Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Contest--Need a new title ASAP
I have good news and bad news. Good news--My editor at Houghton Mifflin has OK'd my series as a series, so the sequel that you folks read part of is really the second in the series. That means that the book you read the chapters of will most likely make it to print. Bad news: However, she does not like the title of my first book and it really does not go with the cover art, which is wickedly subtle. It looks like something sweet from Edwardian days until you see all the creepy crawlies hidden in the foliage. Go to Jen Corace's web site and you'll see the style. Anyway, I need a new title. The first book is about how Petronella and Uncle Augustus rescue a theatrical Dame, a Panamanian Generalissimo, and all of Petronella's relatives from a mad Colombian aristocrat who threatens to dump huge vats of mosquito larvae carrying yellow fever into the River Thames. It is also the book where Uncle Augustus accidentally swallows the Tou-eh-mah-mah beetle and is transformed into an insectivore. If anyone comes up with the title that ends up on the cover, I'll send you a gift card or take you out for ice cream or something.
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9 comments:
Do mosquito larvae carry yellow fever?
What is your current title? I think the one you had must have been rather unmemorable because I can't remember it.
Petronella and the Panamanian Panic?
What's the series going to be called? The Petronella series? That's a very clever name because it reminds me of citronella and that repels mosquitoes.
A Plot for Petronella . . . Petronella and the Perfidious Plot . . . Petronella and the Columbian Mosquito Caper. . . Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears But Not In London . . . Petronella Versus the Evil Insects . . . I'll keep thinking.
The Perilous Adventures of Petronella.
Book One: The Panamanian Plot.
I do like Rebecca's "Petronella and the Panamanian Panic" too! :)
by the way. . .
BIG CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING YOUR SERIES ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION!
!!!!!!!
Congratulations on getting the series accepted!! That is so awesome.
Okay, there are already some great ideas. I'd like to blend a couple:
~Petronella and the Panamanian Plot.
~Petronella and the Perilous Creepy Crawlies.
~What Crawls Beneath.
~The Insidious Insect Intrigue/Plot/Caper.
~Petronella and the Mad Aristocrat
That's all I have for now!
-A Plot for Petronella
-Petronella Plays a Part
-Petronella Prevents Pestilence (dang, that gives away too much)
Did you have any clever chapter titles that could be adapted to make a book title? Or were they all too wordy?
Congratulations on the series acceptance! That's wonderful!
I really like "What Crawls Beneath", at least with the artist's work. Or maybe:
--Aristocrats and Arthropods
--Uncle Augustus's Arthropodian Adventures
--It's an Uncle Eat Bug World
--Insectivores and Intrigue (or vice versa)
I'll let you know if I come up with anything else. Good luck!
so I'm not so good with titles, but Trouble on the Thames just hit me with a jackhammer. If you don't like trouble, any other t word meaning death, destruction, or mosquito doom would jive.
Absolutely wonderful titles! You are so clever. I laughed and laughed. I'll add them to the list I've started and we'll see which one is chosen by my editor. The series is still The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival, but the first book was called The Doomed Dame--kind of tame and it makes the reader think that Petronella is the doomed dame, when it's really the theatrical dame. So having Petronella in the title is better. Thanks a lot for some great ideas!
Oh, and the larvae do have the yellow fever virus or bacteria, but it's the mosquito that can bite and infect humans. So, the idea is that by putting several million mosquito larvae in the River Thames in May when the water is not too cold, enough will hatch and fly around London to create an epidemic. Clever, huh?
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