Would you have a problem with it if Vidal said, "This book is a work of fiction, but the theory about Abraham Lincoln being the composer of Beethoven's works and about him being married to Julia Roberts is based on solid historical evidence."
That's what Brown is saying with DiVinci Code. No one is saying that he's denying it's a fictional book. What a lot of people are choking on is the fact that he's saying it's a fictional book that based on solid historical theory. The ideas in his book about Christ have been examined for years and have been found wanting.
Well, probably I would not have a problem with it. If I cared enough about it I might inquire what the evidence is to see whether it was credible. But it's like any other historical fiction, isn't it? You take a real figures like Abe Lincoln and maybe give him a mistress or a fondness for moonshine or have him meet secretly with Robert E. Lee to play poker. Why not? If you are publishing something as fiction you don't usually have to fill it with footnotes and prove everything you have said actually happened. It's fiction. (Sorry to irritate whoever it is that gets irritated by that statement.)
LOL
only about every 4th post