Choosing a Book Title

Background

Choosing a book title is a personal thing. Some authors know the title before they begin to write, in fact it appears miraculously as they are doing their research.

Others wait until they have written the first draft. On reading and editing it a title appears as being an obvious choice.

Then there are some novels which arrive at the publishers and one of the team, it could be the editor doesn’t like the chosen title and persuades the author to choose a different one.

Choosing Janus ~ Gateway to Heaven on Earth

My parent’s original title of their novella was simply ‘Heaven on Earth’ so why did I think fit to amend it? Firstly it is a prequel to my Riduna Series, set from the late Victorian era through to WW1 and on to 1920. For both books in the series I chose names which reflected the setting but added an air of mystique.

Riduna, my first novel, is allegedly the ‘Roman’ name for the island of Alderney. Although some researchers have cast doubt over this more recently, Riduna was once seen on shop fronts and as the name for the local rugby team. In fact, folks from Alderney used to call themselves Ridunains.

Ancasta, from my second book Ancasta ~ Guide me Swiftly Home, is the Goddess of the River Itchen, Southampton, from which this novel flows, before, during and after WW1.

Thus, when I decided to publish my parents’ novella, I thought it would be quite nice to continue the theme. Janus is said to be the ‘door’ or ‘gateway’ to another dimension. Since my parent’s little book was titled ‘Heaven on Earth’ I felt that Janus would be a perfect Gateway to the island life they described therein.

This is what Wikipedia says of JANUS:

“In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (/ˈdʒeɪnəs/ JAY-nəs; Latin: Ianvs [ˈi̯aːnʊs]) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways,^[2] passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (Ianuarius).^[3] According to ancient Roman farmers’ almanacs, Juno was mistaken as the tutelary deity of the month of January,^[4] but Juno is the tutelary deity of the month of June.”

The paperback was released, appropriately, in January this year

Janus ~ Gateway to Heaven on Earth is now available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon,

in paperback from The Great British Bookshop,

as an e book on various sites including Barnes and Noble, Apple and Kobo

and can be ordered from any good bookshop too giving the ISBN:978-1-7393286-4-1

Wikipedia writes of JANUS:

“In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (/ˈdʒeɪnəs/ JAY-nəs; Latin: Ianvs [ˈi̯aːnʊs]) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways,^[2] passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (Ianuarius).^[3] According to ancient Roman farmers’ almanacs, Juno was mistaken as the tutelary deity of the month of January,^[4] but Juno is the tutelary deity of the month of June.”