- A sensational book about a lost civilisation
in Egypt is being pulled from shops within a week of publication even though
it has already shot into the Top Five bestseller list.
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- Britain's largest publisher, Random House,
has ordered the withdrawal of all copies of the first 50,000 print run
of The Hall of the Gods by Nigel Appleby. The decision follows accusations
of plagiarism by other top para-science writers including Graham Hancock,
whose Fingerprints of the Gods has been a huge seller in the past three
years, and Robert Bauval.
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- Appleby, whose bookshop tour of Britain
has also been cancelled, is due in Egypt in a fortnight with a team of
23 geophysicists, archaeologists and support staff to excavate for an underground
chamber, the Hall of Records. He believes it was dug 10,000 years ago by
an early civilisation which, fearing an impending disaster, buried a record
of its achievements.
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- Hancock, Bauval (who co-authored Keeper
of Genesis with Hancock), Robert Temple, Christopher Knight and Robert
Lomas, all of whom either are or have been Random House authors, have written
separate letters to the publishing giant saying they believe their ideas
and diagrams have been plagiarised. Random House, which was to pay Appleby
£75,000 for his book plus royalties on sales, says the book is being
withdrawn on legal advice.
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- "I don't accept the reasons for
pulling," counters Appleby. "I'm now taking my own legal advice."
Appleby believes his detractors are "professionally jealous. I'm putting
my money where my mouth is by going to Egypt to prove my theory."
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- Some are querying why he did not write
the book after proving his theory, but Random House admits that it pressed
for early delivery of the book.
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- The Hall of Records, a pyramid north
of Giza, is reputed to contain artefacts and texts, which, claims Appleby's
book, will form part of the most important archaeological discovery ever
- greater than that of the lost city of Troy or Tutankhamun's tomb.
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- Appleby believes his rival authors are
also trying to stop his trip, though a letter sent on Thursday to Appleby
from Hancock denies "stirring up trouble against you in Cairo regarding
your expedition".
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- Appleby's expedition is being funded
partly from the first instalment of the author's advance from Random House
and partly by Appleby. Despite some concerns in Egypt about the trip, it
is still due to go ahead. As it happens, Hancock and Bauval were themselves
once attacked by Egyptologists and some members of the Egyptian Supreme
Council of Antiquities for their books and theories. Appleby, like many
other para-science authors, uses astronomy, in particular star positions,
to support his theories.
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