Dan Brown's new novel, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, now called The Lost Symbol, is due in stores September 15th. The publishing world heaves a sigh of relief. All those bookstores don't have to close now, and everybody can come back to work.
The Guardian.co.uk is reporting today that:
The long-awaited novel – one of the most anticipated in recent publishing history - will be called "The Lost Symbol," and will take place over a 12-hour period. No more details were given about its content, but persistent rumours have suggested it will be set in Washington DC and will focus on freemasonry. It will be published on 15 September with an initial print run of 6.5 million copies – the largest first printing in publisher Random House's history.
"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," said Brown. "Weaving five years of research into the story's 12-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."
Undoubtedly, previous reports over the last six years that it was to be called "The Solomon Key", and the subsequent flooding of the market of similarly named books influenced a title change. And there are no details yet as to whether Brown will follow through on his long-announced plans for the book to involve Freemasonry.
But we'll know in September.
UPDATE
Random House has posted a new website at www.robertlandgon.com , the name of Brown's fictitious character, and it seems to point in a direction that is not Masonic. Yet, look carefully at the parchment puzzle on the site, and maybe it does.
Brown's personal website at www.danbrown.com has also been updated today.
Only date that it could be evoking is the laying of the US Capitol cornerstone on the 18th. Chris, you would know this but is releasing a book on Friday a bad idea?
ReplyDeleteNick
Chris, thank you very much for the heads-up. I'm stunned that this isn't on all the Internet and broadcast news outlets. I have you to thank for letting me know.
ReplyDeleteNick, all other things being equal, the practice in publishing is to release books on Tuesday. Of course, Dan Brown being who he is, he could insist that Doubleday release it on a Sunday at 3 p.m. However, they seem to be going for the conventional here. I'd heard there would be a significant publication date, too, but apparently having it be on the same week is good enough for Doubleday.
Guess you should have called the book Solomon's "Symbolic" Builders instead. Well if its not masonic-based at least I can let my wife read it first without fear of her having 25,000 questions for me about the craft. But, then again, I was looking forward to giving the brethren of Greenleaf 561 a book report!
ReplyDeleteBro. Paul M. Chamberlin
We should do a football pool style grid on possible subjects in the book.
ReplyDeleteMasonic/founding fathers? Freemason/Moromon? Area 51/Mormons?
Maybe 12 options across and 12 down at $10 a square? Winner gets the pot?
Concerning the update: I agree that "it seems to point in a direction that is not Masonic." However--I have a hunch otherwise. After all, consider the nature of the cipher on the parchment, fellas. Look at all familiar?
ReplyDeleteIt would require bending the facts of Masonic history to put that cypher back in Leonardo's time--but has that ever stopped Dan Brown before?
Mark said:
ReplyDeleteChris, thank you very much for the heads-up. I'm stunned that this isn't on all the Internet and broadcast news outlets. It was on Reuters; at least that's the source I had when I re-wrote the story for my show.
If it's not "all over," it might be because the only people interested in it are Masons. To the general public, the original book came out long ago and is out of sight, out of mind. People have moved on to the next flavour of the month, as they always do when it comes to pop culture. It'll be up to Random House or Doubleday to hype the interest in the whole concept again.
Justa
Justa, You're not going to give us a link to your show?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I remember, the Robert Langdon website was from the Da Vinci Code Book Cover game from like 2003. I think Masonry is still the theme, probably like "The Book of Fate". (Just mentioning that book makes me gag.)
ReplyDeleteNick