A
Flower
Rises
Based on a True Story
The trials & tribulations of medical marijuana legalization in Washington State.
“A thoughtful and illuminating composition.”
-Vivian McPeak, Managing Editor of SKUNK Magazine & Director of Seattle Hempfest
A Flower Rises tracks the remarkable journey of one young man who escaped a fate worse than death and then turned his tragedy into triumph in the war against the war on medical marijuana.
This book chronicles the real-life social revolution that rose from a hospital bed and spread to courtrooms, newspapers, and television stations in the Evergreen State. In a rare example where people spoke truth and the powerful listened, this is the American revolution that rocked and rolled out an army of freaky followers at the largest pro-pot protests in the world.
A tale that spins like a cyclone through lives battered by prohibition, with a central message of peace and wisdom, this is a story of victory against all odds and priceless truth in the age of false profits.
Reader Reviews
Charlene Rowan
“Deeply compelling, and highly entertaining!”
Thomas J Smith
“A contemporary classic of our turbulent times.”
Allen Peters
“Hard to put down. Impossible to forget.”
A FLOWER RISES
“We have the right to remain free.”
Page 1:
The world rushed by in a constant stream of instant history. Moments passed into memory with no room for rumination. Even the snaking black arrow warning DANGEROUS CURVES left only a feint impression that faded with the passing landscape.
About the Author:
Martin Martinez survived a profound Near Death Experience as a young adult and went on to challenge the prohibition of medical marijuana in dozens of criminal and civil cases, blazing the trail of legalization in Washington State as well as in Washington D.C. at the US Supreme Court. Martin Martinez has ministered and administered to thousands of people treating a wide range of conditions with Nature’s Greatest Medicine.
With a touch of:
Jack London
Ernest Hemmingway
Jack Kerouac
Thomas Wolfe
And Dr. Seuss!
“A flower rises from the mud.”
–Buddhist Aphorism
Page 1, continued . . .
Bits of loose gravel skipped across pavement in the wake of hot rubber. The black-clad biker leaned into the turn, defying the laws of motion with a quick twist of his wrist. Expressionless behind impact-resistant lenses, his mind raced on at three thousand revelations per minute.
Up the hills and down the valleys he rode, whipping through turn after winding turn. In time, sunlight smiled down on lazy fields of farmland. A tired old filling station and a dumpy diner waved “Howdy!” The lone rider barely noticed, buzzing by some sagging wagon at 88 feet per second, never even glancing in the rearview mirrors.
A cluster of shimmering buildings illuminated the horizon. The fleeting youth chased his own shadow into that turbulent maze of steel and concrete.
More excerpts from A Flower Rises:
TWILIGHT
Fate came without warning—suddenly—a small red car swerved into the wrong lane at the wrong time. Michael jammed the brakes just one long second before his sexy black motorcycle plowed head-first into the front end of the car. Chrome plated steel screamed in agony as it twisted and crumpled like cheap tinfoil. The helmetless biker flew over his handlebars and onto the hood of the car at 60 miles per hour. He bounced off the windshield and flew far away, a limp ragdoll flailing wildly though the air.
CHRISTMAS DAY
The morning was cold. Ice crystals decorated the windows. Michael dressed quickly and went to the yard, watching his breath in slivers of sunlight while snipping small evergreen branches. He bound them together with electrical wire and wrapped the branches with a few rows of CAUTION tape.
Michael had the odd ornament set up on the table, with little lights blinking red, yellow and blue, long before Bobbi woke up, before his first smoke of the day. He set the radio to play Christmas music at low volume and went to make coffee.
THE LAST DAY OF LEO
There were rich scents-a-roaming from espresso a-foaming, from whipped drip steam, teeming with cream. In every nose, with those aromas vying, like coffee grinding and fast-food frying, a whiff of patchouli kept on trying to blanket the air with that old paisley flair, the psychedelic aura of that dread-nettle flora. And everywhere there were pot pipes galore, red pipes and blue pipes and green pipes and more. Pipes for Sale! Glass Art Fun! Hempfest Special: 2 pipes for 1! Crazy amazing! As some might suggest, there were more pipes at Hempfest than all the guns in Texas!
Friends of A Flower Rises:
Contact Martin Martinez: AFlowerRises@gmail.com
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