Quote from my next book

To start off this blog, here is a small quote from my next book, which is a novel. Boon works for an organisation called the Freedom Network, and he has met the others today, they are a political activist group who specialise in taking out surveillance equipment.

Boon found himself sitting cross-legged, on a cushion, in the middle of a room in the house he had not seen up until now. The walls were mostly purple, with strange symbols painted on them. No shrines here, no pictures or sculptures...apart from the symbols, the room seemed almost devoid of form. The only exception was some low tables with candles on. There were five of them arranged symmetrically around the centre of the room and some sort of star-shaped pattern was painted on the floor, with the tables at the apices. The four of them were sitting in a square - he was facing Lizzie, Paul was facing Ellie. All were cross-legged and had eyes closed. They had sat like that for several minutes, quietly, relaxing. Boon was having trouble relaxing as he was full of anticipation, but nonetheless the soporific mood of the room was making his mind slow down gradually.

Lizzie began to speak softly. Her voice assumed a more monotone, dramatic style. First she snapped her fingers, at which, as if by magic, music began playing. It was slow, with rhythmic drumbeats and small, subtle flute noises, seeming to come from some distant mountain village ceremony. "Now begins the ritual of initiation. By the powers of the ancient earth, by the powers of the human spirit, and with the assistance of the pixies of psilocybe, we initiate Shane Boon into the Astral consciousness. By these powers shall he be brought, with humble spirit and wonder, out from his body to the astral realm. By these powers shall we show him the eternity of consciousness, the infinity of existence and the enormity of his potential as a human being." As these words were sinking in, Boon was wondering whether this was really a good idea.

Lizzie then took a small box, and some strips of cloth, from under one of the tables and placed the box, open, in front of her. It contained four syringes, a selection of injecting needles, and a vial of clear, colourless liquid. "We will now each inject ourself with the psilocybe." 

Not thirty seconds after injecting, the hit started to swathe over his mind. This was definitely something different to the few times he had eaten mushrooms picked in the Yorkshire Dales. Time began to slow down. Light coming towards his eyes, which normally behaved so well in the way it stuck to travelling in straight lines, decided to start making slight curves in its journey, so that everything around him began to blur slightly. His hearing was heightened such that the breathing and heartbeats of the others in the room suddenly became obvious, and the hustle-bustle of people moving about downstairs, talking and laughing, became clearer. He could hear a moth flapping around in the corner of the room and wondered if it was happy. His skin became very sensitive, he could feel the press of his clothing on some parts and the chill of the air on the exposed parts, yet he did not feel cold, as there was a kind of fire building up inside him, as if his spirit was rising up from some hidden part of his body to consume the existence of his being, which he realised in an instant was usually shrivelled in a corner, hiding from reality. He felt ashamed that his spirit was so closed to the world, angry at himself that he was missing so much of life, and full of wonder at this whole new way of experiencing things. Since the injection, he realised that he had opened his soul.