Harking back a couple posts to the one about FaceBook, I want to mention that we are leaving all Meta sites soon, and there will be no pages at FB for Stephen Brooke or Arachis Press. It's about time we jettisoned that place.
But we (that is, Stephen's trio of pen names) will have presence enough elsewhere. We'll drop links and news, even if we are not actively working on a Sienna Santerre novel at the moment.
St Anne Catholic church in Naples FL, and its attached parochial school, is mentioned here and there in the Women in the Sun novels. The church (pictured here) was the original building from the Fifties; the larger one in use today was being built at the time the stories are set, the late Sixties. St Anne church is close to the oldest downtown area, near the pier and beach. The interior photo is most likely from sometime in the Sixties.
Just a mention here that we've deleted our associated Facebook page. Not needed and we've been lowering our Meta presence anyway (it might disappear altogether one of these days). One can still get our news at FB on the Stephen Brooke Author page (https://www.facebook.com/stephenbrookeauthor) or the Arachis Press page (https://www.facebook.com/ArachisPress).
Way back, the Collier County library was located in what is now the upscale Third Street shopping area, backing up to the old Naples Hotel and the pier area. This was pretty much the original 'downtown' part of Naples. It moved to its current location near what was then the junior high school in the mid-Sixties.
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| the old library |
The protagonist trio of my 'Sun' novels are just old enough to have been there for the change, and would have visited the library at both locations. For Joey and Ronnie, it would have been a favored after-school location (and Kris would have gone along with it as a meet-up spot, at least sometimes). As I remember the old library, it was cramped and a bit chaotic, and really could not fill the needs of a growing Naples.
The new building was a considerable improvement, at least in function. Very modern in its architecture, a big change from the old one. Eventually, it was also expanded and a shopping center-like facade added. Not an improvement in my opinion!
This is a picture (via Google Street) of the house in Naples FL where I lived from when I was about two to six years old. It's in the Lake Forest area but I won't give the exact address. I used it as the model (even the location) for Joey's house in my Women in the Sun novels, with a few small adjustments (such as giving it an old-school Florida flat roof). It was a brand-new neighborhood back then and very barren; none of that greenery that has grown up around it since!
We—meaning me and Arachis Press—decided a while back to remove our print novels from general distribution. They will, of course, remain available at the AP store (https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arachispress). This allows much lower pricing, a third to a half less than books purchased through various online retailers. We never expected physical bookstores to carry them, though in theory they could have ordered copies for their customers. Here are links for the two current novels (or one may find them at the Arachis Press site (arachispress.com):
One Summer in the Sun: https://www.lulu.com/shop/sienna-santerre/one-summer-in-the-sun/paperback/product-p8kz7g.html
One Christmas in the Sun: https://www.lulu.com/shop/sienna-santerre/one-christmas-in-the-sun/paperback/product-dwz4z9.html
The ebooks (EPUB and PDF) remain free downloads at Arachis Press. There will also continue to be regular discounts on the print books, posted at the Arachis Press blog (https://arachispress.blogspot.com/).
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| Lockheed Electra |
There was no reason to name the carrier in the novel, of course.
Maybe I’ll find a reason to in a sequel, if someone flies again! After
all, Lin Summerlin should be coming in for some summer vacation once
more in the next planned book. But she flew into Miami in her last
appearance and was driven to Naples. Larger carriers flew into Fort
Myers, too. I recall seeing big Constellations on the field there when I
was a kid. They looked big to me, anyway!
The field in Naples was built during the Second World War as a training facility. The barrack buildings still stood during the time my Sun books are set, the late Sixties. I wouldn’t be surprised if some do yet. They were remodeled as businesses and residences in the post-war period. I have Mackie remember living in one of them when he was a little kid. Admittedly, that was one of my own memories.
