Trivia: Hermione's middle name appears in Dumbledore's will as "Jean." According to J.K. Rowling, her middle name was supposed to be "Jane," but in a subsequent interview, Rowling commented that she changed it because she did not want Hermione to share her middle name with Dolores Umbridge.
Trivia: The original Swedish translation by Åke Ohlmarks is known world-wide for its huge errors. These errors include Legolas having children, Elrond's wife being dead and Merry killing the Witch King instead of Éowyn. The books were re-translated a few years back but the new versions were heavily criticized for re-translating some of the names (Baggins to Säcker rather than the previous Bagger, Brandybuck to Brännbock instead of the earlier Vinbock, among others) and many of the fans prefer the original translation, even with its heavy errors.
Trivia: When Mr. Weasley is taking Harry down to the Ministry of Magic, he dials a number in the phone box. The number they dial is 62442. When you look at these numbers on a standard English telephone the letters spell out MAGIC.
Trivia: One of the characters visits Derry and has a sighting of Pennywise the clown (from "It", another Stephen King book) at the spot where he killed Bill's brother.
Trivia: When Onyx becomes the training ground for the Spartan-IIIs, the camp is named Camp Currahee. Camp Currahee in real life was the name of the training ground for which the semi-legendary 101st airborne division was trained during WWII.
Trivia: The worst guard at Juniper Hill is named Koontz - after Stephen King's rival in the horror genre.
Trivia: Brutus secretly sleeps with Julius' daughter Julia, even though she's married to Pompey, and she becomes pregnant by him. In real life Brutus was engaged to Julia before Julius broke the engagement and wed her to Pompey.
Trivia: This book was originally published in 1992. It is the final book in the Adversary Cycle, describing the end of the world (a long story explained in the previous five books). However, one of the main characters, Repairman Jack (previously appearing in THE TOMB), has since had nine additional adventures that take place before this book. These nine books, LEGACIES, CONSPIRACIES, ALL THE RAGE, HOSTS, THE HAUNTED AIR, GATEWAYS, CRISSCROSS, INFERNAL, and most recently, HARBINGERS, all have Jack having much more involvement with the forces at work in the Adversary Cycle. A newly-revised edition of NIGHTWORLD is going to be released sometime this year (2006), with all of Jack's additional knowledge and experience making for new dialogue, new events, etc.
Trivia: Two of the students at Point Blanc Academy, Nicolas Marc and Cassian James, are named after the authors two sons, Nicholas and Cassian.
Trivia: This book is titled "The Tomb", even though there was no tomb in it (except for a metaphorical reference to a fire-blackened building at one point). This was due to the publisher's wish that the book follow the success of F. Paul Wilson's previous book, "The Keep", by having a title preceded by "The" The book was originally going to be called RAKOSHI, after a major set of characters in it, and only retains the original title in a limited edition from Borderlands Press.
Trivia: In the book, American soldiers refer to zombies as "Z's" and "Zack". Its a common practice for US military men to refer to things by their initials or the military equivalent (ie "T's or "Tangos" for terrorists). However, "Z" in the military alphabet is "Zulu". "Zack" is a reference to Zack Snyder, director of the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, who author Max Brooks collaborated with for some of the DVD special features.
Trivia: In the book, Damian Karras' mother's first name is Mary, most likely a tribute to author/screenwriter William Peter Blatty's own mother, who was also named Mary. After she passed away, W P Blatty would write an autobiography which deals with her at length entitled 'I'll Tell Them I Remember You'.
Trivia: Several plot points, including the props manager who speaks perfectly onstage but stutters offstage and a girl who disguises herself as a boy to get a job in the acting company are remarkably reminiscent of the film Shakespeare In Love, released in the same year as this children's' novel.
Trivia: The cipher that Brown calls a "Caesar box cipher" is actually called a columnar transposition cipher. Julius Caesar did really invent ciphers, but the only one whose description has survived - and which to this day is called the "Caesar cipher" - is much simpler than the columnar transposition.
Trivia: Throughout the book, the number 33 occurs as an important number within the Masonic Order - the best example being the highest rank of mason being a 33rd Degree. The book ends on Chapter 133, with what could be chapter 134 being an epilogue.