Ex Fumo Gaudiam and the Latin Language
When I submitted Ex Fumo Gaudiam to my publisher, one of the first things they wanted to do was change the title. Latin would be too obscure, too difficult for people to understand. It wouldn’t serve the book well to have a title that didn’t speak to the nature of the title.
I resisted. For one thing, a Latin title would catch the eye compared to others, and might inspire a bit of curiosity. “What does this mean?” a potential reader might think. And they might look deeper to find out. And to me, the “Romanness” of the story was of primary importance, and a Latin title expressed that powerfully. I was quite proud of the title I had picked out. It sounded like a motto for a prestigious engineering fraternity, or maybe a school of technical learning. I knew that some people would confuse “fumo” with smoke rather than steam (the word has both meanings) but in a steampunk setting that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
To their credit, Jim and Zetta did not insist. we compromised, adding a subtitle, “Out of Steam, Joy”, to clarify it, and we moved forward with that title.
Personally, I think that the idea of a steampunk story set in Ancient Rome is a good one, and I’m frankly quite surprised that there haven’t been more of them already. The popularity of cable dramas like “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” and “Rome” attest to the continuing interest in this time period. Nothing could mar my enthusiasm.
It turned out that there are a couple of fans of the Latin language among my fans, and it also turned out that I had not been quite thorough enough in my research, and the title could be more accurately translated as “Joy made out of Steam” which wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. “De Fumo Gaudium” would have been more accurate.
Unfortunately, the publishing process had moved on, and it was impractical to go back and change it. All my marketing had been based on that title, it was on the cover, it was, simply, the title. We were stuck.
They say adversity engenders creativity (or something like that), so I added a foreword to the book inviting the reader to imagine that the title was coined in a distant land, an ocean away from the scholarly communities of Mother Rome, in a place peopled mostly with soldiers, merchants, and explorers. I felt that this was appropriate given that the book itself takes place in just this sort of location. It’s a bit of a dodge, but you do what you have to.
Ex Fumo Gaudiam is now available in ebook form, from www.logical-lust.com, and with ebook sellers everywhere.
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I really loved the podcast version of “Ex fumo Gaudiam” and I am looking forward to reading the new version you published.
And please tell your latin fans to not bother you with those things : artistic license is not something to be tempered with. 😉