If you’ve been following the chapters I’ve posted, you’ve noticed that each chapter has had a title. No more. Michael wrote me last night, praising the current edit. But his closing words were these: MY ONLY SUGGESTION WOULD BE TO LOSE THE CHAPTER TITLES, THEY’RE … WELL, JUST TERIBLE, I DON’T THINK TITLES ARE YOUR STRONG POINT. I THINK THE BOOK WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITH JUST CHAPTER NUMBERS.
Heh heh. That sort of thing is good for me, keeps me humble. And Keith agrees, so they go.
In truth, I was not overly attached to the chapter titles. They were the result of reading too much Harry Potter, I think. The only reason I liked them at all were the fun I had in finding and culling Shakespeare and Dante quotes, with a few other nods to authors thrown in. Fun. But, apparently, lousy. So they are gone, to be memorialized only here. So, for those with a morbid kind of interest in the minutia of my mind, I have listed all the chapters with their titles. When the book comes out, you can write them in, if you so choose.
1 – Journey’s End
2 – A Crowd of Spirits
3 – The Prince’s Near Allies
4 – Friends Abounding
5 – The Foxes Full of Fraud
6 – Godforsaking Threat
7 – Carving Passage
8 – Spare Not for the Cost
9 – By Noctunral Chill
10 – Crediting Rumor
11 – Willful Choler Meeting
12 – Some Confidences
13 – Arrivals
14 – Honorable Reckoning
15 – Unforeseen
16 – Oaths
17 – Racing By
18 – Curst and Shrew’d
19 – Diverse Wounds
20 – Beauty’s Pen
21 – Passing Welcome
22 – The Slip, The Slip
23 – Flecked Darkness Reels
24 – Star-Cross’d
25 – Any Man Who Can Write…
26 – Honourable Villain
27 – Wailing the Crime
28 – Swear, if Thou Darest!
29 – Bold Abruptness
30 – Many a Guest
31 – Phlegethon
32 – The Forfeit of the Peace
33 – Amusing the Enemy
34 – Feints
35 – Hunting the Greyhound
36 – Cave
37 – Fidelity
38 – Until the Last Angel-Trumpet Blows
39 – Dolorous Fire
40 – True Duelists
There you go. While there are many that I like, one that I think needs explaining is Chapter 36. Cave takes place, obviously, in a cave. But Cave is also Latin for “Beware,” a parallel that I enjoy.
So say farewell to the chapter titles, and bow your head for a moment of silence as they pass out of existance.
– DB
