On a Lighter Note
Here is a quote from John Nolte, the ‘Dirty Harry’ of conservative film:
Myself, I have a similar feeling about science fiction books. My certain words or phrases which instantly earn my goodwill include Null-A, Princess, Mars, Demon-Prince, Dying Earth, Autarch, Lensman, Skylark, Tom Swift ( as in "Tom Swift and His Technoatomic Whateveroscope"), Lucky Starr and (insert name of astronomical body here), Harry Potter and (as in "Harry Potter and the Lavender Warlock"), Pirate (or, better yet, "Space Pirate"), Ranger, Patrol (or, better yet, Galactic Patrol), Women (when the context involved space-women) or better yet, Amazon, Foundation, and any adjective involving large magnitudes as Infinite, Infinity, Eternal, Eternity, Endless, Neverness.
Nearly anything can be made to sound way cool merely by putting "of Mars" after it (as in Princess of, Gods of, Warlord of, Master-Mind of, A Fighting Man of, of even Thuvia, Maid of). Likewise, nearly anything can be made to sound slightly perverted merely by putting "of Gor" after it (as in Love Slave of, Sex Slave of, Slave slave of, Sexy Love Slave of, Attractive Barbarian Girl in Skimpy Leopardskin Bikini of, Pouty Schoolgirl of, Lonley Lesbian NIght-Nurse of).
Likewise, anything with the name Fu Manchu in it, automatically sounds sinister. Try it yourself! Merely add "Fu Manchu" to your title, and see if the book does not throb with oriental meance. For example, a famous book by Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine, sounds much more creepy when titled, The Wine of Fu Manchu, or even The Dandelion of Fu Manchu.
Retitling my books, then:
- The Golden Age of Fu Manchu (not bad)
- The Phoenix of Mars (so-so)
- Harry Potter and the Golden Transcendence (I’d buy it)
- Orphans of Mars (sounds good)
- Fugitive Schoolgirls of Gor (hm. that might have been a better title at thato)
- Titans of Chaos (well, this is already a nice sounding title)
- Last Guardian of the Dying Earth
- Lensmen of Everness
- Null-A Continuum (already has one of the goodwill words in it)
- Galactic Patrol of Fu Manchu versus Skylark DuQuesne and the Space Pirates of the Second Foundation. (forthcoming)
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
