Very exciting news! After a lot of intense thinking, discussion, and waffling, we’ve selected The Ghosts Who Travel with Me as the new title of our book. It establishes its independence from Brautigan more than Trout Frying in America (which was a direct play on Trout Fishing in America) did, and it captures the theme of Allison’s story perfectly—all throughout her journey, Allison carries the people and experiences from her past with her, and examines the way that their influences have endured throughout her life. The Ghosts Who Travel with Me is also a reference to Brautigan, albeit a slightly oblique one: Brautigan referred to his wife as “the woman who travels with me” and Allison evokes variations of that line in several places throughout her manuscript. We felt this title would be more appealing to people who are not familiar with Brautigan while still giving a nod to the enormous influence he has over the book, and that it appropriately acknowledges the dichotomy of present (travel) and past (ghosts) that plays such an important role in the story.
Now that we have our title, the next step is the cover. We have some talented designers here in the program, and I cannot wait to see what kinds of ideas they come up with!