Where I got my titles, and why
All my more recent (post-2002) fiction titles, and either what they mean or why I chose them, or both.
1. The Haunted Ballads: The Weaver & the Factory Maid, The Famous Flower of Serving Men, Matty Groves, Cruel Sister, New-Slain Knight. Nothing hidden about those five title choices; each is a classic Child ballad. The twist came in retelling the story behind the song.
2. The Kinkaid Chronicles: A bit more complex.
a. Rock & Roll Never Forgets. This fit the establishing theme. JP Kinkaid is in his fifties when he begins narrating the series, a muffled pampered enabled rockstar who is kicked by circumstances into growing the hell up, finally. And it applies to his younger (but still middle-aged) sweetie, as well. "Come back baby, rock and roll never forgets..."
b. While My Guitar Gently Weeps. This one's deep into the reality of session work, tailoring your style to fit whoever's hiring you. Guitars - two custom axes, one gorgeous PRS Private Stock blue waterfall custom, and a $100K Zemaitis named Big Mama Pearl - play a big part in the plot. "I look at the world and I notice it's turning while my guitar gently weeps/With every mistake we must surely be learning, still my guitar gently weeps..."
c. London Calling. I knew I wanted this third one to deal with racism, and how music does and doesn't confront and deal with it. So the Clash title was just right. A lot of this one takes place in the south of France, which is seriously racist and where the Le Pen faction (ugly, horrible nationalist wingnuts) are deeply entrenched. "London calling to the faraway towns, now war is declared and battle come down..."
d. Graceland. This one began as Cleveland Rocks. It deals with JP inducting his idol and major musical influence, an octagenarian blues sessions guy in the South, into the R&R Hall of Fame. Halfway through it, as I realised it was becoming an intimate, wrenching little thing about family and owning your own history, the title began to jar against my nerves. In a way, it's about attaining a kind of grace, and a kind of peace. "I've reason to believe we all will be received in Graceland..."
e. Book of Days. The only Kinkaid with a fictional musical title instead of a real one: it's the name of the double Blacklight CD that hits a universal nerve and goes mega on them and necessitates a 2.5 year tour that has some major consequences. I wrote all the song lyrics on this one.
f. Uncle John's Band. JP's full name is John Peter Kinkaid. Still alive after the near-disaster at the end of the Book of Days tour, he's playing local shows with his longtime Bay Area band, the Fog City Geezers. A book about pitfalls, and silence, and people not knowing each other past the surface. The original Uncle John's Band, of course, was the Dead; Jerry Garcia - Jerome John Garcia - was the Uncle John of the song. The book takes place mostly in Marin County, which was the Dead's stomping ground (and mine) back in the day, so it fit beautifully. "Come hear Uncle John's Band by the riverside, got some things to talk about here beside the rising tide..."
g. Restless. This one's a short story, which will likely be the first of a collection put together over time. It's Kinkaids, but not JP; this is narrated by the series' detective, former DEA, NYPD and SFPD Homicide detective Patrick Ormand. He drives me nuts (I want to smack him) but he isn't boring. "Restless" is the perfect one-word description of him. The story - which links up to the third Kinkaid, "London Calling" - explains why he's so damned restless, what happened to make him that way.
Short story, non Kinkaid:
Ghost, in the Key of B: A woman, a dead musician, a history. She's either being haunted and complicit in that haunting, or she's bonkers with grief, or both.
The Ties That Bind: A vignette, in the O Henry vein, about what poverty does to a relationship in modern America. A twist on a beautiful Richard Thompson song, "Oh I Swear": Cruel poverty is the tie that binds/but we'll get by.
1. The Haunted Ballads: The Weaver & the Factory Maid, The Famous Flower of Serving Men, Matty Groves, Cruel Sister, New-Slain Knight. Nothing hidden about those five title choices; each is a classic Child ballad. The twist came in retelling the story behind the song.
2. The Kinkaid Chronicles: A bit more complex.
a. Rock & Roll Never Forgets. This fit the establishing theme. JP Kinkaid is in his fifties when he begins narrating the series, a muffled pampered enabled rockstar who is kicked by circumstances into growing the hell up, finally. And it applies to his younger (but still middle-aged) sweetie, as well. "Come back baby, rock and roll never forgets..."
b. While My Guitar Gently Weeps. This one's deep into the reality of session work, tailoring your style to fit whoever's hiring you. Guitars - two custom axes, one gorgeous PRS Private Stock blue waterfall custom, and a $100K Zemaitis named Big Mama Pearl - play a big part in the plot. "I look at the world and I notice it's turning while my guitar gently weeps/With every mistake we must surely be learning, still my guitar gently weeps..."
c. London Calling. I knew I wanted this third one to deal with racism, and how music does and doesn't confront and deal with it. So the Clash title was just right. A lot of this one takes place in the south of France, which is seriously racist and where the Le Pen faction (ugly, horrible nationalist wingnuts) are deeply entrenched. "London calling to the faraway towns, now war is declared and battle come down..."
d. Graceland. This one began as Cleveland Rocks. It deals with JP inducting his idol and major musical influence, an octagenarian blues sessions guy in the South, into the R&R Hall of Fame. Halfway through it, as I realised it was becoming an intimate, wrenching little thing about family and owning your own history, the title began to jar against my nerves. In a way, it's about attaining a kind of grace, and a kind of peace. "I've reason to believe we all will be received in Graceland..."
e. Book of Days. The only Kinkaid with a fictional musical title instead of a real one: it's the name of the double Blacklight CD that hits a universal nerve and goes mega on them and necessitates a 2.5 year tour that has some major consequences. I wrote all the song lyrics on this one.
f. Uncle John's Band. JP's full name is John Peter Kinkaid. Still alive after the near-disaster at the end of the Book of Days tour, he's playing local shows with his longtime Bay Area band, the Fog City Geezers. A book about pitfalls, and silence, and people not knowing each other past the surface. The original Uncle John's Band, of course, was the Dead; Jerry Garcia - Jerome John Garcia - was the Uncle John of the song. The book takes place mostly in Marin County, which was the Dead's stomping ground (and mine) back in the day, so it fit beautifully. "Come hear Uncle John's Band by the riverside, got some things to talk about here beside the rising tide..."
g. Restless. This one's a short story, which will likely be the first of a collection put together over time. It's Kinkaids, but not JP; this is narrated by the series' detective, former DEA, NYPD and SFPD Homicide detective Patrick Ormand. He drives me nuts (I want to smack him) but he isn't boring. "Restless" is the perfect one-word description of him. The story - which links up to the third Kinkaid, "London Calling" - explains why he's so damned restless, what happened to make him that way.
Short story, non Kinkaid:
Ghost, in the Key of B: A woman, a dead musician, a history. She's either being haunted and complicit in that haunting, or she's bonkers with grief, or both.
The Ties That Bind: A vignette, in the O Henry vein, about what poverty does to a relationship in modern America. A twist on a beautiful Richard Thompson song, "Oh I Swear": Cruel poverty is the tie that binds/but we'll get by.
posted by DebGrabien at
10:14 AM
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