Man, I hate having my picture taken. Hopefully the book cover will be front and center and I will merely lurk in the shadows.

So, that’s done. Article will appear Friday in our News-Sentinel. I’ll link.

And in another Sentinel, across the country in a completely different land – aka, where the sun shines – I’m mentioned in this article.

Link requires registration (but if you’re registered at the LATimes or Chicago Tribune or some such, it’s the same registration), but here’s the pertinent passage:

Meanwhile, readers such as Orlando’s Berlinsky are attempting to crack the puzzles presented in the very mainstream The Da Vinci Code, in which clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci point to the “true” nature of the Holy Grail.

“Readers are naturally intrigued by codes and puzzles and conspiracy,” said Amy Welborn, author of April’s de-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code, one of several new or forthcoming books about the novel and its controversial plot.

“I treat issues of Christian origins, but I also take a look at questions about Leonardo, the Priory of Sion, the Holy Grail, the sacred feminine and Opus Dei,” she said. “It’s really a handbook for understanding the claims made in the novel.”

The Da Vinci Code is on its way to the big screen, with Ron Howard as director. It already has been the subject of a prime-time TV special on ABC.