And so its time for the Dan Brown machine to once again save the publishing world from certain hell and damnation by the release of his new Robert Langdon based novel INFERNO, funnily enough with hell and damnation being the central core theme this time round, as the genius of Dante and his Devine Comedy being the coded stanzas that Langdon must find symbolic meaning and hidden clues within, all whilst battling amnesia, dodging hired killers, tackling friendly (and of course a once child protégé), not to mention perfectly proportioned doctors, who turn out to be on the side of good, then bad, then good, then….oh look, you'll just have to grab a copy and figure it out for yourself.
Its unmistakably a Dan Brown tome, from the now usual page at the front declaring FACT - and then telling us that he's been a clever Mr Brown by using real artwork and real literature and really believable plot devices for his breathless (again) page turner. Ok, so the believable plot devices bit isn't a claimed fact to be fair, but hey, lets be honest, there totally could be high tech billion dollar yachts cruising the Med staffed by very rich and very stupid 'soldiers of fortune' as they plan a plague on all our houses. Sure there could.
Its into this maelstrom of media hype, frenzy, critical napalming and spotlight of public intrigue (Fiat Lux) that for the fourth time I have, like a masochistic moth dancing over the hot glass of a bulb, once again decided to try and make some sense of it all and produce a guide book to a novel. INTO THE INFERNO is an apt title for the guide after what has been a baptism in the flames of several hell's over the past (and first) week of the putting together of my guide. Everything that could go wrong or get in the way or just plain bad luck happened. Twice. No boring details I promise, suffice it to comment that its been seven days of realising that even after 8 books and ten years in the business, it still has the capacity to leave you scratching your head in numb astonishment and disbelief that the 21st century is still three centuries away for much of the publishing industry.
In some cased, quill and ink are yet to be phased out for the new fangled pens and pencils. So bottom line, several days lost but invaluable lessons learned and this week should see everything back on track as my local corner shop sells more jars of instant coffee, Haribo Golden Bears candy, chewing gum, and my newly found favourite snack which is a Polish import of rather addictive chocolate covered heart shaped soft ginger biscuits with a hidden gem of jam like stuff in the middle. If I could pronounce them I'd give them a plug here, but it may take a few more blogs before I can get it right. Needless to say, all intended plans to eat healthy and keep to a strict regime of food and exercise has been replaced by lots of 'sleep is for the week' affirmations, and a work desk littered with the aftermath of what resembles a Morgan Spurlock documentary on eating only things that are really bad for you for a whole month.
I downloaded my iBooks version of INFERNO on the morning of the 14th. Then also bizarrely went and purchased a hardback copy from my local emporium of literary delights later in the day. 10 hours later I'd read the long awaited thriller and though its in my opinion, not as interesting as Da Vinci Code, I think this one is going to be a slow burner and start to ignite some fires along the way as people begin to digest its nuances and the little digs at Catholicism that are now de rigour for Mr Dan. That elderly nun who taught religious ed at his school must have really made a big impact on young Dans life :-)
More later. But for now, I need to go and stock up on bags of thingies that I can't spell but can eat by the bucket load.
We are getting ready to go on an adventure here at the Enlightening Times and we hope you'll join us. As Dan Brown's new novel "Inferno" hits the shops in less than T-2 hours, I'm wondering if intrepid adventurers and shadow historians Ashley Cowie and Simon Cox are already in a queue somewhere in Bradford and Glasgow making sure they are one of the first to get their copies so they can dive right in and begin to work their magic.
Simon and Ashley have decided to share with us an inside view of the madness of the journey they are about to embark on as they collaborate on co-creating "Into the Inferno" from Bradford and Glasgow, respectively.
Times are indeed strange and yet incredibly blessed of that there is no doubt as "secret" meeetigs are arranged in "The Grove" and public demonstrations are held in the "Tabernacle". And that's why we're delighted and honoured to be delving deep into the mysteries magic and mayhem of the creation process as these two, dare I say Alchemist's go to work.
I'd like to introduce our hosts on these travels, the two heroes who have committed to pretty much no time for sleeping, eating or showering in the next three weeks as they go full throttle to have Into the Inferno ready for the print-run in only 3 weeks!! I looked long and hard at both their profiles and I feel the best thing to do is let you see their sheer awesome-ness for yourself. I'm so incredibly blessed to be doing this, just pray I can do it as much justice as these guys deserve. Hope you come out and play with us, it's guaranteed to be a hold on tight, mind-blowingly enlightening and sometimes scary ride but I just know you're gonna love it.
Rashelle x
International Best Selling Author Simon Cox
Simon Cox is a full time writer, researcher and author within the history; alternative history; mysteries genre, with research interests that also encompass cutting edge science and technology, quantum mechanics, consciousness studies, psychology and parapsychology, geopolitics, conspiracy theories and many related areas. Presently based in the UK, but willing to relocate. Simon studied for a degree in Egyptology and Ancient History at University College London, before starting up his own independent research company, going on to become the chief researcher for many of the best selling authors within the genre and being responsible for the research undertaken within most of the major best selling titles.
