Secret societies Tuesday, 10 February 2009

This week we’ll be finalising the story for episode 2 of The Lost Book, so we still need your ideas. First, watch episode 1. And, take a look at Jasper Fforde’s articles: the book that has been stolen is the expedition journal of Sally Challenger.

We’ve been discussing a possible secret society of bibliophiles (book lovers) who might be able to help Aileen work out what “K.B.E.” stands for. We’ve got four suggestions – which one do you like best? Let us know by voting in the sidebar poll to the right.

• Alexandrian Bibliophilic Concilium, Alexandria, founded in 48BC – known as the “ABC” to non-members to keep things secret – suggested by Anna and added to by KitsuneCharmed and otakuu.

• Babel Society, Buenos Aires – after Jorge Luis Borges’s library – suggested by Donald.

• Bibuliberati Wine Society - ‘Liber’ in Latin means ‘book’, but is also the name of an ancient Italian god of wine and drinking. The English adjective ‘bibulous’ has its root in the Latin ‘bibere’ (to drink), and ‘Biblos’ is Greek for ‘book’ – suggested by miketroll.

• Invisible Inc. - invisible ink is a must for all secret societies – suggested by libertine101.

Which is it to be? The poll will close at 16:00 GMT, Tuesday 10 February 2009.

The poll is now closed and the results are: Invisible Inc. wins with 38%, closely followed by the Alexandrian Bibliophilic Concilium (ABC) with 31% and The Babel Society with 27%. We don’t have a location linked with Invisible Inc. but I think “Inc.” is only used in North America (USA and Canada) so that narrows things down (if I’m wrong and other countries use “Inc.”, please do let me know).

We’re still taking name suggestions for our new character, a member of Invisible Inc. We’re now accepting votes on the shortlist of names – use the sidebar poll.