The WSJ has some promising news about The Solomon Key from Doubleday's Stephen Rubin:

Now, the publisher is hinting that a manuscript is close. "Dan Brown has a very specific release date for the publication of his new book, and when the book is published, his readers will see why," says Stephen Rubin, president of Bertelsmann's Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, whose Doubleday imprint publishes Mr. Brown. Mr. Rubin declined further comment.

Rubin seems to be hinting at a specific reason behind the publication date. Is it likely to be a day of importance in American history or politics? July 4th, the start of the election campaign...what do you think?

AFP is carrying a new story about The Solomon Key, although there's little new in it. Some have got excited over the mention of Brown's 'posting' to his website about the book, but that particular part of his site has been there for a few years now. The one interesting part of the story is that DB was in contact with Masons in the Washington, D.C. area:

Brown "had a contact with us but then cut it short. We are all sitting around waiting for his book to come out but nobody knows what he's going to say," Akram Elias, grand master-elect of Washington's Grand Lodge, told AFP.

Interesting about the 'cutting short' part. Was this because DB had enough material, or has he changed plans with the new novel? This report follows on from previous stories that he had also been in contact with senior Mormons in Salt Lake City, another apparent topic to be featured in The Solomon Key.

A website called "The Contrarian" has an excellent photo tour of the George Washington Masonic Memorial. As I discuss in my book, the GW Masonic Memorial could well be a location used by Dan Brown in The Solomon Key, for a number of good reasons. Well worth a visit to take in some of the sights (even if via your computer monitor).

ABC News ran a feature this week which referenced Freemasonry and its probable appearance in Dan Brown's next book. The video is available online, and looks to be shot within the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C.

The Telegraph recently posted an interview with Amazon UK managing director Brian McBride, and in it the reporter makes mention that "the launch of the secret new offering from The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown later this year will be another major event for Amazon." Is the reporter taking a stab in the dark, or did they get some inside information from McBride?

In related news, a recent story on the 'Harry Potter effect' on the business of publishing quotes Brown's publisher Stephen Rubin: "I surely would hesitate before trying to do something like 12 million copies for Dan Brown's next book, but thanks largely to Potter, we can think about numbers we wouldn't have imagined before." So at least it seems there's something happening with the next book, however minor!

The Bookseller is reporting that it is unlikely we will see a new Dan Brown novel before the end of the year. Brown's UK publisher has said that the Da Vinci follow-up had been budgeted in for 2007 but that Brown had yet to send any material.

It is in the budget, but it was in the budget last year. There is still a chance it will be this year; we just don't know. He'll deliver, I am sure, but I don't know when. It will be published when it's published.

Considering it is usually a 6 month to 2 year turnaround between publishers first seeing a manuscript, and actual publication, the book is certainly unlikely to come out this year (unless his publisher is being secretive).

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.