Pan Macmillan

THIS is the third of nine synopses of books eligible for the Citizen Book Prize.

The winner will be determined by readers’ votes. To help get your favourite manuscript published, vote and make your mark (see the voting box below the synopsis).

Voting for each synopsis will be open for the week following its publication in CitiVibe. If you miss that, you will be able to reread and vote for all nine synopses online from November 5 – 11.

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This is the only book prize for unpublished authors chosen by the reading public.

The Citizen Book Prize synopsis Three

Opening The Knot

by Etienne L Smit

HE’S alive and lives among us, but nobody knows…

This is the true story of the events leading up to an astounding discovery.

To celebrate the acquisition of my new farm I invited some friends to the long-abandoned property.

That night, for the first time in my life, I experienced absolute terror; in the midst of nightmarish screaming I walked straight into a very tall, furry humanoid “thing” with little red pinprick eyes that glowed in the dark.

Pursuing a somewhat haphazard path I hoped would lead me to greater spiritual awareness, I moved into the house in the valley – my one man monastery. My first visitor, Dorkas, who wore red and white beads on her wrists, informed me that the place was cursed.

Shortly afterwards, the beautiful Isabella arrived to stay, in between photographic assignments.

After Isabella’s departure for Iraq, I was blinded by an Egyptian cobra that sprayed venom into my eyes.

I was airlifted to a hospital in Pretoria, but the quantity of venom wasn’t very great, although I had a near-death experience. Fortunately, the medics managed to revive me.

Chaos was unleashed as things started to go horribly wrong on the farm. When the two rondavels burned to the ground, we found three little bottles containing a mysterious black substance in the remains of a wall.

Dorkas urged me to consult with Wiseman, her teacher; he could help, she said. In spite of my scepticism, we went to see him. According to Wiseman, the farm was sacred to the “Ancestors”, and I shouldn’t have lived there. He told me that the furry humanoid was my ally, and would show me things that ordinary men couldn’t see.

The bones were thrown and he foretold that I would undertake a journey – literal as well as metaphorical. The Ancestors had decreed that I should be initiated as a sangoma.

Dorkas was appointed as my teacher and the Ancestors would teach me through my dreams.

Initiation propelled me into a magical world of unparalleled mystery and grandeur – a world of dreams, visions, transformational symbols, spirit guides, gatekeepers and esoteric knowledge that lead me to ever-increasing consciousness.

I developed astonishing powers.

I then accompanied Isabella on assignment to India, where I met an elderly gentleman who that had appeared to me in a vision while still in South Africa.

Our relationship finally foundered; Isabella returned to London, and I to the farm. On returning, try as I may, I was unable to continue with my former life as a sangoma.

I searched for Dorkas, but couldn’t find her.

The subsequent death of my only friend left me totally alone and the void became unbearable, leading to a dark night of the soul. As I hit rock bottom, I found a stone with what appeared to be a cross in a circle on it; mankind’s oldest and most-revered symbol, depicting the union of heaven and Earth.

I now entered the spiritual realm of the mystic. The elderly man of my visions was revealed to be the Saint whose Second Coming has long been predicted.

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The Citizen Book Prize: Opening the Knot by Etienne L Smit(online surveys)