HELP A FAMOUS AUTHOR OUT!
The Powers That Be over at Kensington Publishing need something from me, and maybe my brilliant, creative blog readers have some thoughts.

Here's the deal: I need a title and ideas for cover art for my fourth book. I have a working title -- The Big One (referring to a big crime, not male anatomy, although I was not averse to the inevitable confusion if it sold books) -- but TPTB@KP aren't sold on it. Hence my dilemma.

Frankly, in the 24 hours since TPTB@KP contacted me, I haven't exactly burst any blood vessels thinking about it, and I'm sure I can come up with some workable thoughts by the deadline. But if one of you can save me some work, all the better.

And there is a reward! To make this challenge interesting, the person who comes up with the winning title will not only be thanked profusely in the acknowledgments; he or she will become a character in the book (pending the submitter's approval, of course.) So if you've ever wanted to become a fictional character -- like me! -- now is your golden opportunity.

Here's a very brief summary of the book to get you started:

A career criminal living in a rundown section of Queens, Grant Lambert is one of the New York City’s gay men whom ‘fabulousness’ left behind. But when he and his partner, Chase LaMarca, hear that there is videotaped evidence that internationally famous actor and gay rights icon Romeo Romero is actually heterosexual – only pretending to be gay to draw attention and fame to an otherwise fading career – they think they have found the big score that will make the petty theft and graft worthwhile. All they have to do is get their hands on the tape and blackmail Romero into a mutually beneficial settlement.

Unfortunately – and befitting Grant’s usual luck – possession of that tape proves elusive. First, it is intercepted by a petty criminal with even lower standards than Grant and Chase; then it falls into the hands of Ian Hadley, editor of the popular gossip column ‘Between the Streets,’ who is not above conducting his own blackmail scheme to wring money out of Romero.

When Grant wants something, though, he is not easily discouraged, so he assembles a gang from the dark side of the LGBT coalition to either retrieve the tape from Hadley or come up with a Plan B. Or Plan C. Or whatever it will take to score ‘the big one.’

Run with it, kids! Submit here or in the comments.