Smithsonian.com has a short article taking a look inside the 'House of the Temple' in Washington, D.C. This classic building is the headquarters of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, and is the resting place of Civil War general and Scottish Rite founder Albert Pike. As mentioned in my book, this is likely to be a plot location for The Solomon Key (and Pike's history could well play a part also). There's some information about this in the free sample chapter available here onsite.

There has been some speculation about whether Dan Brown decided to drop 'The Solomon Key' as the title of his next book, due to an ambiguously worded story by USA Today writer Carol Memmott. There may be clues now though that TSK will indeed be the title of the upcoming book. The domains solomonkey.com and solomonkey.net were due to expire today, but on Friday both DNS records were updated, prolonging Dan Brown's ownership until the year 2016 (hopefully that's not an indication on when the book is to be expected...).

Add the above to that the fact that there have been no new trademark applications since Dan Brown lodged one for 'The Solomon Key', and it would appear that it remains the working title for the new book. Or at the very least, in the mix.

The sequel to the 2004 movie National Treasure has begun filming, with news that they have set up shop in the George Washington National Masonic Memorial to film a variety of scenes. Probably not the news Dan Brown wanted to hear, as it's a very likely location in The Solomon Key (see the sample chapter in my book for a rundown of the likely locations in the book).

One of Little Rock's most mysterious buildings, and one that may have ties to Dan Brown's next book The Solomon Key, has been defaced by vandals. The Albert Pike Temple (video included with story) was spraypainted with various 'satanic' symbols. As noted in my book (see my essay on "Dan Brown and the Ku Klux Klan" for a short summary), Scottish Rite Masonry founder Albert Pike could well play a part in DB's next novel.

I recently spent a half hour on the phone talking to Foxnews.com about Brown's next book (being considered an 'expert' and all!), although in the resulting story on their website all of my explaining was reduced to one rather bland sentence. In any case, if you want to learn more about The Solomon Key (or whatever it's title will be), then there are plenty of essays here on The Cryptex which will fill you in. Try these:

• - "Solomon Key Hints - From Dan Brown Himself"
• - "The Masonic Foundations of America"
• - "Dan Brown and the Ku Klux Klan"
• - "Dan Brown and the Udjat"
• - Also see the full free chapter from my book which looks at the esoteric architecture of Washington, D.C.

Your best bet though is just to purchase a copy of the book (Amazon US), which has all of the above plus much more.

Some people have suggested that the movie National Treasure may have delayed the release of Dan Brown's The Solomon Key, considering the similar subject matter. If that was the case, we can only wonder then at the effect of a new book by Brad Meltzer, titled The Book of Fate. Murder plots in Washington D.C., Freemasons, codes from the time of the Founding Fathers...sounds a little familiar doesn't it (if you've read The Guide to The Solomon Key anyhow!).

The Mercury News has a nice little story about the House of the Temple, the headquarters of Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction) in the United States. As I point out in my book, the building is likely to be a location of interest in The Solomon Key for various reasons, not least its stunning architecture. For a good look, head over to Jim Alison's website which hosts plenty of great 'esoteric' images of Washington, D.C.

The Denver Post has an article on Freemasonry which discusses the predicted Solomon Key emphasis on the Craft. Apparently Masons are worried that they might be portrayed as the 'Opus Dei' equivalent from The Da Vinci Code. According to Stephen Munsinger, chief executive officer of the Scottish Rite Masons of Colorado:

It could be very negative...we're concerned that it will say we're against traditional Christianity or established religions, or that (we're) some type of right-wing, left-wing, or off-the-wall religious sect, or that we're pushing some secret agenda for religious purposes.

Always a chance that Brown could do this, but as I've said I think it would be difficult to make Masonry out to be a bad influence in American life, when luminaries such as Ben Franklin and George Washington were 'brothers'. More likely that a sect of Masonry or a pseudo-Masonic group (Skull and Bones?) would be the bad guys, or in Brown's previous style someone pretending to be a Mason (the Jesuits?).

Here's an interesting story from Salt Lake City news provider KSL.com which supports the idea that Dan Brown will cover Mormonism in his next book. The report says that Dan Brown has spent serious time in Salt Lake City investigating both the Masonic landmarks in the area as well as the Mormon history.

Aaron Wilhelm, Dan Brown's host 2004: "He was, of course, very interested in the symbology on the Mormon temple...he was interested in the pentacles and the suns and the moons and the stars and all that. So, I gather his primary interest was to sort of see the Mormon embellishment of masonry as it exists, in his mind, of course..."

...Dan Brown, no doubt, has found fascinating examples of Masonic symbolism laced with early Mormon history. He returned to Salt Lake City this year and church leaders allowed him access to the historic archives.

I had already predicted a possible Mormon angle in the new novel, due to a hint on his website about the phrase 'Is there no help for the widow's son' - which is a Masonic distress call, and was allegedly the last thing that Mormon founder Joseph Smith said before his murder by a mob.

There's a news story currently getting quite a bit of play in the mainstream media regarding the theft of the bones of the famous Native American leader 'Geronimo' by the Yale secret society Skull and Bones. For those interested in checking out the original source of information, it is this article in the current Yale Alumni magazine (also available in its original format as a PDF). There's also a more skeptical article here.

Skull and Bones counts both U.S. presidential contenders in 2004 (George W. Bush and John Kerry), as well as numerous other important individuals in high finance and government, among its members. Interestingly, in his investigation of the society Antony C. Sutton described their philosophy as Hegelian, in that they strove to control opposite sides of a conflict, in order to control the outcome (perfectly fitting the most recent U.S. presidential election). It has long been rumoured that they stole the bones of Geronimo, but this new revelation adds some circumstantial evidence to that rumour. From clues Dan Brown has given (as described in my book), it's quite likely that Skull and Bones will play a part in his next book.