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.

Pulling Strings

In a couple of my Mora fantasy novels—set in a preliterate Polynesian-like society—I have mentioned someone pulling someone’s strings. This, of course, is a relatively modern expression, coming from puppet shows. So was it anachronistic to use it? I admittedly didn’t think about it much until I worked on my current fiction project, which also mentions string-pulling. It poses no problem there; it is a more ‘advanced’ society and knows all about puppets.

I feel it was all right to use the expression in the earlier novels. It says what I intend my readers to understand, without any roundabout explanations. We can, if we wish, simply think of it as a translation of some Mora expression. Or maybe the Mora people had puppets and puppet shows. Why not? There are other traveling entertainers mentioned. Indeed, they play a major role in some of the stories.

It is entirely possible I will mention puppet shows in a future Mora novel. I might even feature one in some way. That is for somewhere down the line but I do have a couple more tales set among that people in my to-write queue.

Historical?

Although the protagonist of my two Wilk adventure novels (‘Wilk’ and ‘The Dictator’s Children’) name-drops all sorts of famous people he has met over the course of the Twentieth Century, I’ve not had him actually interact with any of them in the stories. The one exception is a rather brief meeting with the Soviet general Tukhachevsky, mostly involving having a medal pinned on him.

It could be argued whether the books qualify as historical fiction. I’ve never promoted them as such (aside from dropping it into any keywords). ‘Wilk’ is set in Russia, Central Asia, and China in 1919 and 1920, with our protagonist crossing Asia in those tumultuous years of revolution and civil war. ‘The Dictator’s Children’ takes place in 1948 and is a tale of espionage and crime in Florida and Latin America. History is more a backdrop than the focus of the novels, which is why I prefer to label them as adventures.

Available from arachispress.com

Remembered

A passage from These Remembered Hills, a Hocking Hills Mystery from Stephen Brooke and Arachis Press

 

Real Places, Fictional Places

Many of my stories are set, in part or whole, in Florida. This is not necessarily the ‘real’ Florida nor do they all visit the same fictional version of the state. Scenes in the Wilk novel ‘The Dictator’s Children,’ for example, do take place in the real Naples Florida. I attempted to keep the narrative and description historically accurate—the tale is set in 1948—but was willing to bend or invent as needed for the story.

It may be noted that the Women in the Sun novels, written under the pen name Sienna Santerre, are set in that same Naples but the details vary to fit a different fictional timeline. There are definite parallels between the two; indeed, I originally thought to tie the two series together but chose to go with a completely different vision of Naples. The decision to use the pen name brought a final division between the two.

My Shaper novels are set in a fictional Cully Beach Florida, a place that draws from a number of Atlantic coast towns but especially from Flagler Beach. It is not Flagler, however! It is Cully Beach and exists in its own fictional space. These novels are set in the same Florida as my novel ‘The Middle of Nowhere’ and a number of my short stories.

The Ruby of ‘Middle’ is somewhat loosely based on Steinhatchee Florida. Again, it is not Steinhatchee, nor are the neighboring towns the same, though they have resemblances. I ‘flipped’ a few of the locations there. The town of Genoa, from which some of my characters hail in this version of Florida, is pretty much a disguised Naples. But I also visit real places around the state in the stories—including White Springs to attend the Florida Folk Festival in the Cully Beach novel ‘Smoke.’

‘Asanas,’ the first (but I hope, not only) Tamarind novel, is set in yet another, different Florida. The town of Tamarind is completely fictional, though nearby Leawood is, in part, based on Englewood. But there is also something of Fort Myers Beach to it, and certainly other places I know. As with Ruby, I flipped some of the geography. Most of the places around it are real Florida locations; I invented nothing beyond the Tamarind area itself, aside from Karen’s ‘farm’ on an invented lake somewhere north of Sebring. There are a whole lot of lakes there! I will admit that Consonante Springs and its spa/hotel is loosely based on Bonita Springs, which is located quite a bit further south. And the Hot Dog Stand derives from a beach-side restaurant in faraway Keaton Beach.

I’ve done somewhat the same sorts of things in my novel set in southern Ohio, ‘These Remembered Hills.’ I’ve moved things about just a tad in the Hocking Hills region where the tale is set—not any towns or such, but the valley where the Fry farm is located. That is based on a very real place.

I am entirely likely to draw from a hodgepodge of remembered places and events when writing my stories, mixing them up and altering them to best fit. There is no need to stick strictly to the facts in a work of fiction, as long as the result is believable and consistent. Then the world we create is just as ‘real’ as that of our everyday lives.

Yet, if we name a real place and get some detail wrong, there will be those to pick at it. This is a pretty good argument in favor of changing the names. I’ve no doubt someone will see something in my versions of Naples that they think is not quite correct. I myself have found things in stories set there. Like getting the dry and rainy seasons reversed! If it doesn’t hurt the story, it’s no big deal, but major blunders can impact our willingness to believe.

Ultimately, any setting is fictional, no matter how closely it is modeled on reality. It comes from the author’s mind and it is for the author to make it seem real. Tamarind and Cully Beach must be places the reader can believe exist, places where they can live for a few hours. The same is true of ‘my’ Naples.

But the goal is not to make the reader see those places as I see them. It is to let them see as the characters see. That is the final step to making it real.

My Free Books

A while back I decided I’d rather give my ebooks away than give Bezos a cut. Therefor, they are free to download at the Arachis Press site (arachispress.com). The print versions do remain available for purchase. At this point, relatively late in my life, I’m not at all concerned about making money from the books.

Indeed, I am considering applying a Creative Commons license to the writing, allowing the public to have ownership. I do intend to do this with any and all music and songs I’ve created. There are no direct heirs I need be concerned about, though I am tempted to name a niece or nephew as my literary executor. Let them decide what to do with the stuff!

One thing is certain, none of my music will be registered with a performing rights organization. I have been a BMI member for a long time but never listed but one song with them. I’d remove it if I was willing to take the time to figure out how.

I create, and that is fine of itself but it is better to share what one has created. This I shall do, with no strings attached, with no payment involved. I can hope some will enjoy the work, that it might even prove meaningful. If they do, I also hope they will share it with others, and perhaps spread the word. Reviews are always nice. The books were written to be read.

Stephen Brooke 2024