The working title for this book has been New Moon’s Egg for the past week or so. On sharing this with friends last night, the response was a unanimous ‘meh’.
Unpacking the response, both the moon and eggs are feminine concepts in our culture, and they are also round(ish) objects. This title doesn’t suggest any of the violent or masculine elements of the book, which are substantial.
People had more or less helpful suggestions of how to introduce some testosterone into the title (I am not going with New Moon’s Giant Cock, however). Conceptually, this makes total sense…and I am now back to square one.
Thematically, this book is about family damage; literally, it’s about a witch who uses eggs in her magic, and a supernatural dude with a craving for bloody violence. “Witch” and “magic” both feel too light, as they’re often used in YA fantasy titles; “egg” is hard to combine with anything violent. Anything with “blood” has already been done (especially now that the publishing world has been into paranormal romance for a decade). “Kin” is also a totally overused word, especially in fantasy.
O readers, suggestions are very welcome…
Dammit, I liked New Moon's Egg.
But then, I already know what the book's about.
Hmm.
After thinking about this for the entire day so far, I've come up with "Scars of Kinship" (melodramatic), "New Moon Legacy" (boring), and "The Nature of Blood" (both boring and opaque). So you may get your wish yet…