Simon is the international best-selling author of Cracking The Da Vinci Code (April 2004; Michael O’Mara UK, Barnes & Noble US, plus over 30 foreign rights deals worldwide; over 2.5 million copies sold); Illuminating Angels & Demons (November 2004; Michael O’Mara UK, Barnes & Noble US, plus over 15 foreign rights deals worldwide; over 500,000 copies sold); The Dan Brown Companion (May 2006; Mainstream/Random House UK); The Simon Cox A to Z series; Ancient Egypt (July 2006, Mainstream/Random House UK); Atlantis (November 2006, Mainstream/Random House UK); King Arthur & The Holy Grail (April 2007, Mainstream Random House UK); The Occult (July 2007, Mainstream/Random House UK). With millions of books sold worldwide, Simon’s first two books were also adapted for DVD and broadcast television, Cracking The Da Vinci Code selling substantially in this format and Illuminating Angels& Demons going on to be broadcast on A&E in the United States and History Channel in the US and worldwide, as well as becoming a DVD bestseller. Currently Simon does not hold any rights or have any ownership of these video/broadcast productions.
In 2009, his latest A to Z expose of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series of novels, Decoding The Lost Symbol, was published in the US by Simon & Schuster imprint, Touchstone Fireside and in the UK by Mainstream, an imprint of Random House. With over 35 worldwide publishing deals signed, this publication is set to be Simon’s most successful book to date, and is still in its active sales cycle in most of the territories it was sold into. This book will also get its second lease of life when the movie adaptation of The Lost Symbol is released and Simon & Schuster re-release and promote Decoding The Lost Symbol to coincide.
In the first half of 2013, Dan Brown has just announced his next novel in his Robert Langdon based series, with a May 14th publication date. Simon as the recognised market leader with his track record of sales and brand recognition, will be once again be in pole position to produce the ultimate unauthorised guide to the facts behind the fiction of the Brown novel. Brown's novel is to be titled INFERNO, with Simon's guide given a tentative initial title of, INTO THE INFERNO. This time round the primary focus as far as format and content creating is concerned will be an expanded ebook edition, incorporating the textual based chapter entries as per the paper copy book, but also with the addition of a broad range of media assets and interactive elements that the new expanded ebook format now allows. This new guide will be available as a print copy paperback, released to coincide with the traditional hardback version of the Dan Brown novel, an epub and Kindle/Nook digital text only edition and as the hugely exciting expanded ebook format, viewable on iPads and other tablet and mobile devices, with these potentially available at the same time as the mass market paperback edition of the Brown novel.
Simon has also researched and helped to write a number of best-selling books within the alternative history genre, these include; Secret Chamber by Robert Bauval; The Mars Mystery by Graham Hancock & Robert Bauval; Underworld by Graham Hancock; Legend by David Rohl; Gods of Eden by Andrew Collins; Act of God by Graham Phillips; amongst a host others, with sales of these being in the several million worldwide.
Having appeared in a large number of broadcast and DVD documentaries, Simon is as comfortable in front of a camera as he is behind a computer screen. A seasoned and experienced world traveller, Simon adapts easily to new cultural environments, visiting Egypt and the Middle East so often that he has become a well known figure in the area. In 2005 and 2006, Simon was part of a sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with his Rosslyn & The Grail show, which gained great reviews and plaudits as well as the coveted 'Fringe Sell Out' listing and banner.
Always at the centre of the alternative history genre, Simon has remained a focus and hub of rumours, research and breaking news, with numerous projects and theories always on his desktop. He is recognised worldwide as the 'go to' man for all things Dan Brown related and is a regular radio guest and interviewee.
At present Simon is putting the finishing touches to a new and hugely exciting project that will be the culmination of more that 17 years of research and investigation, and which will utilise a host of unique and cutting edge production technologies to produce an epic work of both ultimate believability and dynamically fluid and interactive entertainment. The project will encompass both the traditional print format as well as such added elements as video, audio, motion graphics, image galleries, inline and linked online gaming, puzzles and clues that have to be unlocked to move forward, linked external apps and web pages, linked social networking, subscription based updates and regular blogs and video blogs, webisodes and potentially broadcast media too. The current working title for this project is The God Engine: Part One - The Architects of Time. A post apocalyptic launch in mid 2013 is envisaged, where it will enter a market full of eager 2012 believers in need of a new set of esoteric and ancient mysteries to follow. The project will be presented as a non fiction concept but will actually use several fictional lead characters who will actively interact with real people, places, organisations and original research. It is set to become the ultimate blurring of the lines between the real and the unreal, with weekly and monthly updates and additions meaning it will become a 'book' that is never static or limited in its shelf life potential, instead becoming a very fluid regularly updated and potentially subscription based 'book' with a potentially limitless shelf life and market potential, one that is played by participants, rather than just read by static viewers.
