Nightmares & Daydreams Unraveled

Hello everyone, I wanted to create a post to thoroughly introduce my third book, and very first "spiritual thriller"/poetry hybrid project Nightmares & Daydreams. It’s taken me a while to properly string together all my thoughts about this project as it comprises so many themes, and because it's been such a personal, painful journey to shed so many layers of myself and leave them within the pages of this book. It’s my most ambitious project yet that has taken so much time and energy to complete but I’m excited that it’s coming out October 17th and will finally be in your hands soon.

The main component of the book is the fiction thriller story that had rippled from the surface of my subconscious. I didn't even plan on writing a fiction story, but the idea came to me one morning and before I knew it, I had the entire summary of the story written out. This was during the summer Intuition was released back in 2020. The story itself, along with much of the poetry section, deals with trying to overcome repressed traumas and finding the strength to make peace with our inner demons, which I had dealt with during the beginning of the pandemic when I was cut from all my distractions and left alone with my thoughts. I won't spoil too many details, but I wanted this book to represent BIPOC members of the LGBT community such as myself who had grown up without ever being able to relate to characters we would watch on TV or read in books. It has also been beautiful to intertwine so much Middle Eastern culture into the pages of this book from music, mythology and cultural customs that I've grown up with since I was a child. As dark as the book may be, there's a profound message and a spiritually cathartic ending that I hope resonates with many readers. Kalim is a really special character and I'm excited for people to meet him and fully immerse themselves into his world. 

This book is not for the faint of heart though. It has sharp teeth and will pull you deep into themes of drug addiction, references to domestic abuse, accidents, death, dream psychology, and cognitive distortions that ripple with force through both sections of the book.

The poetry section literally starts in hell, and I let myself become taken by the darker and insidious aspects within myself, such as negative thought patterns, coping mechanisms, vices, mood disorders, and acknowledging my reluctance to evolve at the time. The section is shorter than my last book but certainly my most potent, with fully fleshed out pieces that are much longer in comparison to the whimsical, fleeting thoughts of Intuition. As personal as this book is, I'm proud of being able to fully confront many of my own demons as well as further understand my relationship with writing, which I've concluded to be much less of a hobby as it is a compulsion, or a monster, I've called it now, that lives within me and had a heavy hand in bringing this work to life. Dante's Inferno had been the main inspiration throughout the poetry section as I wrote my way out of each circle, clinging to my faith and powering through with strength to eventually reach the light. It may shock some of you, it may comfort some of you, but this book is fully, authentically, the darkest parts of the human experience.

The journey to paradise begins in hell, get ready.