This current book has had a number of titles since it was first “finished” in 2004. The title in the Copyright Office is phr33k, which was the book’s working title throughout its development. As I looked over the completed first draft, though, it was clear that this title wasn’t really representative of the scope of the story. After quite a bit of thought (not quite enough, obviously) I came up with The Runes of Eris as an alternate.

I could go into the deep whys and wherefores of this title, but that would only prove the point that it doesn’t do what a book’s title must do. In a nutshell, I’d gone from a one-word relevant-but-limited title to one so brimming with rich inner meanings that no one understood it at all. The old e-published edition very nearly went to press with the Runes title, though; I have some screen captures of early online catalog listings that actually show it that way.

There are still some references to this title in the book, some obvious, and some hidden within anagrams. In any case, I’ll show you what reminded me of this: a metal sculptor has created a likeness of Eris recently, and I ran onto it while doing completely unrelated research. Take a look here.