Engrossing, entertaining and occasionally humorous, SNOOZE also takes a look at a wide range of subjects including levitation, telepathy, lucid dreaming, spirit animals, parallel universes and shamanic-like journeying, giving a wide range of information effortlessly absorbed as you enjoy the story as well as much food for thought.”

If you’d like your own downloadable review copy to share your thoughts via Amazon, Goodreads and elsewhere, read details and contact the author with your request.

Naturally, your generous review would be greatly appreciated even if you simply enjoy the full text now being presented on this blog and numerous podcast platforms. Keep in mind that paperback and ebook versions are for sale. A complimentary online version is also available for your reading pleasure.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to follow Snooze 2 Awaken and/or Sol Luckman Uncensored for alerts as new chapters of the 84 in total that make up Max’s extraordinary story become available.

Sweet dreams!

SNOOZE: A STORY OF AWAKENING

By Sol Luckman

CHAPTER NINE

“Wake up, Snooze! Come on, buddy. It’s just a bad dream.”

Max sat bolt upright in bed, shaking and gasping, only to find his father seated beside him with a concerned look on his chiseled face that sported a two-day growth of salt-and-pepper beard. “Dad?”

“It’s me, Max. I’m right here.”

“Oh, Dad!” Overcome with emotion, Max grabbed his father’s neck like a three-year-old and tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back the tears. “I thought I’d lost you!”

“It’s okay. I haven’t gone anywhere.”

Slowly, Max composed himself, noting as his eyes dried that the room seemed brighter than usual. “What time is it?” he wondered aloud.

“A little after ten.”

“Ten? As in, o’clock?”

“I got a phone call from Mr. Priestly early this morning right after I got back—”

“From your ‘classified’ mission?”

“Yes. Look, we don’t have to talk about this right now. Do you feel okay? You were squirming pretty hard there with some kind of nightmare.”

Max felt his chest, drenched with sweat, inside his damp pajama top. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m fine. Really. Why did you let me sleep in?”

“There was no sense in waking you earlier. I’m going to take you to school with me after I get cleaned up.”

“So that you can look good for your parent-principal meeting?”

“At least smell good.”

Never had Max appreciated his father’s quick wit more than just then. “I suppose you’re wondering what’s going on with your son?”

“That’s … putting it lightly. Care to enlighten me, Max?”

“I didn’t lie to Ms. Bridgewater, if that means anything.”

“It does mean something. Go on.” When Max didn’t continue, his father tried to reassure him. “Look. You’re my child. We’ll get through this. If this is some kind of … mental problem, I’ll do everything in my power to help.”

“It’s not some kind of mental problem. The only people who have mental problems, it seems, are Ms. Bridgewater and Mr. Priestly.”

Captain Diver actually laughed out loud. “I’ve definitely felt that way about my superiors before. I just didn’t have the guts to say it.” Another silence ensued. “Tell me, Max, what’s this about your dreams? You think they might actually be happening?”

This question, like ice water splashed in his face, immediately called to mind the terrifying dream Max had just lived through—and he burst into tears again.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, Dad. You never say anything wrong.”

His father laughed again. “Well, that’s good news. I was beginning to feel like I’d been born with my foot in my mouth.”

“You seriously want to know about my dreams?”

“I think I need to know about them.”

“Okay. You asked for it. They’re real. That’s what they are.”

“Your dreams are real?”

“Yes.”

“All right. I’m going to do what your mother always urged me to do and suspend disbelief for the moment. Just for the sake of discussion, how exactly are your dreams real?”

With the exception of his most recent dream, which he kept to himself, Max proceeded to relate the progression of his dreaming career: how his dreams began, how they intensified, how they started to cross the line into the waking world, and how lately they had centered on actual people and scenarios.

He had simply dreamed of a painful episode from Ms. Bridgewater’s girlhood, he explained, and made the mistake of sharing it with her out of the blue when she wouldn’t believe that his dreams weren’t just dreams.

