Dragaera

The title was originally "The Enchantress of Dzur Mountain"

Casey Rousseau casey at the-bat.net
Mon Oct 6 13:06:53 PDT 2003

Steve Hubbell asked:
> What happens when the Vlad Taltos novel DZUR is published? Will
> the titles of the other (eventually) forthcoming Vlad Taltos
> books be changed to easier pronounced but more mundane titles?

Although I asked much the same question last year when the topic first came
up, I think the conversation probably went something like:

PNH: Steve, we got a problem.
SKZB: We do?  Sh_t, I ...
PNH:  No, no, not that.  Marketing says 'The Enchantress of Dzur Mountain'
is too long a title.
SKZB: How is it too long?  It's shorter than 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban'!
PNH:  Yeah, but with the Potter books, you can skip the 'Harry Potter and'
part in counting how long the title is.  Also, the test group couldn't
figure out how to pronounce 'Dzur'.
SKZB: Oh, sure and Azkaban just trips right off the toungue.
PNH:  Now, Steve, you know as well as I do that all Scholastic has to do is
whisper that there is a new Harry book and people will fork over all their
money.
SKZB: What if I get around to writing _Dzur_?
PNH:  We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Besides, you might get
bored with Vlad long before then.  Let's call this one 'Sethra Lavode'.
That keeps the title character the same, keeps the parallels with Dumas's
Vicomte, etc.
SKZB: It's not that much easier to pronounce.
PNH:  Just trust me on this one.
SKZB: Oh, all right.


-Casey