Surprisingly perhaps I am re-reading my recently published book: The Red Triangle. The reasons why will follow later. Since my last post of more than a year ago (yes, 12 months!) I have been working on bringing my latest book to fruition. This time it has been a long and difficult process. In fact occasionally the experience has been downright unpleasant. I will try to explain that in more detail later.

I submitted a roughly polished draft of the manuscript to the publisher on 7th April 2010 (which was, admittedly, very late) and it was published on Monday, 21st February 2011. Naturally, I was interested to see what had been produced. This is because an author does not get to see (at least at my humble level) what a publisher will do with his work. I am sure Dan Brown is not (at least now) treated in this manner. It seems that once a publisher has ‘got the goods’ they are totally focuses on get the book onto the bookshop shelves (although I have not seen any of mine in Waterstones or Barns and Noble) and the author is largely forgotten. This is simply a statement of fact and I am sure that many other authors have had the same experience.

The dust jacket was another contentious issue. The one shown at top left is the one the publishers decided to go with and the one to the right is the one I very much preferred. It is always a problem when an author thinks one thing and a publisher another. The publisher makes a judgement which is based on appealing to a particular market I, as an author, makes a judgement on the basis of whom I believe I am writing for – in this case Freemasons first and the general public second. The cover I imagined and then had designed (at my own expense) is shown here to the right. I cannot explain or imagine why the dust jacket (above left) was used for the book. I can, however, explain in detail why I would have preferred the dust cover (right) to have been used.

To do explain that it is necessary to appreciate that the book discusses a dark subject (for Freemasons at least) and that is known as anti-Masonry. Even that is inaccurate as the term ‘anti-Masonry’ is abandoned very early in the book and replaced by a new word – Masonophobia. This word emerged recently to explain the nasty and spiteful edge that attacks on Freemasonry have taken on over the recent past. So the book cover to the right is an attempt to covey all that. The red strands of barbed wire at top and bottom as suggestive of the concentration camps were so many Freemasons (and other ‘undesireables’) ended up. The coffin shape also suggests the camps but also reminds us of the lessons of the third degree. I often wonder if Masonic ritual brought any comfort to those waiting to die? In or on the coffin is a skull and crossed bones. Again this is symbolic of the deaths of Freemasons but also refers to an very emotional part of the Third Degree charge ‘Behold it is a skull… ‘ and what Freemasons are to try and do with their remaining days. By coincidence it is also is an emblem used by the German SS. The three drops of blood are reminiscent of tears of sorrow for the departed but also, again, indicate the three degrees of Freemasons which all Freemasons must have experienced to become a Master Mason. Finally, the red triangle is the symbol which Freemasons were forced to wear by the Nazi regime. 

It is not possible to provide a detailed review of the content of the book here but if you are at all interested there is an interview of me talking about The Red Triangle on YouTube and to see that (it is eight minutes long so I don’t expect you to!) click here or on previous links.

Someone asked me what it was like being on YouTube? Frankly it was not like anything at all! It is nothing like being on the telly or radio. All that needs to be done is look at and speak to a video camera (why do we still call them that?) and then upload the result to YouTube. Fame for everyone!

More to follow…