Formally the editor in chief of US newsstand magazine, Phenomena Magazine, Simon was also an early pioneer in the championing of new media delivery, with his DUAT CD-Rom based magazine which he self published and sold out back in 2001, featuring articles, galleries, video interviews and features, graphical maps and timelines and utilising the best technology available as well as pushing the boundaries of the format at that time. It was from this point onwards that Simon knew that ultimately the expanded ebook format was where he wanted to produce content and projects for in the future, and has been a champion of the potential of the format for many years, and is excited and delighted that the technology and capability for high quality expanded ebooks has finally arrived, along with a market that is ready and ever expanding. This new format and the capabilities that it provides the author and content creator, is the most important evolution to happen to the publishing world since the invention of the printing press.
Simon holds the full media rights to his following back catalogue books:
Cracking The Da Vinci Code
Illuminating Angels& Demons
The A to Z of Ancient Egypt
The A to Z of Atlantis
The A to Z of King Arthur and the Holy Grail
The A to Z of The Occult
At present, Simon is neither represented by a literary agency or management company, nor under any contractual obligations to any publishers for past or future works.
Simon Cox presently lives in Bedford, United Kingdom and can be contacted at:
Email:kheraha@mac.com
Cell: +44 7585 334329
FB: facebook.com/kheraha
Twitter: @simongarethcox
International TV Star & Author Ashley Cowie
Ashley Cowie is a Scottish author, archaeological explorer, lecturer and TV host on an international stage. Born and raised in a small fishing village on the north coast of Scotland Ashley established and ran the UK's first seafood trading company supplying only fish caught from sustainable stocks. His family proudly own and run the UK’s Seafood Restaurant of the Year. In his late 20’s Ashley sold his seafood businesses and began the full time study of a broad range of historic subjects, becoming an authority on pre-historic symbols, metrology and archaeostronomy. Since 2002 he has delivered highly visual presentations on the International Science Festival circuit and was elected into the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (founded in 1780 by Royal Charter).
He began amateur archaeological fieldwork in 2002 and made a series of significant discoveries, for example; in one of the UK’s most remote landscapes he discovered a series of 7000-year-old artefacts, which led Cardiff University to uncover the oldest Neolithic settlements in Scotland. Soon after, he wrote three books and was appointed as Resident Historian on STV’s The Hour Show where he delivered live content across a broad spectrum of his own research subjects.
Having featured as an expert Historian on History Channel, Living TV, Universal Channel and STV he is currently the intrepid host of NBC’s hit adventure TV series Legend Quest, which has aired globally to an estimated 40 million viewers. Over the last three years his adventures have taken him to over 40 countries and around 200 historic sites worldwide seeking ancient artifacts, each believed to be imbued with supernatural powers. His adventures have included hacking through dense jungles in Peru in search of the Inca’s lost golden Sun disk. Diving in volcanic lakes in the Philippines seeking the temporal entrance to Shambala. Trekking through forbidding deserts and climbing the highest mountains in the Holy Land looking for the Staff of Moses and Solomon’s Ring and his intrepid adventures into some the most dangerous and forbidden places on Earth have led the media to call him the ‘real-life Indiana Jones’.
Ashley is currently writing and filming a series of TV shows at various stages of development. Among these projects are a series of 30 fast paced episodes for BBC’s highest rating show, The One Show, in which Ashley will present and investigate a series of historical mysteries in rural locations around the UK. He also teaches TV Presenting and documentary film making at Degree level at the University of the West of Scotland.
TV Credits:
Creator, Co-Executive Producer, Host
Hardcore Subcultures
Currently being touted around LA and in development with Original Productions for Discovery International.
Creator, Writer, Producer, Host
Ancient Kitchen - Discovery Channel International (6 Episodes)
Created, wrote and pitched new food/history docu-reality TV series. Currently In development with On the Box Productions, London.
Series Writer, Producer, Host
Legend Quest - NBC Universal (12 Episodes)
This fast paced action-adventure documentary series was filmed in over 40 countries, following Ashley's adventures seeking history's greatest lost relics and historical treasures.
Writer, Researcher, Expert Historian
Paranormal Investigation Live – STV (2 x 3 hour live shows)
Live Halloween special. Analyzing the findings of paranormal research teams and debunking them, replacing their apparently supernatural finds with logic and reason.
Self, Expert Historian
Holy Grail in America - History Channel (2 hour special)
Featured on-screen as himself (expert historian).
Researcher/writer - 2006/8
Hidden History
Commissioned to undertake historical research for Robert Watts (co-executive producer of The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and the Indiana Jones movies.)