“I can see how something like that would upset a person,” admitted his father.

“Me, too. Now. I said I was sorry. I’d take it back if I could.”

“You realize, Max, all of this sounds a bit farfetched?”

“People used to believe the earth was flat. They considered the idea of a round earth ‘farfetched.’”

“Yes, I know.”

“I’ve got proof,” said Max, getting out of bed and fishing the Lego box out from behind the sweaters in his closet.

Once again his father attempted to keep the conversation as light as possible. “Look,” he quipped, “I like Legos as much as the next guy. But I hardly consider them proof of anything.”

“Ha, ha.”

“What am I looking at?” asked Captain Diver, staring at the brown sacha inchi seeds about the size of marbles his son had placed on his outstretched palm.

“Incan peanuts.”

“Incan … peanuts?”

“From Peru. And this,” said Max, showing him the wooden carving resembling a skeletal alien with a goatee, “is a Kava Kava Moai statue. From Easter Island.”

“Easter Island?”

“It’s ceremonial.”

“Where did you get these things?”

“Exactly. Here’s a Tibetan prayer flag. This is a Carnival mask from Venice. This obsidian arrowhead was found near the Pyramid of the Sun …”

“Wait a second. Are you trying to tell me you brought this whole box of things back from your dreams?”

“Not all at once.”

His father sat still and quiet for a long while, maybe thirty seconds, digesting this new information. “Nobody gave you these things?” he asked finally.

“Nope.”

“And you didn’t …”

“Steal them?”

“I was going to say buy them. I don’t believe you’d steal anything.“

“Think about it, Dad. My allowance wouldn’t even cover the shipping.”

His father smiled and said, “Touché.”

“So do you believe I’m crazy?”

“I … don’t know what to believe.”

“You think I’m lying?”

“No. I definitely don’t think you’re lying.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, first I’m going to have a chat with Mr. Priestly.”

“He’s going to tell you I’m crazy.”

“Probably.”

“Then what?”

“I’m going to speak with Dr. Morrow.”

“Great. He’ll probably put me on some kind of ADD medication that will make me truly delusional.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Max. Let’s just say Dr. Morrow’s area of expertise is … aligned with the sort of thing you describe.”

“Aligned?”

“That’s all I can say about it.”

“More classified business?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Wonderful.”

“Sorry. I wish I could tell you more.”

“Me, too.”

“So, are you ready to get on with our day and put the unpleasant part behind us, Max?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Good. Hang in there. I’ll grab a quick shower and make us some oatmeal. I’m starving.”

Copyright © Sol Luckman. All Rights Reserved.

Introducing Sol Luckman’s new visionary novel, CALI THE DESTROYER. Learn about the single most censored story in the history of the human race—and why it matters today.

PREORDER YOUR COPY & SAVE 20%!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sol Luckman is a pioneering ink and acrylic painter whose work has been featured on mainstream book covers, the fast-paced trading game BAZAAR, and at least one tattoo on a female leg last sighted in Australia.

Sol is also an acclaimed author of fiction, nonfiction, and humor. His books include the international bestselling CONSCIOUS HEALING, which you can read free online, and its popular sequel, POTENTIATE YOUR DNA, available in English and Spanish.

Building on SNOOZE’s deep dive into lucid dreaming, parallel universes and Hindu mysticism, Sol’s new novel, CALI THE DESTROYER, is a page-turner of a sci-fi tale set in an Orwellian future seeded in the dystopian present that radically rewrites Gnosticism as well as the origins of the earth and humanity.

Sol’s popular book of humor and satire, THE ANGEL’S DICTIONARY: A SPIRITED GLOSSARY FOR THE LITTLE DEVIL IN YOU, received the 2017 National Indie Excellence Award for Humor and was selected as a Finalist in the Humor category of both the 2018 International Book Awards and the 2018 Best Book Awards.