The Spear is a 1978 novel by British author James Herbert dealing with Nazi occultism and the Holy Lance. It was first published in by New English Library.
Plot summary The book deals with a neo-Nazi cult in Britain and an international conspiracy which includes a right-wing US general and a sinister arms dealer, and their obsession with resurrecting Heinrich Himmler by occult means.
Reception Ramsey Campbell praised the novel, saying "The Spear scores as a thriller, especially in its set pieces".Campbell, Ramsey, "James Herbert", in Joshi, S.T. (ed.) Ramsey Campbell, Probably. Hornsea, Drugstore Indian Press, (pp. 272-73)
Court case In an earlier version of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail/The Da Vinci Code lawsuit,'No surprise' in Da Vinci judgement Trevor Ravenscroft sued James Herbert claiming the novel infringed on his 1972 non-fiction book The Spear of Destiny.Ravenscroft v Herbert (1980) RPC 193
While Herbert admitted to utilizing the book as a source, Ravenscroft claimed the book contained many instances of unauthorized borrowing. Herbert refused to pay him £25,000 in compensation, claiming Ravenscroft had himself plagiarized another author. Ravenscroft then sued him. During the trial, Herbert had a "strange experience" on a train, which he semi-seriously believed could be a psychic attack from Ravenscroft; during the trial Ravenscroft claimed he had met Herbert in a past life while Jesus was being executed. Herbert lost the court case and eventually removed the offending content from the book entirely, withdrawing its first edition from sale.193 |No. 7] 8 May 1980 - Reports of Patent, Design and Trade Mark rpc.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/7/193.full.pdf May 8, 1980 - The plaintiff, Trevor Ravenscroft, was the author of a book called "The Spear of. Destiny". The first defendant, James Herbert, was an author of"
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