The Asti Spumante Code

Last updated

The Asti Spumante Code
Toby Clements - The Asti Spumante Code A Parody.jpeg
AuthorToby Clements
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreParody
Thriller
Publisher Time Warner Books
Publication date
2005
Media typePrint (paperback only)
Pages247 pp (May change depending on the publisher and the size of the text)
ISBN 978-0-7515-3768-0
OCLC 60319730

The Asti Spumante Code (full title: The Asti Spumante Code: A Parody) is a 2005 parody novel written by Toby Clements as a parody of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. [1] It is noteworthy for being among the first works of fiction to parody the Dan Brown novel. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Plot

Due to the detailed nature of the overall story within the novel, the plot has been divided into Backstory and Modern Day respectively in order to provide a more coherent timeline for the events depicted in the novel.

Backstory

In the 13th century, there once existed a circle of authors and playwrights known as the Order of Psion (a parody of the Knights Templar), most of whom were females writing under male pseudonyms, who once predicted the coming of "the ultimate book" that would render publishers obsolete. The formula for the making of the ultimate book – known as the Asti Spumante Code – is contained within the Mure de Paume (French for "The Blackberry of the Palm"), otherwise known as "the legendary keystone". [5] :86

Fearing the consequences of the ultimate book, a group of publishers named The English Book Guild was established in Stevenage, England to try to counteract the progresses made by the Order.

Modern day

The book itself focuses on American Prof. James Crack – a professor of "Paraliteral Metasymbolist studies" – and Belgian Emily Raquin, a "biblio technical cryptologist", as they discover a set of clues left by the deceased Grand Master of the Order of Psion that will ultimately lead to the discovery of the Asti Spumante Code. [5] :73

However, the two are hindered by the efforts of Uxbridge Road Group, a fanatical offshoot of the English Book Guild situated in Brussels, whose members encourage sadomasochism and segregate works of fiction by gender stereotyping (e.g.: men read only adventure fiction, women read only romance novels), who wish to destroy the Asti Spumante Code before it can be put to use by anyone. [5] :77

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Brown</span> American author (born 1964)

Daniel Gerhard Brown is an American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013), and Origin (2017). His novels are treasure hunts that usually take place over a period of 24 hours. They feature recurring themes of cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 57 languages and, as of 2012, have sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Inferno, have been adapted into films, while one of them, The Lost Symbol, was adapted into a television show.

The Da Vinci Hoax is a non-fiction book written by Carl E. Olsen and Sandra Miesel for the express purpose of critiquing Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code. The book was first published in 2004 by Ignatius Press. According to Olson and Miesel, they wrote it out of concern that Brown's novel is popularizing theories, history and beliefs, which are used as the basis of the novel's plot, and defended by its author as factual, and that purport to expose Christianity as founded on lies that have been kept secret by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries.

<i>The Da Vinci Code</i> (film) 2006 American mystery thriller film by Ron Howard

The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, and based on Dan Brown's 2003 novel of the same name. The first in the Robert Langdon film series, the film stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Jean Reno and Paul Bettany. In the film, Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology from Harvard University, is the prime suspect in the grisly and unusual murder of Louvre curator Jacques Saunière. On the body, the police find a disconcerting cipher and start an investigation. Langdon escapes with the assistance of police cryptologist Sophie Neveu, and they begin a quest for the legendary Holy Grail. A noted British Grail historian, Sir Leigh Teabing, tells them that the actual Holy Grail is explicitly encoded in Leonardo da Vinci's wall painting, The Last Supper. Also searching for the Grail is a secret cabal within Opus Dei, an actual prelature of the Holy See, who wish to keep the true Grail a secret to prevent the destruction of Christianity.

<i>The Lost Symbol</i> Novel by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol is a 2009 novel written by American writer Dan Brown. It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C., after the events of The Da Vinci Code, and relies on Freemasonry for both its recurring theme and its major characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Kostova</span> American writer

Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author best known for her debut novel The Historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural references to Leonardo da Vinci</span> Overview about the cultural references to Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter and polymath who achieved legendary fame and iconic status within his own lifetime. His renown primarily rests upon his brilliant achievements as a painter, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, being two of the most famous artworks ever created, but also upon his diverse skills as a scientist and inventor. He became so highly valued during his lifetime that the King of France bore him home like a trophy of war, supported him in his old age and, according to legend, cradled his head as he died.

