To Maw...Or Not To Maw?

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This afternoon I posted a simple question on Facebook, and it has to do with the word: Maw. And before I get any further in this post, I need to thank the people at Twisted Pixel Games LLC for creating (and hopefully allowing me to use...) the above visual. Their game is called The Maw and you can get information on it: HERE.

Needless to say, I received several responses to my simple question, which was: Has there ever been a speculative fiction work that doesn't include the word "maw?"

Now, I know it's a perfectly good word, however, like almost anything in life, too much of a good things is anything but. I've read SO many stories in speculative fiction over the past couple of years and almost every time, the word maw can be found within the text.

I got a lot of great responses. One of my FB friends, Justin posted a link to a similar blog post he penned a couple of years ago. I'm glad he did that because I wondered if I'm the only one thinking that. I recommend you read his post: HERE.

But, the best response I got was from another friend, Jay (who is an author AND a video game designer...). Here's what he had to say:

JAY: Gonna suggests titles for Scott's next story:

"A Maw Too Far"
"A Maw for Emily"
"The Lord of the Maws"
"Rendezvous with Maw"
"The Maw of Time"
"The Mawing"
"Pet Maw"
"Black Maw"
"The Tell-Tale Maw"
"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Maw"
"The Maw Whisperer"
"The Maw of the Wild"
"Star Maw"
"Papa Married a Maw" (Well, yeah...)
"If You Were a Maw, My Love"
"Old Maw's War"
"Maw and Empire"
"War of the Maws"
"Around the Maw in Eighty Days"
"Maw Hunters International"
"A Song of Fire and Maws"
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Maw"
"What the Maw Saw"

And of course... duh, DUM! duh, DUM!!!!

"Maws."

And if I could, I'd add one of my own to this fantastic list--in honor of Jay's short story in Mechanized Masterpieces 2: An American Anthology:

The Maw-Less Horsemen.

To Maw...or not to Maw? Turns out that's a pretty good question!

* Artwork used without permission from: http://www.mawgame.com/