In 1994 a friend phoned Lynn Sholes and told her to read the article "Crusade's End?" in the April issue of Discover magazine. The caller thought it had great promise as a premise for a book. The article was about Leon Decoeur, an archaeologist, working late on Christmas Eve on a dig site in Jerusalem where he uncovered an ancient cup he believed could be the Holy Grail. Resting inside the cup was a brown residue, later determined to be human blood. Discover quoted Decoeur, "You remember that cosmologist a couple of years back who claimed he'd seen the face of God? Well, I think we're going to see His DNA." As all writers do, Lynn posed a billion What ifs.
At the same time, Joe Moore was a book reviewer for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. A mutual friend introduced him to Lynn. Joe reviewed Lynn's second novel (she was writing historical fiction) and they began talking about the business of writing. Joe joined Lynn's writers group where they often discussed current projects and those they envisioned in the future. The Discover article story came up repeatedly, but Lynn just couldn't get a handle on forming a book from it. So, even though the story intrigued everyone who heard the premise, it sat dormant until Joe couldn't stand the waste of a good idea any longer. One day, several years after the article in Discover, Joe called Lynn and threatened her. He told her if she didn't write that story, he was going to. That shocked her into the reality of getting on with the rat killing! Lynn and Joe decided on collaboration. They spent hours and hours and hours and hours writing a detailed, chapter by chapter outline. Finally finished, they agreed they didn't like major segments and started all over again, adding more dimension and more texture.
The more research they did, the bigger the story grew. Finally, they thought the skeleton was ready for the flesh, and they began writing. That's when they became acutely aware that her voice was lyrical, his was bold; her strength was character development, his was plot. Those two voices and fortes jousted on the page as fiercely as knights on the tournament field. But bless Microsoft Word for the compare documents feature. They sent each chapter back and forth for revisions dozens of times. Finally, the voices blended and their strengths stepped up to the book's advantage. Then, they hit their stride. If one didn't have a firm grasp or vision of a certain scene, the other did. By the time the book was
finished, it was impossible to tell who wrote what, and both like to claim each other's best scenes and best lines.
When the book was finally complete, they sent it off to their agent-who loved it.
Enter Dan Brown.
Empty air in Lynn and Joe's balloon.
A Grail story. Not the same story at all, but a Grail story, nonetheless. And there were small coincidences and idiosyncrasies in the plots-like killing someone off and making it look like an allergic reaction. Yikes! So Joe and Lynn went back work. The working title for over ten years was CORPUS CHRISTI (Latin for the Body of Christ), which they eventually changed to THE ENOCHIAN PROPHECY. They kicked and punched and scratched their way through the book again, doing more research so they could replace those close calls with THE DA VINCI CODE. And they even added a few additional twists. Then they sent it off again.
It found a home with Llewellyn Publications, and the book is being published as part of Llewellyn's launch of their new imprint, Midnight Ink. It was never a DA VINCI CODE wannabee. It was conceived, outlined,
and drafted a decade before Brown's book. At first whenever Lynn and Joe were asked if it is like Dan Brown's mega-bestseller, they cringed. But they have been enlightened. THE GRAIL CONSPIRACY (The publisher re-titled it. They had better sense than to publish a book with a title nobody knew how to pronounce or knew what it meant.) is not the same story at all, but if asked, Joe and Lynn, being no fools, will say in an instant that it appeals to the same audience.
The Grail Conspiracy
is Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore’s first novel together.
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