A Thousand Suns

     In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that the sequel to Einstein’s Trunk was complete and titled World of Hurt. I thought the title was somewhat clever as it was a nice play on the hero’s last name as well as an accurate portrayal of what the book was about, i.e., Rulon Hurt’s somewhat painful world. Roughly 40% of the book takes place in the Twin Falls area of Idaho and the last 60% takes place in and around Zurich, Switzerland.

     But now I’ve changed the title to A Thousand Suns. The title comes from the expression ‘heat of a thousand suns’ – which Rulon uses to describe how much his enemies hate him and which Yohaba uses to describe how much she loves the big cowboy.  Can’t say more without giving away the plot, but I will add that Yohaba’s suns burn mighty bright, in fact, she dominates the book. The new title does a better job of capturing the human heart beating within the story - much more so than the old title. And besides, World of Hurt is a better fit for the third book in the series, which I'm starting on now.

     Speaking of Switzerland, I was having a conversation the other day on why some countries are more prosperous than others. Reasons were given. Opinions were shared. And then someone brought up Switzerland and mentioned that almost every negative condition raised could likewise be applied to that small country nestled in the center of Europe. Switzerland has limited natural resources, is landlocked, is split by multiple cultures and languages, has an expensive social safety net for its citizens, a lot of immigrants for its size, and is surrounded by countries with large militaries who have a history of going to war with each other. And yet it thrives. The longer I live in Switzerland, the more I appreciate its special place in the world. 

     My next post will cover a few tips I've learned on writing powerful descriptions.

Best regards,

Jim

Zurich