According to Hillel Italie, AP's publishing industry observer, this Da Vinci Code thing may finally be played out. The book itself is "still a best seller," he notes, "but no longer can a book simply be compared to Brown's and expect to catch on." Cited as evidence: Brad Meltzer's upcoming The Book of Fate, which Sessalee Hensley of Barnes & Noble says was originally hyped to her for its Brownian elements but is now being sold as, well, the next bestseller from Brad Meltzer. (I can lend some perspective here, as I was at the Warner party with Meltzer; yes, he did animatedly explain some of the Masonic symbology that's going to wind up in the story—we were in D.C., after all—but it seemed pretty clear that he didn't see himself as following in anybody's footsteps, not even Dan Brown's. Then again, I was frankly more interested in trying to get him to say anything about his new Justice League of America comic, which finally debuted last week with a special "zero issue" exploring the friendship of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.)

According to Italie's piece, one signifcant test for the Code market will be The Expected One, the novel from Kathleen McGowan, the self-styled descendant of Jesus. I'm more curious, though, about books which don't quite so self-consciously ape Brown's Holy Blood, Holy Grail thesis, like Three Days to Never, the Tim Powers novel that comes out next month. It's not exactly a fair comparison, since Powers has been writing history-laced fantasy for three decades; if anything, Brown should be considered a Powers knockoff who got lucky (well, really he's a Robert Anton Wilson knockoff, but let's not go there again today). But with the backing of mainstream publishers William Morrow behind him, Powers seems poised to capture a larger audience—will a novel about a father and daughter caught in a power struggle between a Gnostic sect and the Mossad's kabbalistic division be the book that wins it for him? As I say, I'm curious to find out...