How far off the grid?

Many thanks to Sarah for letting me clog up the Internet today.  I promised her to be witty, brief and on topic.  (One out of three ain’t bad.  You decide which it is.)

I know some people are sick of this guy, but this was too fun to pass up.

By now most of us are familiar with back story attached to The Traveler, that futuristic, much-buzzed-about novel featuring the last of a shadowy group of warriors known as the Harlequins.

The author writes under the pseudonym of John Twelve Hawks, and prefers to remain off the grid, i.e. without a paper trail. Allegedly, even his editor and agent have never met him and all phone calls are conducted through a voice scrambler. None of which stopped him from getting a seven-figure, three-book deal from Doubleday, followed by another seven figures for the movie rights. (I’m still wondering how one gets paid by a publicly traded company without providing any taxpayer information.)

Now comes this little tidbit from the nice people at VJ Books. Seems they have SIGNED copies of The Traveler for sale.

This is a rare opportunity to get one of 777 signed and numbered copies of this guaranteed best-seller. Imagine if you had the opportunity to purchase a signed The DaVinci Code upon it’s original release! This is the first book in a trilogy and is already into multiple printings. Order your copy today, supplies are extremely limited! (From a VJ Books email, not on their website)

Aside from the obvious questions, what’s the significance of the number of books available?

For no particular reason this reminds me of a sig line I saw not too long ago: “667 – Neighbor of the Beast.”

(Side Note: I just finished The Traveler and thoroughly enjoyed. Though not flawless, the book is a lot of fun.)