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]

Voynich euro-miscellany...

Some European Voynichy things that have caught my eye recently: make of them what you will...

A 3-part Spanish-language documentary on the VMs written by Eric Frattini, and viewable online (just click the big green buttons). Voynich News regulars will recognize him as the author of Voynich-themed novel "El Quinto Mandamiento" (the fifth commandment), which I touched upon here.

Here's some Italian poetry, including a couple of poems apparently on the Voynich (hence the image of the VMs' nine-rosette page at the top). The first of the two starts something like "I have a strange form of nausea": yup, that's the VMs, alright. :-)

On Tuesday (19th February 2008), there's a program scheduled on German radio WDR 5/530 at 16:05 about our old friend Beinecke MS 408 (A.K.A. the Voynich Manuscript), presented by Sven Preger.

You might reasonably wonder whether this is all part of a diffuse European interest in the VMs: and I think you'd be right. According to Google Trends, the primary languages of people who Google for "Voynich" is (in descending order): French, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Dutch, Polish, Japanese, Portuguese. Though I should also note that over the last 12 months (probably thanks to the novels by Enrique Joven and Eric Frattini) Spaniards searched for "Voynich" slightly more than the French. Anglophone interest in the VMs would appear to be practically nil (apart from Melvyn Bragg): which is either a really good thing or a really bad thing. I'm not sure which... you'll have to decide for yourself.

The (original) castle of the stars...

A quick digression on the title of Enrique Joven's forthcoming Voynich book, "The Castle of the Stars" (originally published as El Castillo de las Estrellas): and it's all tied up with Tyco Brahe...

Once upon a time in 1572 (according to the article here), a supernova appeared in the constellation of Cassiopeia (you know, the big W-shaped one). Watching this in Denmark, Brahe realised that this was not a near-Earth object, but was in fact as far away as all the other stars, at a time when it was generally thought that this was impossible. Revolutionary stuff, and the book he wrote on the subject dramatically launched Brahe's career into orbit.

Frederick II was so desperate to make sure his brand new star astronomer did not leave Denmark that he gave Brahe the island of Hven, the huge financial backing to build Uraniborg ("the castle of Urania", named after the Greek Muse who was the patron saint of astronomy) to house his instruments, and then an observatory called Stjerneborg ("the castle of the stars")... from which (I guess) Enrique Joven took the name for his novel.

Brahe also used the grounds of Uraniborg to grow herbs for his "medicinal chemistry experiments" (according to Wikipedia): Voynichologically, this seems somehow right, doesn't it?

Incidentally, there was a short story in French by Al Nath called "Le chateau des etoiles" from Ciel in 1986: this was about Tyco Brahe.

Alternatively, there's a place in Teba in Andalucia called "El castillo de estrella" (it says here) that commemorates a battle fought in 1330, with a confused (and mythological-sounding) linked story about Robert the Bruce's heart in a silver casket being taken to the Holy Land. Errrrm... you had to be there, I guess. But I think I'll stick with the Brahe version, if that's OK with you?

Nazi ciphers and Voynich novels...

Two big news stories today, both of them far more amazing than fiction...

Firstly, a story about a Nazi cipher, allegedly by Martin Bormann detailing the location of a cache of gold and diamonds hidden in 1945. Dutch journalist Karl Hammer has written a book called De tranen van de wolf (The Tears of the Wolf), published by Elmar, which is basically a dossier of his notes. Much copied in the blogs, but here's the source page (with pictures of the so-called "runic" cipher hidden in the rests in a piece of sheet music, as well as a series of numerals at the bottom which is doubtless discussed in the book). 224 pages, 17.50 euros here.

And secondly, a fascinating Wall Street Journal story about a cache of microfilms of early copies of the Qur'an being unearthed. For decades it was thought that they had been destroyed in the bombing of the Bavarian Academy of Science (which was housed in a former Jesuit college in Munich) in 1944, but the truth turns out to be much more subtle and complex.

It's one of those strange things: if a novelist had used either of these two stories for their plots, he/she would probably be ridiculed for over-egging their cake, for going too far. I mean, Nazis treasure and a cipher hidden in music, or Nazis and the lost origins of Islam, really?

Incidentally, I've mentioned how my stomach turns when I see the word "Jesuit" pop up in Voynich-themed novels, and - as a historical literary commentary on the penny dreadful Jesuit cliche - that's perfectly OK. But as with every rule of thumb, there is bound to be an exception, and perhaps Enrique Joven's book is that: now that I found a better description of it, I can see that the Jesuit connection he appropriates is probably based on real history (I'm guessing the movement around Europe of the various Jesuit trunks containing the VMs), and so for a surprising change his Jesuit plot connection there actually makes good sense.

But this is really not to endorse every other Jesuit/VMs so-called plot "twist" out there: repeat after me, "it almost certainly predates the Jesuit Order, which was founded in 1534"... *sigh*

Too many Voynich novels!

