2005-07-21

Book tittle wanted

All right, I'm almost ready to start writing the 1st draft of my Greek/Persian/Egyptian novel, at last!

The project codename is Inaros, but as you may guess, it's a bad working tittle. Therefore I admit votes and suggestions for a working tittle.

This is the one paragraph synopsis:

Lower Egypt is in rebellion, and the greatest powers on the Eastern Mediterranean Sea are there to fight for it: the growing force of Athens and her Delian League, and the huge Achaemenid Persian Empire. Three civilizations clash at the God-river Nile, and the result will determine who will rule in the Mediterraean, and, eventually the fate of Western Civilization.



My thoughts on it (in no particular order):

1) The Egyptian Expedition
2) The Egyptian Disaster
3) Rebellion in Egypt
4) The Egyptian Vector
5) The Inaros's Rebellion
6) Inaros

Actually, those are all pretty lame tittles... But I cannot find a great one. Anyway, I will start to write pretty soon. You can help me now, or suffer a bad tittle for the following months... >:-)

thanks!

9 comments:

Gabriele Campbell said...

Well, I suck at titles. I just pick something; the publisher will change it anyway. ;)

I like "Inaros", but I think it would create wrong expectations in people, like Fantasy book, and they'd be disappointed not to find wizards and dragons, lol. Egyptian Expedition / Disaster sound more like essay titles. But Rebellion in Egypt could work. Or something totally differend that doesn't refer to the rebellion thing at all, like River of Destiny or War Chariots in the Sand - I told you I suck at titles. :)

Excalibor said...

Hehe...

Piramids on War... :-)

Crocodiles On It... Oops, I'm pretty bad as well! LOL

Yes, I know a prospective publisher will change it. I hope so! But, anyway, while I am happy to have it code-named Inaros, I really need a working title (one "t" only, okay :-) for it... I mean, Inaros on the first page gets really poor...

I was thinking for the Grand Title: The Rebellion of Egypt and the Battles, Sieges and Adventures the Greeks, Egyptians and Persians had at the Nile, the Efforts They Went Through to Defend Their Interests, and How They Solved It All... You know... :-)

But, somehow, I think, in this case, "less is more"... LOL.

Siege of Memphis will probably will be a good chapter/part title, though...

Maybe Clash of Bronze on the Sand? Mmm... definitely I suck at titles too! :-)

thx!

Gabriele Campbell said...

De bello Aegyptico. *grin*

I think Scott Oden calls his second book "Memnon", so a name as a title isn't necessarily a bad idea. The problem with Inaros is that not many would recognise it as an existing name, not a Fantasy one. Memnon, on the other hand, sounds Greek enough. ;) Or my own future novel project, "Egberth".

Excalibor said...

Yeah... Lucky him and lucky you :)

I will probably go for Rebellion in Egypt for the time being as the working title, Inaros as the project code name, and let any prospective publisher get the selling title when the time comes.

Thanks for your help, it's very much appreciated!

Scott Oden said...

Now, all I know of Inaros comes from Herodotus: he is the son of one Psammentius, a Libyan, who fomented rebellion in lower Egypt, culminating in a stunning victory against Xerxes' brother, Achamenes, at the Battle of Papremis in 462/461. I just looked up the name in JM Cook's 'The Persian Empire', and he gives the same info as Herodotus and goes on to tell (in a sentence) of his demise at the hands of Megabyzos. I don't envy you your research ;)

How about, as a title, 'The Libyan'? Hearkens back to Mika Waltari's 'The Egyptian'. If Inaros as you envision him has a more Egyptian cast, perhaps 'Blood of Horus'? Just a thought . . .

Excalibor said...

Scott, thanks for your suggestions!

The Lybian sounds pretty cool, indeed. I actually thought in Hannibal Barca when I read it, but it's certainly a good title (Romans called Lybia Africa, but Carthaginians called Lybia Lybia, when referring to what Romans called Africa... mmm... it's simpler than it seems, really... hehe :-)

About the episode in itself, it's certainly astonishing the lack of information about it, to say the least. Thucidides barely mentions it in two and a half pages on his Pentekontaetia, and all other classical authors either brief him, or Ktesias. And Ktesias was certainly a bad, bad boy. Mind you, he did his job, but unfortunately for us, it was not to write History. Anyway, considering he's the only source in most of what we know about the events, one must use him, but with a grain of salt (of a whole kilogram of it!).

I have been researching this subject, on and off (more off than on, actually) for a couple of years, but I've had the huge luck, which I will acknowledge properly where it belongs, but I will mention in here anyway, of a work by Dr. Pierre Cloutier in which he analyses all available primary and secondary book sources. He has been, and is, and surely will be, a great help in disentangling this whole mess... Portraying three cultures won't help, either... While I have now some fairly working knowledge of Pericles's Hellas culture, Egyptians and Persians of the time will be a challenge (the Persians I do know, are those just-pre-Alexander III; the Egyptians are those of the Bronze Age and the battle of Kadesh... Do I love History or what? :-P

But, yes, even with all this help, it will be a very "creative" work... Just what I needed for some Summer fun :-)

Anyway, I will carefully note The Lybian, the more I think about it, the more I like it... Thanks a bunch!

(BTW- that letter you posted on your blog, haven't been able to write on the weekend, and your post here caught my attention, but it is very believable, and it has some sad beauty in it, I'd expect such a post from a cult, high raking, Persian, young girl... good job!)

Gabriele Campbell said...

Lol, little known facts are a pest to research, but on the other hand, you can make up more. In that aspect, I prefer my Roman stuff to the Mediaeval novel. ;)

The only point I worry about is that I may miss an obscure source and some picky reader will point it out to me.

And I like They Lybian, too.

Excalibor said...

Yeah, well, I took it with Scott's implicit permission... :-)

Also changed the blog layout (again), I find this one, after some template pesting, easier to read, and added a wordcounter (btw, good idea Scott, I used one on my livejournal, but it was a per post basis, fancier this way).

As for research, I'm humble... I will change my mind if proven wrong or ignorant and the editorial process permits... Actually I will have to finish more investigation and heavy rewriting of my Edipus's novel battles, as things changed through the Mykeanean as the novel time passes by as well... Well, it's part of the fun. :-)

Anyway, this is also for fun (specially if you do it for food!). Mistakes are to be expected, I just try to investigate enough for them to be small or, at least, "gracious".

hehe... thanks for your help!

Scott Oden said...

Glad I could help ;) Part of what Gabriele said holds true for me, too. I'm obsessive about finding the tiniest fact because I really don't want to be called out later for getting something wrong (I imagine there's a holy grail of info for everything I research and it's only a matter of time before I find it).

Men of Bronze happens only a few years before the Inaros revolt (525 BC); it was fun and exciting to weave together the Egyptian, Greek and Persian personalities. Egyptian was probably easiest for me, since there is very little difference between Bronze Age Egyptians and their Late Period descendants. My Persians came across as too much like Greeks in pointy hats. Hopefully, in 'Memnon' I can sharpen the definition between them.

Best of luck with The Libyan!