A lie #1

Dan Brown’s Big Secret!

You know him as Dan Brown, author of the bestselling novels The Da Vinci Code (the book Salman Rushdie said “gives bad novels a bad name”) and Angels and Demons. (You’ve probably read them, the books that expose some of the secrets of the Catholic Church.)

But what you probably don’t know… Dan Brown DOESN’T EXIST!

It’s true. Apparently Random House (“his” publisher) invented “Dan Brown” as a kind of experiment. They have a team of writers (I think like four) working to research and write each book, which is then published under the single pseudonym “Dan Brown.”

So what this means is that ALL of those stories about how he was an English teacher or how he’s married to an Art Historian named Blythe or how he researched and wrote the books are complete bullshit.

I guess the idea is that this way Random House can literally own “Dan Brown” and everything he creates. Since “Dan Brown” is just a brand (like Coca-cola or Toyota), Random House NEVER has to worry about contract renegotiations, his ego, writer’s block or any of those other writer problems.

It’s kind of brilliant for Random House, in a weird way, but kind of funny too. I mean, the “author” who’s all controversial right now for invented facts IS an invented fact.