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Could it be there’s no such thing as the paranormal … only infinite varieties of normal we’ve yet to understand?
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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 SIXTY-ONE
The two companions strolled past the cherry trees and turned into the little alleyway that led past Zana’s elk. It was still there, stinking up the place, high in the lone tree atop the hill.
Leaving the stench behind without remark, Maxwallah led Max down another alley that twisted and turned—until it opened up to reveal a steaming pool of water of considerable size carved by the elements out of solid rock. “What is this place?” asked Max.
“This was the Sacred Pool of the Heywah. Beautiful, is it not?”
“It’s gorgeous. And practical. It’s a hot spring, right?”
“Indeed. It is fed by thermal waters from beneath the mountain.”
“So can we bathe in it? I haven’t had a shower since I got to time-space.”
“Eventually, yes, we will bathe. But first, we must initiate your training with ceremony.”
“What kind of ceremony?”
“Take off your clothes and you will see.”
“You want me to take off my clothes here in broad daylight?”
“Trust me, Maxwell. I have seen you naked every time I have seen myself without raiment.”
Reluctantly, not without wincing in the morning chill, Max removed his poncho, jeans, and boots. These Maxwallah set on the ground well away from the water alongside his backpack—from which he removed a long, slender object.
“Why do you carry an extra machete around in your pack?” asked Max.
Ignoring this question, Maxwallah offered him the sword in its scabbard by the carved bone hilt. Max accepted and unsheathed the obsidian blade, which glinted and seemed rather sharp. “This is just like your sword.”
“Not just like. The carving on your handle is a lunar motif, while that on mine features a solar design.”
“My handle? You mean you’re giving me this?”
“It is said among my people that a blade selects its wielder. In a sense, I am merely making it possible for you to have what has already chosen you.”
“But you made this sword, didn’t you?”
“I crafted it, yes. Just as my teacher made my sword for me—and as perhaps someday you will make one for your student.”
“Thanks. But I don’t know the first thing about sword making.”
“Neither did I.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Use it. I will make you a belt with your hide shirt so you can wear it.”
“I really appreciate this, Maxwallah. But why are you giving it to me now? I thought we were going to have a ceremony.”
Maxwallah smiled and took the sword back from Max. “The ceremony has already begun. You have accepted the blade that I will now use to sever the ties that bind you to who you were and keep you from becoming who you are to be.”
“Just don’t cut my silver cord.”
“Do not worry.”
Max shivered in the bracing air as Maxwallah moved around him in circles symbolically severing his bonds to the past from head to toe. Setting the blade on its sheath on top of Max’s poncho, he produced a hunk of what looked like amber from his backpack and held it in his right hand blowing on it until it began to smoke.
Max smelled the familiar, copal-like scent of the resin from the luminous piñon trees down the mountain. He realized his twin was heating the hardened sap in his palm so that it burned like incense. “That’s pretty cool,” said Max. “Are you going to teach me how to do that?”
“This is not about parlor tricks, Maxwell. The kali-kalu are not ends in themselves—but only and always means to a greater end.”
“What are the kali-kalu?”
“Special abilities that derive from manipulating the energy of space—or in your world, the energy of time.”
“You mean like the Hindu siddhis? Levitation, telekinesis, that sort of thing?”
“Exactly.”
“Excellent.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“An eager student of the kali-kalu, or inner arts, once pursued them for the wrong reasons. Rather than wanting power to help the world, he desired power for itself.”
“What happened?”
“The climate where he lived was extremely wet. In order to show the people he had acquired power, and to make everyone revere him, he caused the rain to disappear. But this only brought drought to the land—and soon people everywhere, starving, fell to cursing his name.”
“I think I get what you’re driving at.”
“Do you?” Maxwallah began walking in circles again while blowing across the resin and smudging Max with incense. The smoke smelled wonderful but stung his eyes.
“I believe so,” replied Max, blinking. “You’re saying that in order to properly wield this kind of power, one must be willing to give it up rather than do harm.”
