Book Two officially has a title! I’m delighted to announce that Latona, Sempronius, Vibia, Neitin, Aula, and all the rest will be back in…
Give Way to Night
I’m really pleased with it. Unlike From Unseen Fire, where it took ages to arrive at something that made everyone happy, this had immediate unanimity. It was on my list of ideas, and it was the favorite pick of both my agent and editor. It’s poetic, it reflects the darkening world of the second book, and it reaches out a bit in theme to Sempronius and Vibia.
Because I truly am useless with titles, I did steal this one (with sight grammatical adaptation) from Latin poetry as well. Where From Unseen Fire comes from Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura, this is a phrase out of Ovid’s Metamorphoses:
“It would take too long to tell what wickedness I found everywhere. Those rumours were even milder than the truth. I had crossed Maenala, those mountains bristling with wild beasts’ lairs, Cyllene, and the pinewoods of chill Lycaeus. Then, as the last shadows gave way to night, I entered the inhospitable house of the Arcadian king.”
The context has no relevance, really, but I do like the sense of descending into eerie darkness that the passage has. Although, now that I think of it, the pinewoods and the house might both be seen as hints to the action… but, I say too much. 😉
Cass Morris -- Author 