Domingo Martinez is the New York Times bestselling author of The Boy Kings of Texas, a deep memoir that provides a series of anecdotes about growing up in the borderland between Texas and Mexico in the 80s. Now the much-anticipated companion book to his acclaimed first book is in stores and it examines the inner dynamics of families facing tragedy.

My Heart Is A Drunken Compass isn't a dour book, however. It is a story filled with profound honesty and by the time the reader turns the last page, he will be both inspired and uplifted. Here Martinez writes about growing up in a matriarchal family with an alcoholic father in Brownsville, Texas, and how his father's machismo affected his family.

"If 'Boy Kings of Texas' is about family origin myths, 'Drunken Compass' is about consequences," Martinez said. Although his books stand alone, in the second volume readers will see his father deal with alcoholism and reconcile with his whole family.

Growing up, "you never knew what edge of the beer you were going to get," Martinez said. "That was the water we swam in." But now those waters have calmed, and the new memoir deftly balances horrific situations with heartwarming ones. "[My father] has totally changed his life," Martinez said. Now he has been sober for 25 years. The book is dark, yet funny and Martinez has a tremendous knack for walking that precipice.

As successful as Martinez's work is, he says that when he started out writing, he never intended to be published. "[The first book] started off as a one-off email that I would write at work when I was trying to woo some young lady." Thankfully, he always kept his emails and started to see a narrative through line about growing up in South Texas.

Martinez is a self-taught writer and former graphic designer who worked on his first book, The Boy Kings of Texas, for close to 20 years. When the book debuted, it was optioned by HBO and nominated for a National Book Award. Now the Seattle-based author works full time as a writer. Now he is also learning to write for TV, fictionalizing a screenplay based on his work. He hopes to see the pilot arrive on television screens in 2016.

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