The proliferation of Voynich Manuscript-themed novels has gone way beyond being merely a vague pattern in my peripheral vision: it's starting to become a bit of a plague.

Here's another book, this time from Bilbao-based first-time novelist Iñaki Uriarte: published by Verbigracia in 2007, it's called "La Piedra Filosofal" (The Philosopher's Stone, if you hadn't guessed), and weaves the Voynich Manuscript in with the Philosopher's Stone and quantum physics. It is 394 pages long, has the plant from f2v and the top-left nymph from f82v on the cover, and there's a sizeable (83-page!) extract here to whet your appetite. I can't see an ISBN for it, and none of the book sites I looked at had a copy (even Amazon!), but if you fancy it you can buy it for 18 euros directly from the publisher via PayPal. Which is nice.

And there is yet another Spanish book (mentioned in passing by Enrique Joven) called "El quinto mandamiento" (The Fifth Commandment, which is "thou shalt not kill" [of course]), by Eric Frattini, published by Espasa-Calpe, ISBN13 978-84-670-2442-5. It seems fairly standard mystery thriller fare, with an elderly professor uncovering the secrets of the VMs, while a conspiratorial circle of eight (led by a corrupt cardinal) tracks down and murders everyone who the professor has talked to. There's a bit of f67r1 Photoshopped onto the cover, along with the Florence Duomo, but unless I'm really badly mistaken it only seems to engage with the VMs in a very superficial way. 360 pages, 19.90 euros. You can read a machine translation of the first chapter here (click on the 2 3 4 5 .. numbers at the bottom). But Lord, spare me from having to read about any more evil Jesuit priests!

So... we have:-

• Enrique Joven's forthcoming "Castle of the Stars"
• Iñaki Uriarte's "La Piedra Filosofal"
• Eric Frattini's "El quinto mandamiento"
• Thierry Maugenest's "Manuscript MS408"
• Michael Cordy's forthcoming "Garden of God"
• Richard D. Weber's "The Voynich Covenant"
• Andrea Peters' "I'm Sorry... Love Anne"
• William Michael Campbell's "The Voynich Solution"

...and even as I type there are doubtless 10-20 more writers out there feverishly word-pureeing their Dan Brown-esque Voynich-based mystery capers, with nearly all of them struggling to find exciting new synonyms for the word "evil" to put before the word "Jesuit". :-o

In some ways, this is all very flattering, for it surely means that our overall Voynichological "research programme" (for want of a better phrase) over the last few years has blossomed in a broad cultural awareness of the manuscript, an inky sea of ideas into which novelists feel free to dip their fountain pens. However, I think it's also fair to say that most of these books do not engage with the VMs in a very substantial way, which - given all the work that we've done - is a bit sad. So on balance, I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad, which of the two emotions is the stronger... you'll have to make your own judgment on that, I'm afraid!

2008: Year of the Voynich!

Two interesting Voynich news stories...

Firstly, I've had a blog comment and some emails from a pleasantly surprised Enrique Joven, author of "El castello de las estrellas" (his blog is here): his big news is the book has been picked up by HarperCollins US, and is due for publication in September 2008 under the title "The castle of the stars". According to one Internet site, Enrique received a low six-figure advance ("$100,000 to $300,000). I'm very much looking forward to it! :-)

Secondly, another Voynich novel is on its way... and it could well be a big one.Its author is Michael Cordy, writer of the international bestsellers "The Messiah Code", "The Lucifer Code", "Crime Zero", and "The Venus Conspiracy". His next book (ISBN10 055215699X, ISBN13 9780552156998, AKA "Untitled Michael Cordy") is due for hardback release in "January 2008" from Transworld Publishers. The original title was "The Garden Of God", meaning Eden, though (curiously enough) it is also what "Baghdad" originally meant. What are the odds Transworld end up giving it the title "The Eden Code" instead?

The synopsis of the Michael Cordy book is here: basically, the main character's beautiful wife Lauren decodes the Voynich Manuscript, but ends up in a coma after someone tries to steal her translation, and so the main character ends up racing against a fanatical priest to reach the mythical "Jardin del Dios"...

I'm already getting a bit sick of these Jesuits and mysterious meddling priests (particularly as the Jesuit order didn't start up until many decades after the VMs was probably written), but hey - novelists have to start somewhere, right? [Also: I couldn't help but be reminded not a little of Thierry Maugenest's 2005 novel "Manuscrit MS 408", where two academics decoding the Voynich mysteriously fall into a coma, setting the story in motion...]

Whatever you think of Voynich novels, these are two potentially big novels with our favourite manuscript in a starring role, both due for release by Serie A mega-publishers this year. Perhaps I'm misreading the tea-leaves, but I do get the overwhelming feeling from this that 2008 is somehow destined to be the "Year of the Voynich" - not necessarily the year when it gets solved, but the year when it goes fully mainstream.