Brown Dan - Decoding the Lost Symbol

DECODING THE LOST SYMBOL

Simon Cox is the international bestselling author of Cracking the Da Vinci Code, Illuminating Angels & Demons, The Dan Brown Companion and his A to Z series. He is a well-known speaker on the lecture circuit and splits his time between the UK and Los Angeles, where he has set up the media production company Henu Productions. The BBC has dubbed him an historian of the obscure.

T H E

L O S T
S Y M B O L

With additional research and material by Ed Davies,
Susan Davies, Mark Foster, Jacqueline Harvey,
Ian Robertson and Ace Trump

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

ISBN: 9781907195129

Version 1.0

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Nullius in Verba
The motto of the Royal Society
Take nobodys word for it

CONTENTS

Books are only made possible by many people. In the case of books written in double-quick time, this is doubly true. My gratitude and love goes out to the following quite amazing people who have helped, encouraged, cajoled and generally supported me in these efforts before you. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

For their efforts in making this book appear like magic from nothing, Susan Davies and Mark Foster have been utterly amazing. Susan especially is a book project manager I simply couldnt work without.

Thanks to Ian Robertson Freemason, esotericist, Scot and quite brilliant and Ace Trump, for efforts above and beyond, and for being a true friend throughout everything. Jacqueline Harvey for once again producing wonders. Ed Davies, of Ancient World Research, for the extra research and material.

Thank you, MJ Miller, Joel Schroeder and Steve Honig the American connection who have been supportive, kind and positive throughout everything. And MJ, its not all about me any more! To Jennifer Clymer, for going above and beyond, and for everything in between. To John Payne musical genius, friend and a great guy. Look out for the Architects of Time CD Decoding the Lost Symbol by John and friends. To Chris McClintock Im sure Sun of God will be a big hit. To Henu Productions, and all at www.intotheduat.com, for a great thrill ride.

To my mum and dad on Gozo, you have been awesome. With everything you have gone through and for your amazing fighting spirit and support of me, I am in awe. To Mark Cox, for the words of encouragement. To Salah Tawfik and Ahmed Ali in Cairo, great friends heres to a great future together in friendship and business. To Mark Oxbrow, for your unwavering optimism and friendship. To Edgar and Dave at Casa Hayworth, and Judith at Casa Hayworth for the insights. To Gemma Smith good luck in Oz, Gemms! And to the guys in Agalloch, for letting me use the music.

In the publishing world, I would like to thank Bill, Fiona, Deborah, Sharon and all at Mainstream in Edinburgh for the chance to make this a reality. In the US, Trish Todd at Touchstone Fireside/Simon & Schuster has been a dream to work with, along with all her colleagues. The Pan Macmillan team in Oz have been great, too. The guys at Generate Jared, Chris, Michael, Matthew, my new management team in LA are real superstars and Im looking forward to working with them on all my future projects. To Laurie Petok, for the Upper Class euphoria and the amazing introduction and friendship. To Betty and Chip Clymer and family in NJ.

To all my Facebook friends and Twitter followers (@FindSimonCox), many of you have been wonderfully supportive, even though we have never met. A second mention goes out to Mark Foster this time in his guise as graphic designer and artist. A brilliant cover, matey! To Sushi Dan on Sunset the best white tuna sashimi in the world! To Aaron and Emily at Greenblatts in LA I told you it was a stone! To Yolanda in Northern Ireland and Viv in Edinburgh for the amazing hospitality. To David Ritchie up on Skye, for the insights and education. To Beth Andrews its only the beginning! To Sue McGregor for the interview; Robert John at Robert John Photography for the incredible headshots; Robert and Olivia Temple for the friendship, great conversations and for writing the best book on the Sphinx ever!

Oh, yes to Dan Brown. You keep the Langdon novels coming, Ill keep doing the guides!

Finally, to Claire Cox, Mark and Tina Finnel, Lynn Schroeder, Dennis on Gozo, William Henry, Richard Ranken, Richard Belfield, Gordon Rutter and all the Edinburgh crew, the Marina Court mob, Jane and Alexander, Neil and Alison (and Joe and Imogen) Roberts, Tricia Legan, Jon Rappoport, Michael Cremo, John Major Jenkins, Kay Davies, Marcus and Hayley, Tracy Boniface, for the financial wizardry, Mark, Jill and Lily Oxbrow, and Mandy Brown.

Its at this point in my books that I usually give a rundown of my musical listening pleasure whilst writing. Normally, its a heavy mix, with lots of dark, gothic, heavy material, but this time around its slightly different: female jazz/blues singers have graced the CD player as much as rock bands. Melody Gardot, Sophie Milman and Madeleine Peyroux have all whispered softly in my ear. On the other side of the coin, Epica, Kamelot, Amorphis, Agalloch and Wuthering Heights, to name a few, have let me know I am still alive.

I will have missed people, Im sure, and for that I am sorry. I hope that you will forgive me. Its been a long, hard road to get to this point and I am indebted to you all. Thank you.

It was April 2009, and I had just arrived at the London Book Fair at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. I was intending to catch up with friends and my UK publishers and have a general look at what was new in the publishing world. However, I knew that something remarkable had happened the minute I arrived. An air of excitement and expectation filled the packed halls and smiles were emanating from all around.

I instantly knew what had happened. The new Dan Brown book had been announced.

This was to be the start of nearly five months of manic preparation and debate. Clues and hints would be given out, opinions bandied about and crazed speculation would fill thousands of web pages. However, lets back-pedal a little bit and wind the clock back to the publication of Browns previous Robert Langdon thriller, The Da Vinci Code, in 2003. At the time, Dan Brown was the semi-successful author of several thrillers, one of which was the first Robert Langdon novel, Angels & Demons. Sales had been average to poor and Browns publisher decided to take a gamble with The Da Vinci Code. They sent 10,000 free copies of the book out to book shops, book buyers, reviewers and trade professionals. The policy worked, and soon sales were really beginning to take off.

Back then, I was the editor in chief of a US-based newsstand magazine called Phenomena. (We even ran a fantasy Da Vinci Code movie-casting feature in one edition of the magazine, though none of the actors we suggested was cast in the end.) The Da Vinci Code caused quite a stir in the alternative-history genre that I inhabited, with several of the authors I had worked for being credited as source material for the book. Eventually, I was approached by a small London publisher and asked if I would quickly write a guide to