Grace (was Re: [LMB] Re:(chat) series and titles)

[Paula Lieberman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter H. Granzeau" <pgranzeau at cox.net>

> At 02:49 PM 3/29/2007, I wrote:
>>At 03:26 AM 30/03/2007, Azalais Aranxta wrote:
>>
>>
>>>In America, we always call rivers "X river" not "river X".  In
>>>European texts I sometimes see "the river Thames" or "the river
>>>Tiber" but all the rivers I grew up near in America were "the
>>>Ohio river", "the Kanawha river", "the New river..."
>>The usage I'm used to depends on the name: if it is "The X River", that is 
>>how it always is, but if it is "The X" then the river X is perfectly 
>>acceptable.
>
> The American redundant stupidity in river names is, of course, the Rio 
> Grande River.

Any time there are foreign terms involved, one can get names like "Fiduciary 
Trust" or "Rio Grande River."
Then there's the waterway that I-495 goes over, just west of the 
intersection of US 3 and I-495  in Chelmsford, the sign says something like 
"River Meadow Brook"

> I rather liked "The Long Blue River" or words to that effect, it

I sort of like "The Long Blue River" ... I'm trying to remember (and 
failing) the names of The Book of the River novels (one of them might have 
been entitled The Book of the River, actually) by Ian Watson, was it, 
published by DAW quite while ago.  I'm also trying to remember the name of 
at least one of a set of novels by a female  author whose name I can't quite 
think of at the moment--her most recent books were from Tor, they and the 
previous books she wrote (which were from DAW) have a number of characters 
of homo or bisexuality (mentioned because that might help someone else think 
of names of books and of the author).... the ones that I'm thinking of  have 
the main character being Ash, or maybe that's her title, and she's been 
involved with a female riverboat captain.  Her adventures include traveling 
the river while things in the region are getting really really really nasty.

> seems to go with "The Wide Green World".
>
> But then, I would never, never, never have the chutzpah to tell an author 
> that I didn't like her title because of connotations which might be my own 
> hang-ups.

I don't know if you've every heard of the video "A Trip to Abilene."  It's a 
psychologist telling of how on a hot, horrible, humid day Texas day, he and 
his wife and his parents went on out to Abilene in an unairconditioned car, 
because none of them had had the willingness to raise an objection--even 
though none of them actually WANTED to go to Abilene on that trip.  Each of 
them thought that the others wanted to do it, and that they were being 
POLITE and going along to make the OTHER people happy...  nobody was willing 
to risk raising an objection and or even a question about whether it was a 
good idea or not, lest someone else get upset at them or disappointed in 
them for  objecting/questions/interfering with the family peace and harmony 
and goodwill....

(I saw the then-videotape back in my Air Force days in a project officer 
training class).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_paradox

"The Abilene paradox is a paradox in which a group of people collectively 
decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of 
the individuals in the group. It involves a common breakdown of group 
communication in which each member mistakenly believes that their own 
preferences are counter to the group's and do not raise objections...

"The phenomenon may be a form of groupthink. It is easily explained by 
social psychology theories of social conformity and social cognition which 
suggest that human beings are often very averse to acting contrary to the 
trend of the group. Likewise, it can be observed in psychology that indirect 
cues and hidden motives often lie behind peoples' statements and acts, 
frequently because social disincentives discourage individuals from openly 
voicing their feelings or pursuing their desires."

Authors get overruled on titles all the time by e.g. publishers--the point 
is that -commercial- fiction is not the same as writing for oneself, writing 
for money means that someone else is going to have to be willing to pay 
money for the work the writer's done.  The title is one of the "selling 
points" -- a title that persuades the potential buyer/reader that the book's 
oriented in some direction other than what the book is oriented in, again, 
can get the consumer angry feeling cheated, "I expected a book about X and 
it's about Y!" or can cause the consumer to pass up the book because the 
consumer's impression from the title is that the book is about Z that the 
consumer has no interest in it.  I've  been bitten by such things, e.g., I 
ignored _Tinker_ by Wen Spencer, because the combination of title and 
publisher, for months, even though I -know- that titles can be misleading. 
Even sophisticated readers can be misled....