Jaws alternative titles

Fascinating article, found on Huffington Post, regarding the many (many!) alternate titles considered by author Peter Benchley for the novel that eventually became known as…Jaws:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/jaws-alternative-title_n_3703627.html

It got me thinking about my own novels and alternate titles I considered for them.

The Dark Fringe, my first major work, was originally entitled The Fringe (I came up with the title when I first started writing the story, way back in 1984-85 or thereabouts and a good twenty years before the TV show first appeared).  When it came time to print the story in 1996 or so, it was suggested by my publisher that I change the title to make it more “dramatic”.  So, I converted The Fringe into The Dark Fringe and to this day I believe J. J. Abrams and company at the very least were aware of my book (I say this for several reasons, the greatest of which is the season two episode Brown Betty.  While the plot of my book and the episode are quite different, the peculiars and visuals in Brown Betty sure look an awful lot like what I presented in my graphic novel). DarkFringe

My next big work was started shortly after I finished the early drafts of The Dark Fringe, circa 1985-86 and was entitled The Abyss.  In 1989, James Cameron’s The Abyss was release to theaters and my book’s title was deep sixed only to be resurrected years later as The Last Flight of the Argus.

As for my other books, they were originally titled as you see ’em today, so no stories there!