The Real Tibbet’s Brook
Got another couple of entries in the Desert Spear Arc Contest (DSAC) today. The first, from my buddy Matt, requires a little explanation.
Back in college, I worked a few summers for Westchester County Parks and Recreation. It was a great job. I was outdoors all day in the fresh air, getting plenty of exercise at a job where it was easy to let my mind wander. Sometimes I was testing the ph levels of the public pool while waving at pretty girls, and other times I was hauling garbage and spreading wood chips in a picnic area, or tearing down a hidden treehouse full of drug paraphernalia deep in the woods. Often I would go with a partner at the end of the day to clear parking lots and lock gates for the night. One of my regular locations was a wooded park named Tibbett’s Brook, which I always thought was a beautiful place during the day, but which took on an ominous quality at sundown.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is where the town of Tibbet’s Brook, where Arlen Bales and Renna Tanner grow up in The Painted/Warded Man and The Desert Spear, originated in my mind.
Matt is one of maybe half a dozen people who know that story. I haven’t been out to the park in 15 years, but Matt lives closer than I do, and decided to go out there with a copy of The Painted Man (a signed first edition hardcover, no less!),to snap a few pictures for the contest, because he is awesome.
Thankfully Matt used his better half in the pictures, as the lovely Ursula is much easier on the eyes.
Look. There in the trees. Can you spot the wood demon?
Matt, of course, read The Desert Spear long before almost anyone, as he is on the test-read short list. So no ARC for him. I did manage to get him a Resident Evil t-shirt and some 3D glasses, though.
Likewise, my agent Joshua received his own samples of The Desert Spear from the publisher, so he’s not allowed to steal one out of the hands of my fans. Still, his entry, reading with his nephew’s bear Rhino, is delightful:
That is either a really Really REALLY big sign or a very small woman.