<i>The Va Dinci Cod</i> Book by Adam Roberts

The Va Dinci Cod: A Fishy Parody is a parody of the New York Times BestsellerThe Da Vinci Code. It was written by British critic and novelist Adam Roberts under the pen name Don Brine. The character names in the novels are reminiscent of the well-known characters: Sophie Nudivue, Robert Donglan, and Curvy Tash. It was published in 2005 by HarperCollins.

Michael Baigent was a New Zealand writer who published a number of popular works questioning traditional perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is known best as a co-author of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

The Da Vinci Code, a popular suspense novel by Dan Brown, generated criticism and controversy after its publication in 2003. Many of the complaints centered on the book's speculations and misrepresentations of core aspects of Christianity and the history of the Catholic Church. Additional criticisms were directed toward the book's inaccurate descriptions of European art, history, architecture, and geography.

Richard Harris Leigh was a novelist and short story writer born in New Jersey, United States to a British father and an American mother, who spent most of his life in the UK. Leigh earned a BA from Tufts University, a master's degree from the University of Chicago, and a PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

<i>The Da Vinci Code</i> 2003 novel by Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel Angels & Demons. The Da Vinci Code follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris causes them to become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene having had a child together.

The Da Vinci Code WebQuests are a series of web-based puzzles related to the bestselling 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, as well as the 2006 film. There have been several web quests, none of which directly related to any other. Probably the most well known is the game run by Google, though it was ultimately met with much more public criticism than the other various games.

<i>Angels & Demons</i> (film) 2009 American thriller directed by Ron Howard

Angels & Demons is a 2009 American action mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp, based on Dan Brown's 2000 novel of the same title. It is the sequel to the 2006 film The Da Vinci Code, also directed by Howard, and the second installment in the Robert Langdon film series. However, the novel version was published before The Da Vinci Code novel. Filming took place in Rome, Italy, and the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Professor Robert Langdon, while Ayelet Zurer stars as Dr. Vittoria Vetra, a CERN scientist joining Langdon in the quest to recover a missing vial of antimatter from a mysterious Illuminati terrorist. Producer Brian Grazer, composer Hans Zimmer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also return, with David Koepp coming on board to help the latter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Perdue</span> American writer (born 1949)

Lewis Perdue is the author of 20 published books including Daughter of God, and The Da Vinci Legacy. Perdue was sued by Random House in 2003 when he charged that Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code plagiarized those two books. Random House won the lawsuit but lost their demand to have Perdue pay their legal fees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priory of Sion</span> French fraternal organization associated with a literary hoax

The Prieuré de Sion, translated as Priory of Sion, was a fraternal organization founded in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard in his failed attempt to create a prestigious neo-chivalric order. In the 1960s, Plantard began claiming that his self-styled order was the latest front for a secret society founded by crusading knight Godfrey of Bouillon, on Mount Zion in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1099, under the guise of the historical monastic order of the Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Zion. As a framework for his grandiose assertion of being both the Great Monarch prophesied by Nostradamus and a Merovingian pretender, Plantard further claimed the Priory of Sion was engaged in a centuries-long benevolent conspiracy to install a secret bloodline of the Merovingian dynasty on the thrones of France and the rest of Europe. To Plantard's surprise, all of his claims were fused with the notion of a Jesus bloodline and popularised by the authors of the 1982 speculative nonfiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, whose conclusions would later be borrowed by Dan Brown for his 2003 mystery thriller novel The Da Vinci Code.

Henry Soskin, better known as Henry Lincoln, was a British author, television presenter, scriptwriter, and actor. He co-wrote three Doctor Who multi-part serials in the 1960s, and — starting in the 1970s — inspired three Chronicle BBC Two documentaries on the alleged mysteries surrounding the French village of Rennes-le-Château — and, from the 1980s, co-authored and authored a series of books of which The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was the most popular, becoming the inspiration for Dan Brown's 2003 best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code. He was the last living person to have written for Doctor Who in the 1960s.

<i>The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail</i> 1982 speculative history book

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail is a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln.

<i>Inferno</i> (Brown novel) Novel by Dan Brown

Inferno is a 2013 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. The book was published on May 14, 2013, ten years after publication of The Da Vinci Code (2003), by Doubleday. It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction for the first eleven weeks of its release, and also remained on the list of E-book fiction for the first seventeen weeks of its release. A film adaptation was released in the United States on October 28, 2016.

Da Kath & Kim Code is a 2005 Australian comedy telemovie of the television series Kath & Kim.

The Da Vinci Code is a play based on the 2003 mystery thriller novel of the same name by Dan Brown, adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel.

References