Remembering the Indy Book
Just to continue this thought while it’s still in my head: We loved writing The Indiana Jones Handbook. It allowed us to reconnect with the three films—the first three that were out at the time we were preparing the MS—and geek out on all the little details of them. At the time, we were living in a small rental apartment here in North Carolina, and we blew a week watching and rewatching the films, and taking notes. Totally a blast to do that kind of research.
Then it shifted to actual research, trying to figure out where the reality of the outside world of science and history collided with the fantasy world of the films.
One of those areas turned out to be the realm of Egyptian hieroglyphics, which of course figure prominently in the first movie. I thought the publisher did a great job creating and designing a beautiful collectible keepsake. They hired a decent artist who brought many of the scenes to life and illustrated the how-to concepts.
When the book came out, it was a hit with kids. Little kids. Friends sent pics of the book on display in various bookstores, and there were always kids lingering on the fringes of those those pics. And when friends gave the books to their own own children, we suddenly started getting fan mail written in—you guessed it—Egyptian hieroglyphics.
There’s a small section in the book that focused on how to write them, and I guess a lot of kids saw that as a way to write us messages in a kind of secret Egyptian code.
I wish I can dig up some of those letters. I fear that the ones we saved were damaged in the water that hit our basement during Tropical Storm Helene back in fall 2024. I just haven’t located them yet, but I did toss a lot of waterlogged files last fall.
The page kids fixate upon. One of them, anyway.
I remember researching those hieroglyphics and tracing them out by hand in a document that was later passed onto an artist or designer. And later, when we started to get notes from kids, we had to refer to the book to decipher their letters. And of course it only seemed polite to write them back in a similar code. But you could only do it once per kid, because eventually it would turn into a thing that threatened to overwhelm our little office.
Two more pages, just to keep us on our toes!
Right now, because of the natural disaster that wrecked the lives of so many people in our neck of the woods, it looks like the only fan note we have is the one that somehow got tucked into our display copy of the book that lives in the den. It’s from a kid named Gabe, to whom we sent a copy when we heard that he was getting into Indy. (We know his dad but have never met Gabe or his mom.)
Thank YOU, Gabe. You’re the bomb!
What’s funny is that Egyptian hieroglyphics are not just fascinating to kids. They continue to tantalize adults. Back in 2022, Denise realized a dream to visit a friend in Egypt. She wandered museums, rode a camel, ate great food, and delved into pyramids…
She is very happy. But I hear it was a bumpy ride.
Everywhere she went, she saw cartouches for sale in various markets. She finally found a decent guide who carefully took down the names of people she wanted to get gifts for, and returned a few hours later with silver cartouches emblazoned with their names—written in hieroglyphics.
Mine sits on my desk. It’s a keychain but I have never used it as such because I know that I’ll probably lose it. The keychain I use right now is titanium for a reason. Lightweight, indestructible, and replaceable.
When I first got the cartouche, it vaguely occurred to me to break out the Indy book and use it to decode the hieroglyphics. I decided against it. I don’t want to know if they match up. If they don’t, I do not think I can handle the fact that I probably screwed up something in a book that is now 17 years old and long past correcting.
Better to live with the beautiful memories of trading secret codes with kids. Way better to remember.
And yeah if you do decide to check the cartouche, please don’t tell me about it. I’m in a cone of nostalgia and looking to keep it that way. Okay, enough reminiscing for a Sunday. Back to cleaning the TV room.
Published in 2008, this title is long out of print, so if you find a new or used copy online, grab it! No ebook was ever released, making the title doubly scarce. In addition to Amazon, I recommend some excellent sites that sell used, new, and hard-to-find titles. And no, I don’t get a dime if you buy a copy.
BUY THE INDIANA JONES HANDBOOK
hardcover: Amazon | Biblio | Bookfinder | Alibris | Abebooks