Waking From the American Dream: Ten-Mile

"...Latranz is a burgeoning Albuquerque writer with obvious skill at his craft." --Christina Olds, Local I.Q. newspaper. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0IdRsgcPn0&feature=relmfu WORLD OF HURT The German, "traum," to dream, is often associated with the Greek, trauma. Waking From the American Dream is the true story of Michael Sullivan, who spends his Vietnam era childhood in the shadow of a bullying and delusional schizophrenic older brother named Brod. Michael's Bible-toting mother, Jane, pursues her childhood obsession with horses and the Wild West, her definition of “the American dream.” Behind a Pollyanna smoke screen, “darling Jane Sullivan” seems determined that Michael will be permanently disabled, and he narrowly survives to adulthood. At age 10, he’s hit with the apparent suicide of the bipolar father he loved and barely knew. At 20, The Marines leave him on disability for 5 years with P.T.S.D. After the end of his marriage, he survives as a cab driver, becomes a published writer, and finds a positive spiritual path. It’s after his divorce that Michael also becomes the father he never had.