Host, Resident Historian
STV - Hour Show (8 Live Episodes)
Resident Historian on STV's Hour Show. Researching, writing and delivering live historical content about the origins of Scottish festivals, legends and historical events.
Managing Director
Threeseas LTD
Created and managed a successful shellfish & seafood wholesale business supplying the UK's best restaurants and a chain of quality retail seafood shops. Establishing relationships with chefs and developing long term contracts with fish and shellfish suppliers all over the UK, The Faroes and Iceland. Founder member of Slow Food International.
Published Books:
The Rosslyn Matirx.
Ashley's first book chronicles his unique research project in which he reverse engineered the architecture of Rosslyn Chapel to deduce the buildings foundational geometric plans. Analyzing the underlying sacred geometry Ashley brings us closer to the blisters on the hands of the stonemasons, and reveals what their special measurements tell us about the architects’ beliefs.
The Rosslyn Templar.
This highly graphical book presents Ashley’s study of the Freemasonic symbols which compose a 19th century painting entitled Templar Knight in Rosslyn Chapel. Ashley was the last person permitted to undertake a photographic study of the chapel and was commissioned to exhibit his work all over Scotland.
The Super Star – America's Royal Secret
This factual story tells of the Ashley's quest to solve a one thousand year old historical mystery – the Royal Secret. Ashley discovered an ancient carved map marked with a series of symbols encoding specific locations around the world. Using the map, he locates a series of ancient castles, chapels, monasteries and navigational beacons. On a tiny island in the north of Scotland, he finds the true nature of the Royal Secret – and hard evidence of the Norse passage to America, used 500 years before Columbus set sail.
Science Festival Lectures (1 hour presentations)
The Rope Age
Skara Brae on the North coast of Mainland Orkney is, at the time of writing, the oldest Neolithic settlement in Europe. Professor Gordon Childe of Glasgow University excavated the site in the 1930's and secured the buildings. Many of the artifacts he recovered: shards of pottery, carved stones and bones and items of jeweler, depict similar symbols. Comparing these artefacts and symbols to similar examples found in contemporary cultures around the world, a fresh interpretation of the items recovered from Skara Brae can be established - relating to cordage production crafts. This lecture offers a voyage into the cordage skills and survival crafts of the ancient inhabitants.
Egyptian rope crafts and the evolution of Geometry
Every year after the Nile receded, for taxation purposes, Egyptian surveyor’s re-measured lands with simple wooden tools, ropes and pegs. Greek Geometers later translated these rope crafts onto clay tablets and the eggs of geometry were hatched. Greek geometry and astronomy are discussed highlighting the influence of Greece in the development of western sciences and symbols.
Navigators of the North
Myths, symbols, rituals and folk traditions often encapsulate elements of astronomy, navigation and place determination sciences. This highly visual lecture highlights the role of the cycles of planet Venus, in the development of time keeping, and within the symbols, rituals and myths of the Celtic and Norse nations.
How to read a Church
Churches, and their architectural features, were used as vessels to deliver content. Rosslyn Chapel was founded in 1446 as a collegiate church - cruciform in shape. Building works ceased in 1484 and the structure remains incomplete. However, establishing the governing geometry, the building module and the foundational measurements applied by the designers, a ground plan for the original building can be completed.
Modern Minds and Ancient Symbols
Many of the most famous modern buildings and monuments display ancient symbols – but why? Analyzing the ancient symbols and influences in these structures takes us closer to the minds of the architects and their original meaning. Has the American constitution been founded on Masonic principles? Does the Dollar Bill hide Masonic symbols? What does the layout of Washington’s streets and buildings tell us about the esoteric principles of its designers?
Ritual Vs Survival
During the second excavation at Skara Brae, a number of the artifacts recovered were categorized as 'probably for ritual or ceremonial purposes'. Among these items: a curious T-shaped stone device and a number of carefully shaped stone balls. To establish if these items were actually ‘ritual or ceremonial’, we must first consider all their potential practical uses, in day to day activities. This analysis reveals that all of the items can be used in the preparation of materials and tools for building and survival.
Rise of the Neolithic Farmers
Around 5000 BCE settlers in Scotland began establishing farms, fishing stations and immense stone monuments - which are now generally associated to ancestor worship. Although human remains have been recovered from these structures, many have astronomical significance and have been aligned to local geographical features. Using The Ring of Brodgar, The Stennes circle and Maes Howe burial chamber as working examples, what do the alignments and measurements found in these monuments tell us about the skills and knowledge of the builders?
Megalithic Meridians
Over the last 7000 years, Scotland's landscapes have hosted a series of meridians (arbitrary north-south alignments). The practical use of meridians in measuring land, building and astronomy are explored and the observation stations located upon them, in each of the 7 millennia are revealed and studied.
