The Big Fat List (of Voynich novels)...

I've been meaning to put this Big Fat List of English-language Voynich-related novels together for a while: I've appended links to the most significant review / blog mentions I've made about them. I'll update this every once in a while, so please feel free to drop me a line if you have or know of a Voynich-themed book you think should be mentioned or reviewed.

English-language Voynich novels in print:

"Return of the Lloigor" by Colin Wilson in Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (1969) [mentioned here]
The Face in the Frost John Anthony Bellairs (1969) [mentioned here]
Indiana Jones and the Philosopher's Stone Max McCoy (1994) [mentioned here]
The Grinning Ghost Brad Strickland (1999) [mentioned here]
Enoch's Portal A.W.Hill (2001) [my review]
Popco Scarlett Thomas (2004) [my review]
The Magician's Death Paul C. Doherty (2004) [mentioned here]
Shattered Icon (2004) / Splintered Icon (2006) Bill Napier [mentioned here]
Codex Lev Grossman (2005) [mentioned here]
Vellum Matt Rubinstein (2007) [my review]

Forthcoming Voynich novels:

"The Castle of the Stars" Enrique Joven [mentioned here and here]
"The Source" Michael Cordy [mentioned here]
"In Tongues of the Dead" Brad Kelln [mentioned here]

Voynich novels in development (working titles where known):

Richard D. Weber [mentioned here and here]
Bill Walsh [mentioned here]
William Michael Campbell ("The Voynich Solution") [mentioned here and here]
Andrea Peters ("I'm Sorry... Love Anne") [mentioned here]

"Codex", by Lev Grossman...

"Codex" (2005) , another Voynich-ish thriller to add to the Big Fat List, is by New-York-based writer Lev Grossman who you might know as the author of the "When Words Fail" article (a nice introduction to the Voynich Manuscript) in April 1999's Lingua Franca I have favourably cited here several times.

In his novel, an investment banker gets roped in by a wealthy couple to track down a medieval travel narrative, which may or may not be a fraud. Lev's website says (of his own book) that "It’s also an unusual love story, as well as a love letter to the mysteries and wonders of the Book, the death of which has been wildly exaggerated": sounds plausible to me. :-)

Oh, and it genuinely does appear to be an international bestseller, as evidenced by the 25 copies of it in my local libraries (where most interesting books don't even merit a single copy, sadly).

"Voynich, a cyber-noir screenplay"...

This 2006 oeuvre by Matthew Thomas Farrell in three PDF parts (1, 2 , and 3) seems destined for the Big Fat List of Voynich books/screenplays. Lots of mysterious international dealers in information, Referees, odd (code) names, odd conspiracies, a little bit of Area 51, you get the idea. It's a bit hard to describe (and, frankly, to read): but maybe that's the whole point.

*sigh* I think I'd better sit down and update the List soon, it's starting to get out of control...

Italian novel featuring the VMs...

Today's addition to The Big Fat List is "L'UOMO NELLA LUCE" by Walter Martinelli (2007), published on-demand by Lulu. Though I'm not quite sure whether bundling the Voynich Manuscript in with the Templars, the Masons, the Pyramids, Hitler, JFK, Christopher Columbus and the Bermuda Triangle is a brilliantly sensible idea: it sounds more like a kind of obsessive trainspotter take on conspiracies (why include one when you can include them all?)... but maybe they are all out to get us, so who knows? 346 pages, 6" x 9", $22.96.

However, you can buy the ebook version of it for a measly $4.66. Which is nice.