“That is precisely the point. You might imagine that I practice physical training such as you saw me doing at the fountain because I desire to defeat my opponents?”
“Well, certainly, you don’t want to be beaten by them.”
“Of course not. But if you believe embodying power means to have someone to ‘beat’ in the first place, you are already on a slippery slope. The straight path to power is to embrace the Circle of Life to such an extent that one cannot be effectively opposed by anyone or anything. Real power, the genuine variety, carries with it the responsibility to stand up in benevolent defense of all creatures.”
Max thought of the physician’s pledge, so often ignored in the medicine of his world, to “first do no harm.” “What about evil beings?” he asked.
“If by ‘evil’ you mean those who choose to ignore the Circle of Life for selfish reasons, one with power must endeavor to neutralize their ability to do harm while—if at all possible—not harming them.”
“What about the wolves you shot?”
“Killing is only a last resort in defense or preservation of oneself or a loved one.”
“What about hunting animals for food?”
“That falls under preservation of oneself or a loved one.”
“Fair enough. But what is the Circle of Life, Maxwallah? I get that it’s connected to the Way of All Things—but I’m not sure how.”
What remained of the piñon resin was bubbling in Maxwallah’s palm. The heat from the smoldering incense didn’t seem to hurt or even bother him. He blew the last of the smoke over Max, then rubbed his hands together to remove what was left of the ashes. “I am afraid it is difficult to describe the Circle of Life in words. It is more effective to experience it before attempting to discuss it.”
“How do I go about experiencing it?”
“First, we must finish your purification. Then we can proceed to the Cave of Origins.”
“Proceed to what?”
“Language is so much fluff at this stage. We must go deeper. Literally!”
With this last word, Maxwallah unexpectedly pushed Max into the Sacred Pool. Max barely had time to inhale before he was surrounded by bath-like water and air bubbles. Sputtering while shaking the water out of his hair, he resurfaced and attempted to climb out.
He was greeted at the lip of the waterhole by the tip of his own obsidian sword in Maxwallah’s hand.
“Quit joking around,” he said. “I’d like to get out and dry off.”
“You said you wanted to bathe. Now bathe.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I can’t even stand up. The pool’s really deep.”
“That should present no obstacle to a dolphin. Just remember: where there is a will, there is a Way.”
“Is that ‘Way’ with a capital?”
“It is if you can follow it.”
Max stared up at his twin, who still brandished the sword menacingly to keep him from climbing out.
Rather than getting angry, intuiting this must be part of his training, he reflected on Maxwallah’s last statement while treading water. To follow the Way, or the Way of all Things, was to follow the energy. So where was the energy?
Sensing a subtle current of energy rising up from below, Max took a deep breath and allowed himself to sink beneath the water’s steaming surface. As he drifted down and down in the stillness of the Sacred Pool, he imagined he heard a high-pitched note like that of a dolphin whistling.
The farther he sank, the louder the note grew—until he realized in an epiphany it emanated from his heart. It wasn’t exactly his heartbeat; rather, the note seemed to be the driving force behind his heartbeat. It was—he grasped in another profound insight—the sound of his heart speaking.
Diver down, it seemed to say. Diver down, diver down, diver down, diver down.
Suddenly, a faint, greenish light turned on in the depths of darkness under Max’s feet. At the same time, the upwelling energy grew palpably stronger.
Instinctively, before his head could dissuade him from what his heart told him to do, he curled into a fetal position, spun a hundred and eighty degrees vertically, and dived straight toward the light with a series of powerful kicks.
The light grew brighter as he plumbed the depths of the Sacred Pool. Just as he was on the verge of running out of breath, he swam through a shimmering membrane—at which point, fantastically, he fell through the air and splashed into a bed of glowing moss.
Sucking for breath, he looked up to see the water of the Sacred Pool suspended in swirling patterns atop the translucent membrane half a dozen feet overhead. Max had entered the Cave of Origins, but how he would exit it was anybody’s guess.
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.
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.
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.
Snooze 2 Awaken 