Into The Duat Blogs

B&N...

After a week of confusion and twoing and froing, I have finally heard that my first blog post for Barnes & Noble will go up tomorrow - Thursday. I myself will be in transit on my way back to LA, but I will post the direct URL for the blog as soon as I get there.

Simon Cox

Delays for a reason.....

I know, I know, I promised a daily blog and update on the writing process. Well, I have a good excuse this time. Barnes & Noble the major US bookseller and online retailer have asked me to take over and establish the blog they have going about The Lost Symbol.......seemed like an offer I couldn't refuse really. So, here is what will happen. As soon as I have the direct URL for that blog page(s) I will post it here so that anyone who wants to carry on reading the blog will be able to - over at bn.com

Needless to say, its been another busy and hectic week so far. More books have arrived and I'm starting to make little tunnels through the piles of them now to get to my seat. The Morgan Affair and Aaron Burr are my subjects for this week. All this and I'm writing a major article for New Dawn Magazine (Symbols, Lost and Found) that has to be in soon. All in all, there isn't enough time in a day!

Simon Cox

New (almost) daily column over at Decoding......

I've started a new column over at the Decoding blog - all about the process of writing the new book - my research and writing efforts - warts and all!

Pop over and take a look at the stunning new covers for my UK and US versions of the book.

Click on DECODING THE LOST SYMBOL in the right hand navigation menu.

Simon Cox

The process begins...

So, we're off. The process of writing a book about a book that isn't even published yet is afoot. Ok, so how does that work I hear you cry. Well. With great difficulty, some guesswork and hopefully a lot of luck!

We know that Mr Brown left certain clues about the new Robert Langdon adventure lying around. Some of them on his website, some on the US cover of The Da Vinci Code itself. It all adds up to an intriguing puzzle of course, and one that Brown himself is happy to keep shrouded in secrecy. The previous title of the project, The Solomon Key (or The Solo Monkey as some of us used to call it), was also a clue of sorts, leading us in some interesting and exciting directions. 

Personally I don't think that much has changed, apart from the title and the story-line! However, thats not as stupid as it sounds. For my project, all I need to know is what factual elements and sources he has used. What Langdon does or doesn't do is neither here nor there to me, how many beautiful women he flirts with, what 'symbology' he uses count for nothing in my world. My remit is to write an A to Z style expose of the facts behind the fiction, of what is sure to be a huge book for DB once again. I'll certainly be interested in where he draws up the battle lines between church and science again (if indeed he does this time) and what aspect of religious mystery he chooses this time (again, if indeed he does). 

With all that said, I am now deeply ensconced in research for the book. I have my hunches about the factual elements that will be used. The secret societies, the places and the people that will form the brooding backdrop to what will be a tale of clues and codes - and a lost symbol. My contract with my publishers (over 20 of them for the new book) states that I have two weeks from the publication of DBs book, until my manuscript must be delivered - two weeks, 85,000 words, a finished cover, a color plate section, in-line black and white diagrams and maps, an index, a bibliography and an introduction. No sleep for me then between September 15th and 30th! I'll be locked in my eery at my Bedford, UK house - so if anyone is nearby at that time, bring the coffee and cakes!

Keep checking back, I'll keep you all up to date on the progress as I go along. What a way to make a living!

Simon Cox

Introducing Salah Tawfik...

Salah Tawfik is a great Egyptian! I've know Salah for over ten years now and his standard of knowledge and historical research is up there with the very best. Salah is an Egyptologist and a guide based in Cairo, Egypt. He will be writing a regular blog over at Egypt Calling and he will be part of the Henu Tours team that we will tell you all more about soon. In the meanwhile, here is a snippet of his latest blog entry:

Wednesday the 15th of April was one of the longest and most exhausting days of this season. It all started at 2.00 o'clock in the morning, that was the time when I left the hotel (Conrad) in central Cairo. The Conrad in Cairo is a Nice hotel, very good standard of accommodation and service, the only drawback is that it is situated by the River Nile on the edge of the City Centre and in order to get to downtown Cairo, you have to take a Taxi, not a walking distance at all.

 

Left the Hotel with a group of American travelers to Cairo Airport for a flight to Aswan, from Aswan we were going to take a bus to Abu Simbel, 280 kilometres (nearly 175 miles) away, as we were going to get on a cruise ship for three nights to visit the Egyptian monuments in Nubia. Starting with Abu Simbel ending with Kalabsha, it is a very good idea to get to Abu Simbel from Aswan by Bus, rather than to wait in Aswan Airport for three hours to catch a later flight, but a sand storm in Aswan was what made this day one of the longest days and most exhausting. This time of the year is what we call in Egypt, the Khamaaseen, after the word Khamseen, which means 50 days. it is a period of time between the second half of March and the first days of May, when we get to have many days of very strong wind with sand, visibility then becomes very low.

Continue Reading The Entry Here

Symbols lost and found....

Ok, so I lied when I said I wouldn't post anything until the new website on the 5th May. But I couldn't resist. You see today is a day I've been quietly waiting for, for many a long year. Today the new Dan Brown book was announced, with its publication to be on September 15th of this year worldwide. No Solomon Key as the title, its to be called The Lost Symbol. A title both plain and enigmatic and one designed to give nothing away about the content and direction of the plot. 

So, let the games begin. Gird your loins and prepare for a juggernaut to take off down the runway. For The Da Vinci Code there were over 120 books 'about' his book - for the next one there are bound to be many more than that. I myself am part of this industry, indeed it could be argued that I started it (as far as the Dan Brown books are concerned) with my Cracking The Da Vinci Code, being the first one out of the blocks several years ago. I followed that up with Illuminating Angels & Demons and then The Dan Brown Companion. It means a title change for my book too - so its hello to Decoding The Lost Symbol by Simon Cox and not Unlocking The Solomon Key. To be honest, I never quite understood how you could actually unlock a key, but that argument has now been made mute.

