One morning, whilst waiting for my strong cup of coffee to kick in, and the laptop to boot up the latest manuscript that needs going over , I stuck on the Travel Channel in the hope of finding some adventure. Or more importantly to avoid all the terrible reality TV that ruins the medium.
Josh Gates was on doing his Expedition Unknown, and at first my heart sank when his quest involved a book called The Secret, thankfully it wasn’t referring to that terrible specimen that came out some years ago.
What Josh was referring to was a book that leads to real buried treasure, and instead of a classic ‘X’ marks the spot treasure maps, there are twelve fantasy images with clues of real world landmarks cryptically embedded within. Accompanying each illustration is poetry with additional clues to entice the reader into this deceptive maze.
Published in 1982, creator Byron Preiss tapped into the The 80’s love of fantasy but he layered it with the theme of immigration, from the Old World to the New. The fantastical creatures of Europe came over, and morphed into something else, along with those that told the tales. It is also an encouragement to get out and travel, to appreciate nature, and enjoy a bit of lateral thinking at the same time. Continue reading “The Secret: A Treasure Hunt – Byron Preiss”