
Don’t make fun of renowned author Dan Brown
19 |20 | As the film adaptation of Dan Brown's fourth Robert Langdon novel, 21 | Inferno, is released, we present this appreciation of the author by Michael Deacon from 2013. 22 |
23 |24 | Renowned author Dan Brown woke up in his luxurious four-poster bed in his expensive $10 million house – and immediately he 25 | felt angry. Most people would have thought that the 48-year-old man had no reason to be angry. After all, the famous 26 | writer had a new book coming out. But that was the problem. A new book meant an inevitable attack on the rich novelist 27 | by the wealthy wordsmith’s fiercest foes. The critics. 28 |
29 |30 | Renowned author Dan Brown hated the critics. Ever since he had become one of the world’s top renowned authors they had made 31 | fun of him. They had mocked bestselling book 32 | The Da Vinci Code, successful novel Digital Fortress, popular tome Deception Point, money-spinning volume 33 | Angels & Demons and chart-topping work of narrative fiction 34 | The Lost Symbol. 35 |
36 |37 | The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. 38 | They said his prose was mired in a sea of mixed metaphors. For some reason they found something funny in sentences 39 | such as “His eyes went white, like a shark about to attack.” They even say my books are packed with banal and superfluous 40 | description, thought the 5ft 9in man. He particularly hated it when they said his imagery was nonsensical. It made 41 | his insect eyes flash like a rocket. 42 |
43 |44 | Renowned author Dan Brown got out of his luxurious four-poster bed in his expensive $10 million house and paced the bedroom, 45 | using the feet located at the ends of his two legs to propel him forwards. He knew he shouldn’t care what a few jealous 46 | critics thought. His new book Inferno was coming out on Tuesday, and the 480-page hardback published by Doubleday 47 | with a recommended US retail price of $29.95 was sure to be a hit. Wasn’t it? 48 |
49 |50 | I’ll call my agent, pondered the prosperous scribe. He reached for the telephone using one of his two hands. “Hello, this 51 | is renowned author Dan Brown,” spoke renowned author Dan Brown. “I want to talk to literary agent John Unconvincingname.” 52 |
53 |54 | “Mr Unconvincingname, it’s renowned author Dan Brown,” told the voice at the other end of the line. Instantly the voice at 55 | the other end of the line was replaced by a different voice at the other end of the line. “Hello, it’s literary agent 56 | John Unconvincingname,” informed the new voice at the other end of the line. 57 |
58 |59 | “Hello agent John, it’s client Dan,” commented the pecunious scribbler. “I’m worried about new book Inferno. I think critics 60 | are going to say it’s badly written.” 61 |
62 |63 | The voice at the other end of the line gave a sigh, like a mighty oak toppling into a great river, or something else that 64 | didn’t sound like a sigh if you gave it a moment’s thought. “Who cares what the stupid critics say?” advised the 65 | literary agent. “They’re just snobs. You have millions of fans.” 66 |
67 |68 | That’s true, mused the accomplished composer of thrillers that combined religion, high culture and conspiracy theories. His 69 | books were read by everyone from renowned politician President Obama to renowned musician Britney Spears. It was 70 | said that a copy of The Da Vinci Code had even found its way into the hands of renowned monarch the Queen. He was 71 | grateful for his good fortune, and gave thanks every night in his prayers to renowned deity God. 72 |
73 |74 | “Think of all the money you’ve made,” recommended the literary agent. That was true too. The thriving ink-slinger’s wealth 75 | had allowed him to indulge his passion for great art. Among his proudest purchases were a specially commissioned 76 | landscape by acclaimed painter Vincent van Gogh and a signed first edition by revered scriptwriter William Shakespeare. 77 |
78 |79 | Renowned author Dan Brown smiled, the ends of his mouth curving upwards in a physical expression of pleasure. He felt much 80 | better. If your books brought innocent delight to millions of readers, what did it matter whether you knew the difference 81 | between a transitive and an intransitive verb? 82 |
83 |84 | “Thanks, John,” he thanked. Then he put down the telephone and perambulated on foot to the desk behind which he habitually 85 | sat on a chair to write his famous books on an Apple iMac MD093B/A computer. New book Inferno, the latest in his 86 | celebrated series about fictional Harvard professor Robert Langdon, was inspired by top Italian poet Dante. It wouldn’t 87 | be the last in the lucrative sequence, either. He had all the sequels mapped out. The Mozart Acrostic. The Michelangelo 88 | Wordsearch. The Newton Sudoku. 89 |
90 |91 |96 |92 | Among his proudest purchases were a specially commissioned landscape by acclaimed painter Vincent van Gogh and a signed first 93 | edition by revered scriptwriter William Shakespeare 94 |95 |
97 | The 190lb adult male human being nodded his head to indicate satisfaction and returned to his bedroom by walking there. Still 98 | asleep in the luxurious four-poster bed of the expensive $10 million house was beautiful wife Mrs Brown. Renowned 99 | author Dan Brown gazed admiringly at the pulchritudinous brunette’s blonde tresses, flowing from her head like a 100 | stream but made from hair instead of water and without any fish in. She was as majestic as the finest sculpture by 101 | Caravaggio or the most coveted portrait by Rodin. I like the attractive woman, thought the successful man. 102 |
103 |104 | Perhaps one day, inspired by beautiful wife Mrs Brown, he would move into romantic poetry, like market-leading British rhymester 105 | John Keats.That would be good, opined the talented person, and got back into the luxurious four-poster bed. He felt 106 | as happy as a man who has something to be happy about and is suitably happy about it. 107 |
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