I held off from writing a book about the new one in advance, despite several offers, and now I feel much better about that decision. Those that have written books with Solomon Key in the title now look rather like chumps - not to mention the fact that the content may well have substantially changed in the last few years. Why would there have been such a delay otherwise? I understand that this book has had several major rewrites in the past few years, with Hollywood blockbusters and court cases taking their toll on Brown's plot lines and making him wary of using sources he had already researched. 

The publishing and book selling business are overjoyed. Indeed, the announcement at the London Book Fair today was met with joy unconfined, on a scale not seen in the business in many years. Booksellers are already predicting it as the best seller of the year and emails have already started to appear from the likes of Barnes & Noble advertising substantial discounts for pre-orders made today. This promises to be a phenomena in the image of The Da Vinci Code before it. 

Personally it signals the start of a program of events that I have been planning for the past five years. I signed my deal to write a book about Brown's next book a number of years ago, but have planned for this event well in advance. Its going to be a fun ride. Rumour and counter rumour are sure to jostle with each other on the internet and in the newspapers about the plot line - I have already been asked this same question by a major media outlet - but I am keeping quiet on this - and even if I did know the whole plot, I would keep my lips sealed. Secrets are meant to be kept.

Simon Cox

Back to reality...

So, its been a wonderful couple of weeks. Myself and a team from Henu, plus six other guest travelers journeyed to Egypt to undertake a trial run of some tours I am planning to put together for late 2009 and Onwards. The trip was a huge success and my thanks go out to my fellow companions for all their help, co-operation, insights and comments about the tour. We arrived in Cairo and proceeded to visit, Giza, Dashur, Saqqara, Old Cairo and the Museum over the next few days, before flying down to Luxor and exploring Abydos, Dendera, Luxor, Karnak and the West Bank. It was a tiring but very fulfilling journey. This was my 21st trip to the land of blue and gold, and for most of the others it was their first time in this timeless country. 

I have much to report on and to write about after the trip. Some interesting news about Giza and recent finds, and how Henu International is about to offer fantastic tours to this beautiful land. I'll be updating soon. But first, to catch my breath....

Simon Cox

If you have anything to say...say it here....

Calling all authors, bloggers, ranters, moaners, reviewers, writers of all things strange, weird, esoteric and generally on the edge. Into The Duat will go live with the full website on May 1st and we are looking for guest articles, blogs, reviews and contributions. So, if you have anything to say, say it here and send me (Simon Cox) your material (email on left navigation column).

If you only ever read one book about the Sphinx...

Robert and Olivia Temple, who I am privileged to call friends, have written a new and soon to become rather important book about the Sphinx and Giza. I will be writing a full review of The Sphinx Mystery: The Forgotten Origins of the Sanctuary of Anubis, very shortly as I am still in the middle of digesting some of the books finer points and conclusions. However, I can say with certainty that this is a classic in the making. A book born of the most incredible research and dedication to a subject matter that has all too often been treated in the most simplistic of terms. Together Robert and Olivia take us on an incredible journey of discovery, uncovering reports and writings about this amazing monument that have never been studied before. Think you knew everything about the Sphinx already? Think again. Carrying on from theories first postulated in the groundbreaking, The Sirius Mystery, Robert and Olivia make an incredibly solid case for the Sphinx to have originally been a representation of Anubis. But thats not all. They then go on to reveal that the enigmatic face of the Sphinx, debated over by Egyptologists and researchers for many years now, is neither Khafre or Khufu, but the face of Middle Kingdom Pharaoh, Amenemhat II, who re-carved the colossal statue in his own facial image at a much later date than has been debated before. Quite brilliant detective work and deduction has gone into the book and the photographic reproductions (most of them from the massive collection that Robert holds personally) are simply immense. A new geometrical groundplan for the Giza Plateau is also put forward, and although I would respectfully disagree with Robert on his conclusions here (having been involved with my colleague David Ritchie's astonishing geometrical work at Giza - soon to be revealed in full here), its wonderful to see such well researched ideas put forward.

This is a book not to be missed. I heartily recommend this to you all and invite comments and remarks about its subject matter at any time. I myself return to Egypt in April, with the book tucked under my arm and with my eyes further opened. Check out the book website. Support the authors and buy the book directly from Inner Traditions, the publishers.

Simon Cox

Unreality in the desert.....

I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada at the moment. Its cold and wet and the mountains around this natural valley are all snow capped. I'm here for some meetings with various people at the hotels about my new publishing venture. I've been to Vegas before, but never on business and never with both eyes open, so to speak. This place simply doesn't work in the daylight! Its a fantasy land by night, but by day its all rather tacky and cheap. There are some amazing hotels here, none more so than the Luxor at the south end of the strip. This massive pyramid shaped building, sheathed in black glass, is an amazing site at night from the outside. I shaft of pure white light is emitted from its apex, piecing the black sky above like some celestial search light. If the UFOs of the fabled Area 51 are real, then they must use this marker as a pointer to earth base Vegas!

Outside of the Luxor stands a huge obelisk and a Sphinx that is close to being as big as the real thing at Giza! Inside the hotel, it all used to be quite tacky psuedo ancient Egypt, but its had a makeover lately and its actually quite an amazing place now - not least for the incredible interior space of the main pyramid building. Bigger than the third pyramid at Giza, this hollowed out slice of steel and glass is truly an incredible sight once inside.

Its back to LA and reality (of sorts) soon.