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  • I'm a writer, journalist, and the editor of The Gambit, the alt-weekly newspaper in New Orleans.

    Journalism: My work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Globe & Mail (Canada), The Times- Picayune (New Orleans), The Oregonian, and Willamette Week, as well as in magazines including Details, Vogue, Publishers Weekly, and Portland Monthly.

    Publishing: Tight Shot, my first novel, was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Its sequel, Hot Shot, was roundly ignored by everyone, but was a far better book. I'm also a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

    Stage: I was a member of the Groundlings and Circle Repertory West in Los Angeles, and am a playwright (see "Stage" in the right-hand rail).

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September 19, 2006

Great Titles, Part I

Diary What makes a great title? Something memorable, catchy, profound, lurid, or just perfect for the project? For me, it's something that makes me want to pick up the book, the CD, or go see the play.

Years ago I started compiling a list of memorable titles. Here's an even dozen from the beginning of the alphabet:

- And the Ass Saw the Angel
- As I Lay Dying
- Bad Girls Go To Hell
- Bastard Out of Carolina
- The Bonfire of the Vanities
- Brave New World
Bad_girls - A Clockwork Orange
- Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
- Diary of a Mad Housewife
- Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
- Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages!
- Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Additions? Suggestions?

10:07 PM in Fiction, Titles, Writing |

|

Comments

R

The Executioner's Song

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept

I Sing the Body Electric

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The Day It Rained Forever

Fifth Business

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Valley of the Dolls

A Wrinkle In Time

The Armies of the Night

Because It Is Bitter, And Because It Is My Heart

Posted by: R | September 23, 2006 at 08:23 PM

KA

These are great. I have 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' in my M list, but had forgotten about 'A Wrinkle in Time' and 'Because it is Bitter, and Because it is My Heart.'

And you're right - science fiction writers often have great titles. I rarely read anything in the genre, but Spider Robinson's 'Lady Slings the Booze' leads my L list.

Posted by: KA | September 24, 2006 at 01:57 PM

nancy

If I may offer something self-centered, an article I wrote for the LA Weekly, "Who She Took With Her."

Posted by: nancy | September 25, 2006 at 12:12 AM

KA

"Who She Took With Her" is nice on so many levels - it has mystery, it implies choice, and it suggests that the crux of the story is going to be the consequences of that choice, or the events leading up to it.

Quite a lot for five words.

Posted by: KA | September 25, 2006 at 01:37 PM

jeff berry

You Got Nothing Coming

The Trouble With Being Born

Touch Not The Cat

Jokes For The John

Posted by: jeff berry | September 27, 2006 at 07:30 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

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