Sol Luckman's Blog - Posts Tagged "loss"

Sol Luckman

While my new novel, SNOOZE: A STORY OF AWAKENING, was composed with young adult and young-at-heart readers in mind, the book recently proved its literary merit by receiving an Honorable Mention in the 2014 Beach Book Festival Prize competition in the general fiction category.

Here are some excerpts from the stellar reviews that have already come in …

“SNOOZE is without doubt one of the best coming-of-age, awakening books that I have ever read, and it had me entranced from beginning to end.” —Ingrid Hall, Author & Freelance Editor

“SNOOZE is a book for readers ready to awaken from our mass cultural illusion before we self-destruct.” —Merry Hall, Co-Host of ENVISION THIS

“This is a good read. One to share across generations, across space and time—or time and space.” —Dr. Janet Graham, Kalamazoo, Michigan

“A literary treasure. SNOOZE is a beautiful and fascinating depiction of the awakening process that will touch your heart.” —Liliana Cartagena

“This is a book that, when many people read it, will be instrumental in the world being a better place to live.” —Jennifer Churchill

In a recent essay, I describe some of the how and why SNOOZE came about:

I had in mind to write something indeed like a superhero story—but a believable one, a far cry from the standard stretched affairs currently gracing so many silver screens.

I also had a notion to write a book about how real magic, as opposed to a load of hocus pocus involving wizards and wands, might function in—and ultimately change—the real world.

By “real magic,” I mean just that. Specifically, I’m referring to the longstanding tradition of seemingly miraculous abilities called siddhis in Vedic lore—which are understood not as superhuman capacities so much as inherent to, if submerged in, human nature.

Siddhis come in a number of varieties, but common ones, witnessed by thousands of people over the ages, include telekinesis (moving objects with the mind), telepathy (ESP), and levitation or flying.

Historically documented in numerous individuals, from Indian gurus to the Catholic priest, Padre Pio, such powers are said to emerge organically from within the human being, often in connection with pineal gland activation and lucid dreaming.

The idea of siddhis had fascinated me ever since I first learned of them in college. It was mind-blowing that one of the oldest systems of personal development on the planet—the Vedic tradition of India—insisted, in essence, that everyone inherits the capability of becoming a superhero!

Begging the question … What would it actually be like to experience the sprouting and flowering of these inborn occult powers in oneself?

SNOOZE is finally available—in both paperback and ebook formats—at most online retailers, including Amazon, Amazon (UK), Amazon (Canada), Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Lulu, and my own website, where you can also peruse or download the first fourteen chapters ...

http://www.CrowRising.com/snooze

Finally, please tune in this Monday, June 23, at 7 PM EDT to ENVISION THIS radio for a live interview with me about SNOOZE.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision...

Thanks so much for reading—and sweet dreams!



Copyright © Sol Luckman. All Rights Reserved.

Sol Luckman

When I began writing my award-winning metaphysical novel, SNOOZE: A STORY OF AWAKENING, at the start of 2013, little did I know this paranormal, coming-of-age tale about a boy learning to harness the power of lucid dreams would include important themes having to do with Dewey Larson’s Reciprocal System of physical theory, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief, Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, and Lloyd Pye’s revolutionary theories on mysterious hominids like Bigfoot.







It also hadn’t occurred to me I would ultimately be writing a novel about ascension, enlightenment and unity consciousness—hot topics in the spiritual traditions so many of us die-hard modern-day mystics are drawn to: shamanism, Hermeticism, Tibetan Buddhism, esoteric Christianity, Gnosticism.

I was encouraged by SNOOZE’s early rave reviews to begin submitting the book to contests. In 2014, soon after the novel’s publication, SNOOZE received an honorable mention in the Beach Book Festival Prize Competition. I was especially pleased with this result because SNOOZE placed in the general fiction category and I was eager to demonstrate that this book merits a wide audience.

SNOOZE’s breakthrough came a year later when it won the 2015 National Indie Excellence Award in the category of new age fiction.

Awarded since 2007, the NIEA competition is judged by experts from all aspects of the Indie book industry. This includes publishers, authors, editors, book cover designers and copywriters. Winners are determined based on “overall excellence of presentation in addition to the writing.”

In SNOOZE, the mind-bending tale of one gifted boy’s awakening, we follow Max Diver, aka “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.

The two chapters excerpted below detail Max’s spiritual initiation. This section takes place on the heels of a series of truly otherworldly adventures in the Otherworld, with Max’s twin, Maxwallah, and the latter’s mother, Artemisia, acting as mentors.

In the second half of this excerpt, Max’s telepathic Bigfoot guide, Zana, appears. Portrayed sympathetically as an intelligent yet animalistic humanoid displaying wisdom and a sense of humor, she and her fellow Almasty—to use the Russian term for Sasquatch—play a decisive role in Max’s navigating the slippery reality of the Otherworld.

Read more at ...

https://snooze2awaken.wordpress.com/2...