Coincidence?

Dirisha ~~~~~~~~~ Tananarive ~~~~~~~~~~ Dirisha

I wrote Matadora, the second book of the original Matador trilogy, in 1985; Rich Berry did the cover, and the book was published in 1986. (Detail of that illo is to the left, above.)

At the time Tananarive Due was probably still in college. Later she became a journalist and novelist, and what? -- about ten years ago, married the writer Steven Barnes. That's her in the middle.

Has it been that long? My, how time flies. Seems like just last summer that wedding, and the reception up on the hill at Stevan and Kim's place ...

When I met Tananarive, I was struck by a certain resemblance to Berry's cover illustration. Maybe it's just me, but have a look. That's T in the middle, above.

Later, I had a set of gun grips done by scrimshaw artist Bob Hergert featuring Dirisha, detail of which is the image on the right. Bob is a master of the form, and I have two small pendants that he also did for me. One of these is the logo for Plinck's-style Sera -- a mountain lion superimposed on a red-tailed hawk, with a tjabang and a Bowie knife clutched in the bird's talons.

The other pendant was a case of art imitating art: I had a scene in one of the Clancy novels in which the protagonist bought a piece of scrimshaw for his bride, in Hawaii. The piece was Cynthia, Goddess of the Moon, a nude woman sitting in lotus and floating in the air, and attributed to Hergert. There was no such piece, but Bob read the novel, and then made it as a gift for me.

How cool is that?