W.A.R.P.: Book 1 of The Thought Plague Series

By Maria Marsden

WARNING – This book is contagious. The author was suffering from the Thought-Plague when she wrote it. It’s a satirical Kafkaesque critique of the mental health system in the U.K. set in a parallel science-fiction future. The book is based on the author’s surreal-life experiences in a parallel world in which a permanent state of dissociation is the norm.

“IF YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE, DON’T SMOKE TOO MUCH, DON’T DRINK TOO MUCH AND DON’T THINK TOO MUCH. TO AVOID ANOTHER THOUGHT PLAGUE EPIDEMIC, PLEASE REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS OVER-THINKING IMMEDIATLEY.”

“Someone must have reported Kay Joseph. She knew that she was of no immediate danger to herself or others, but, one morning, she was WARPED under section 22.5(b) of Psyberia’s National Wellbeing and Recovery Protocol, (WARP).

 

When Psyberia was established as a quarantine and processing island, the elite High Permaniacs in the southern Altered States of Mania created the ‘Psyber Skin’, an anti-viral nano-tech psychic defence barrier around Psyberia’s borders. On the 7.30am news this morning, Kay heard more reports of violence erupting through the ‘Psyber Skin’. The Transylmaniacs had invaded through The Skin and were now penetrating the minds of the higher functioning Psyberians.  Psyber Skin Hackers and Psy-Kick Investigators, like Kay’s friend Adam, were particularly prone to Psy-Kick attack, as were users of Cat-A-Tonic.

 

Being possessed or Psy-Kickally attacked wasn’t Kay’s worst fear. Her worst fear was that this had already happened to her and that it was in some way connected to ‘the treatment’. She felt that more and more, each day, the life was slowly getting sucked out of her and she was being drained to death. She didn’t know what would happen if she was Psy-Kicked. Would she end up back in virtual hospital or would she end up killing herself like Adam did?”

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Aug 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9783743877962

Book preview

Prologue

In the world from which all possible worlds emerge it is always night time. In the night time dwell two dreaming cousins. Both of these dreamers are ancient enemies unable to dream together. Thus, the dreamers have come to a truce. Whilst one of them is in a waking dream, the other sleeps and is trapped in a nightmare. Between the night time realm and all other possible worlds there exists a series of thin veils. These veils are the web spun by Grandmother Spider. She is the Great Grandmother of both dreamers and all their descendants. Whilst lucid dreaming or loosing the plot, many of us have flown through the veils between the worlds. Most of the time we get caught in the web and stuck in one type of world, which we then mistake as ‘the real world’.

The people of the Altered States of Mania are descendants of one of the two dreamers of the night time realm. The O’manian tribes (from which most Psyberians originate), are the descendants of the Great Wolf Mother known as ‘Snow White’. At present Snow White has been sleeping for one hundred years, held there by a poison thorn in her side and contained within a cryogenic chamber. The waking dreamer is known as the Translymanian Vampire Queen Scarlet Riding-Hood.  When the people of The Altered States post their stories into the multi-worldwide web, these stories bleed through into the night time. Scarlet feeds off them and she and her descendants grow stronger and richer. The moon in night time wanes under Scarlet’s waking dream. Scarlet’s waking dream is Psyberia’s nightmare. Her aim is to keep all Psyberians locked in a waking nightmare and never let them dream freely.

Grandmother Spider links the immortal world, with all worlds that have ever existed and have never existed. She spins the web of stories from which Psyberian’s spin their yarns and from which every worldwide web in all possible worlds is intrinsically linked.

When Snow White wakes up and breaks out of her cryogenic coffin, part of the web that covers her coffin will be broken.  When this happens, what happens in The Altered States will no longer be dependant on what happens in the multi-worldwide web. The threads that connect these worlds and other worlds will be broken. Psyberians will more easily be able to fly through the veils between worlds without getting stuck in a particular reality. 

When part of the web is broken, Grandmother Spider will start to re-spin her web and the stories that bind these threads together. The worlds as many people know them will change. No longer will we see ourselves in terms of a part we play in a story, but conversely, we will see the stories for the part they play in us. Grandmother spider will call upon her descendants to help her re-spin the stories and the threads that unite them. Special Agent Psyberians will set free the Wolf and capture the Vampire Queen Scarlet Riding-Hood in the great web. This period of freedom will last for one hundred years.

This once-upon-a-time is upon us all.  Grandmother Spider now calls upon the Big Bad Wolf to spin the yarns of Snow White.  As the Wolf wakes up in her world, the special-agents of Psyberia must sleep in theirs and dream the new world into being. Those residents of the Altered States who are descendants of the Vampire Scarlet Riding-Hood will wake up to themselves when their queen sleeps. They will come to learn the reality of their addiction to the ‘happy-ever-after’. This lesson may take them another hundred years.

Chapter 1

Someone must have reported Kay Joseph. She knew that she was of no immediate danger to herself or others, but, one morning, she was WARPED under