Personal Observations
A quick word on Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
I’m not a fan of Dan Brown. I have tried to read his books long before he bought out The Da Vinci Code and failed miserably. I don’t like his witting style myself and find his work tedious and unreadable. This is my personal opinion, which is not a popular view of the best selling author, by any means.
Dan Brown’s best seller is at best an extremely sloppy historical mix and match, full of inaccuracies. No I’m not talking spelling errors here! The Da Vinci Code makers have said that their film is not supposed to be taken too seriously. It’s not history, and it’s not theology. It’s just a story. However, Dan Brown states and presents certain points as facts- In bold letters in the front of his book Brown alerts the reader that what they are about to read, while being a fictional story, is based on historical facts. This is at best a shameless attempt to sell a book, at worst, outright recite. I don’t intend to dwell on my disdain for the book here and if you like it- enjoy it! People should however take it as merely a story- not a factual account. It is full of inaccurate details and dates of actual events are not even present with any degree of accuracy. For example, ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’ were discovered in 1947, not in the 1950s as Dan Brown tries to state. If he and his reserchers cannot even get this easily confirmed date correct- how many more errors do you guess that his work contains?
All the ‘carry on’ mentioned below is what I saw and experienced, heard and witnessed in person whilst spending time with some of these groups. Take my word for it or don’t.
On the lecture circuit, there are the groupie ‘wannabe authors’. The ‘never quite published my own book, but have hung on the coat tails of many authors, done all the donkey work and admin to get credited with co authorship’ types. These often desperate individuals, will chase authors/experts around, buy them dinner and drinks, laugh at bad jokes, fawn all over them, and profess to have a life long interest and to have studied in depth -any subject you care to mention. There are also wannabe types and authors, who steal other peoples ideas and research frequently- the ‘quite happy to step on their own Grandmother’ types who will do anything to get a book deal.
How do you become an accepted expert in a particular field, genre, or mystery.
I came upon a great deal of the most interesting confessions and facts, not merely by reading all the books or attending all the lectures and groups but by being in the bar afterwards or at dinner with these groups. loose lips, sink ships, an adage that rings very true here, and plenty of wine goes a long way towards this.
Much to my surprise initially, I found a very mixed bag of people from all manner of backgrounds, chasing, authoring and researching all manner of unexplained mysteries, and this is what I found.
Five ways to become an accepted expert and get a book deal.
(It really helps if you have been to a respected University, and have a degree in something-anything)
1. Work really hard, research, study, stumble upon a previously unknown fact, text, idea, secret society, atrocity or conspiracy , object or mystery. Come up with some evidence that you can back up, and provide at least something new or a partial explanation to the mystery, with a stroke of luck, twist, hard work, honesty and sprinkling of genius.
2. Make up some premise or idea, pull it right out of the air, don’t hold back, really go for it- then get a few respected published authors and lecturers to believe you, and quote you in a few different respected publications or in their own books and pretty soon….you’re ‘pulled out of the air’ made up fact, is considered an accepted truth
After all…”Didn’t so and so mention it in his book”…..
3. You wasn’t to be an expert, write a book and get taken seriously in a subject. You have no background, association with it, no ones ever heard of you and you have never studied it. Find an author in the subject, brown nose, find out all you can, get introduced to their publisher members of the press etc. Mount an expedition to the area of the mystery, have a ton of photos of yourself taken looking out doorsey and wise pointing at various engravings or objects etc. Now…here’s the fun part…contact the press, the quality press only mind you. Send out a press release saying, ‘I discovered an unknown tomb, pyramid, object, blah blah. Some of them will pick up on it and print it. Now…quickly release a retraction of this press release and send it out to everyone in that academic circle (not the press) of field connected with the mystery and its research- Deny, deny, deny. State that you have ‘NO IDEA’ how the press could possibly have gotten hold of this story, state how appalled you are… See what you did there? You have just achieved two important objectives. You got your name in the papers, associated with your chosen field. Second, you got yourself known to everyone else in that field, and thought of as a pretty nice honest stand up chap, who took the time to put the record straight and send them a note confirming your shock at this random inaccurate press release. These people will now talk to you, you are now known and associated with your chosen field also in their eyes and that of the press.
4. Go to a car boot sale, antique fair or similar. Find a random, odd object with no identifiable markings, (battered and old is best) and preferably of unknown use or purpose. Now, here’s the imaginative part, either research a real secret society, little known ‘gentlemen s club from the Victorian era’ ( you can the of course make up a history for them to) or simply make up your own secret society! Invent a weird or occult use for your object. Now, photograph the object and send a press and general academic release to any potentially interested group and tell them about your object/find and it’s secret society links. Invent a tarnished and dark history for your mystery object. Before you know it, your object/find will be discussed far and wide, lectures and book deals are soon to follow.
5. After you have had a book or two out, become low on funds and inspiration…find another similar down on their luck author. Collaborate with them on a new book. Make up a few outlandish claims on any subject or mystery, don’t worry-relax. You will get away with it…Why? Because, you are two respected authors and can back each other up on your nonsense, people won’t doubt you!
Tips: For those intent on path 2, 3, 4, 5 -don’t drink to much and brag about it later to others! It’s not big and it’s not clever!
I do take my hat off to you for sheer front and pulling it off however.
I also came across some very talented people who really had something, a skill, gift or previously undiscovered answer to something important, who never seemed to get a look in or had their material hijacked and distributed by those who had already made a name for themselves- which is a shame.
Without going into to much detail, something interesting even sinister to my mind was apparent. Meetings and lectures of note in the mystery field are always frequented by a high up Masonic and Church representatives. They record details, press authors for info and sources and as it turns out, will even try to offer jobs and inducements to some, to stop them publishing their work.
Once it became known that I was a psychic, I had various offers of large amounts of money thrown at me in exchange for visiting various sites and handing over any information I could pick up on a psychic level by, Masons, authors and other interested parties. All of which have been declined. I rarely attend any such lectures currently. It certainly shows how many people have a vested interest in these mysteries and takes them very seriously. Have fun with the Rennes-le-Château mystery and others, but question and use your own common sense and apply it to everything you read!
