WHAT TO CALL STERKARM 3?

The Sterkarm books by Susan Price

          Whatever I call it, there's not much chance it will come to heel.
       At the bottom of this post - below Blott - I shall put a link to the first chapter, in rough draft, of Sterkarm 3.
        People have asked, what is the book's title going to be?
        Well, how would I know?  I've only just finished the first draft.
         Some writers start with the title, but that's never worked for me.  In fact, I hate titles.  I find it easier to write the book than come up with a title.

The American cover

          I remember that 'The Sterkarm Handshake' came to me quite late in the writing and rewriting of the book.  It suddenly struck me that it's the name of their family badge, but is said by their enemies to sum up their treachery - and the whole book is about treachery of one kind or another.  So it seemed to me to be a title that summed up the book rather well - but I had doubts because it was such an odd collection of words.  Would it make any sense to people?  Would they remember it?
          My publishers were just as doubtful, and I remember drawing up a long list of other possible titles - none of which seemed quite right, even if more usual - and then I had a phone-call from the publishers saying that, on second thoughts, they'd decided that 'The Sterkarm Handshake' was the right title after all.
          Since the second book was 'A Sterkarm Kiss', it's been suggested that the third should be called 'A Sterkarm Cuddle' or, even, 'A Sterkarm Shag' - but since a Sterkarm handshake means a stab in the belly, and a Sterkarm kiss means a cut throat, I'd rather not even contemplate what a Sterkarm cuddle or a Sterkarm shag might be.

Ravens

          At one time I was thinking of calling the book 'A Kindness of Sterkarms', playing on 'a kindness of ravens', that ill-omened bird.  But it never felt right.  
          And then Kath Roberts suggested 'A Sterkarm Cure', because it sounded more like the other titles.  So, its working title at present - when I don't just call it 'Sterk 3' - is A Sterkarm Cure.
          Which, of course, is rather like the Emperor Caligula's cure for his nephew's cough.
           But I can't promise that it will still be called that when and if it is ever finished and - one way or another - published.

          And as I contemplate rewriting Sterk 3, here's Blot on rewriting - 

And here, for those who want is, the link to the first chapter of Sterkarm 3