As a side note...

On a side note that has absolutely nothing to do with the progress I'm making with the agent process, one of the titles I was considering for my book was:

Marionettes and Puppeteers

I liked it because throughout my book I try to create the picture that the government is actually controlling the American people. Like they are literally pulling at the strings of helpless puppets. One of my characters actually says something like that in the book. This is what he says:

"Don't you see, Shawn? The government you know today is not the government that was established in 1776. Power hungry men have become so corrupt and twisted by their own appetites, that our structure of government is a mere shadow of what it used to be. Give it a few more years and there won't even be a shadow left. Americans are nothing more than puppets, controlled by the greedy, wicked, vicious hands of their puppeteers, the officials of the United States government. 'The people' lost their executive power over the government a long time ago. This charade of freedom and liberty," Colby said, "its nothing more than a show. We aren't trying to overthrow the government that Washington, Adams and so many others have given their very lives for. We're trying to protect that system of government."

A long silence filled the tiny kitchen. Shawn didn't know what to believe. On the one hand, what Colby said made sense--sort of. But on the other hand, his brother sounded seriously paranoid.

"Puppets, Colby?"

Colby rolled his eyes. "Its a figure of speech, bro."


... to be continued...


That was really the only reference I made to marionettes (another word for puppet) in the whole book, so I wasn't really sure if people would "get" why I titled the book that. I also wasn't sure if it was powerful or flashy enough to get someone to want to read it. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure my current title, Keepers of the Flame, is any good either... but it's the best I could come up with ( : If my publishers and editors don't like it someday, I'll gladly let them put their creative juices to the test to come up with something better.

Anyway, I DID, however, really like the quote that I chose to go with the book. It doesn't really makes sense now that I'm not using puppets in the title, but it was pretty powerful when paired with the other title:

"There are many advantages in puppets. They never argue. They have no crude views about art. They have no private lives."

--Oscar Wilde

I think that Keepers of the Flame is a better set up for the book and what it is about, etc. However, I can't help but nurture this sentimental attachment I have to this former direction on the title and theme. I just thought I'd share with the crowd ( :