Tamarind

Tamarind is a fictional Florida town that serves as the main setting for my novel ‘Asanas’ (available from Arachis Press in print or as free ebook). This is not the same Florida as that which Ted ‘Shaper’ Carrol inhabits, the Florida of the three Cully Beach novels and ‘The Middle of Nowhere,’ as well as a number of short stories. The two differ in too many respects for any sort of crossover between them. Nor is it the Florida that pops up in the Wilk adventures nor in the Women in the Sun novels I have written under the name Sienna Santerre.

So where is this Tamarind? It is situated near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, somewhere north of Punta Gorda and south of Sarasota. I have disguised the area a bit, flipping some of the geography north and south, to create a place that can not be found on any map. But I did draw up a map of Tamarind for my own use. One should be able to find ones way around with it, although I think the description in the book is actually adequate.

One sees there is road out to Leawood and the beach. Leawood is, to some degree, patterned on both Englewood and Englewood Beach but also on other beach communities I have known, including Vanderbilt Beach just north of Naples and even Keaton Beach up in the Big Bend area (I stole ‘The Hot Dog Stand’ from there). This does not mean Tamarind is in any way based on Englewood. I created it from bits and pieces of Florida towns I have known.

Out west of town lies Consonante Springs. This also is completely fictitious but I did base the spa there, to some degree, on the one in Bonita Springs Florida—a place where I myself taught yoga, long, long ago. And beyond the Springs one finds the US Highway 41 and Interstate 75. Those I didn’t need to invent. Nor did I invent any other of the towns mentioned, up and down the coast. I did, however, make up Singer Lake, up in the lake district of Florida.

I do intend to revisit Tamarind. There are many other projects vying for my attention but I do have a good idea of where the sequel should go. We shall see if I get to it.