JACK'S BLOG
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Good ReadLissa Bryan has explored in her imagination, the horrors of catastrophic change. The following is a brief interview with her about her new book, The End of All Things, soon to be released.
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CubaMUCH AS EVERY American politician attempts to position themselves as the true scion of the Spirit of '76, Cuban politicians promoted themselves as the authentic voice of the Revolution of 1933, the year that four successive presidents were deposed beginning with Gerardo Machado in August of that year. Inasmuch as Fulgencio Batista orchestrated that revolution, he could not be blamed for promoting himself as its “first chief”. However, that didn't stop others from pretending to that throne. Ramón Grau San Martín also had a legitimate claim to the Spirit of the Revolution of 1933. He had led the student protesters until arrested, jailed, and later exiled in 1931. Grau and his associates formed the Auténtico party upon his return to the island. (It doesn't take a linguist to interpret “Auténtico” and infer the implications of the name.) The Auténticos stressed economic nationalism, limitations on foreign property owners, and castigated financial imperialism. They called for immediate national action to regain economic control of the country. Grau condemned American support of the post-Machado regimes and, more importantly, for the Welles mission, which allegedly destroyed the revolutionary goal of Cuba for Cubans. Inasmuch as Batista relied heavily on American backing, it's easy to see that there would be bad blood between the two men. However, Batista allowed the Auténticos to survive during the years of 1940 to 1944 while he was president.
Batista seemed to feel assured of reelection. He dismissed the Auténticos as inconsequential while Grau roamed the island, calling for an end to Batista's regime and an end to administrative corruption as well as fulfillment of the promise of agrarian reform. Apparently Grau's message resonated with the islanders and Batista's handpicked successor, Carlos Saladrigas Zayas, lost the 1944 elections to Grau. Batista was stupefied. He departed Cuba for self-imposed exile in America claiming that he no longer felt safe on the island. He would spend the next eight years luxuriating at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, and a home in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was well financed having emptied the coffers of the government in Havana prior to Grau's inauguration. Oh Dark Thirty
MY BEST PRESENT is my family. I can't remember any toy, any electronic device, any knickknack that has brought me greater joy. It is the one thing that I wished for all my life.
Anyone who has read my stories, especially the early installments of Oh-Dark-Thirty that I have posted on this blog, knows that I am intimately familiar with abuse. I grew up with it. I watched it perpetrated upon my brother until he was old enough to escape and then it was my turn. Still, I dreamed of what a family could be and that is what I wished for.
I suppose that I appreciate my family even more because my first attempt at building one was a failure. I chose the wrong woman. When you grow up loving people that you don't like, it isn't a stretch to imagine that you would marry someone cast out of the same mold. I should have known better, but didn't. I was even foolish enough to pursue her despite repeated rejections. I simply wore her down. The marriage only lasted about three months though we remained together for four years and had two children. One is dead and the other estranged. Then I met Arlene. No, I didn't really learn my lesson. I simply got lucky. I had a good friend who made the match. He made it well and it stuck. We had two children, now three grandchildren. We are closely engaged in their lives. I have concluded that grandchildren are God's gift to those who suffer parenthood. Many years ago, when I was a young sailor, there was a popular television show, Adventures in Paradise. Gardner McKay starred as Adam Troy, a World War II veteran who remained in the Pacific Islands to skipper a trading schooner. My mother often remarked that she could envision me living that life. Although I was drawn to it by my love of sailing, the reality of my life proved her wrong. Although my experiences with a dysfunctional family might have pushed me into a lonely life at sea, I was still drawn to a more domesticated fate. I'm glad I was.
It's fun looking back at the old TV shows, even though they're hard to watch today. I suppose I was that handsome when I was young (please allow me my delusions), but didn't wander off on exotic adventures as Michener wrote of. Still, I had many adventures of my own. I've sailed both coasts as well as Hawaii, in everything from tiny cat boats to tall ships. But, I was able to get home most nights to be with my family.
Lest I depress you overly much (that wasn't my intention), let me offer the following video as my Christmas card to all the world.
Merry Christmas
Good ReadThis is a special offer for authors only. (Non-authors may skip to the interview below.) I will post a brief interview featuring your latest publication if you'll agree to publish mine (see below) on your website/weblog. Just leave me a message using my Contact the Author form, including your email address so I can send you the interview questions (in case you didn't notice them below) as well as instructions for sending them to me. If you don't hear back within 24 hours, try again and make sure you provide the correct email address. I can't promise any benefit other than exposure. More than 33,000 visits come to this website/weblog every month. The first author to take me up on this offer received more than 1,000 page views in the first 72 hours.
Good ReadA brief interview with David Welch, author of Stop The Insanity: Target 2014.
OpinionWE ARE INUNDATED with celebrities. Celebrity actors. Celebrity politicians. Celebrity chefs. Celebrity... why are the Kardashians celebrities? We have criminal celebrities. Think about it. Most people can tell you something about Al Capone but nothing about the person who invented The Pill, a pharmaceutical celebrity if ever there was one. In most cases, celebrities are not more qualified to be a celebrity than others practicing the same craft. For example, our two greatest political celebrities are John Kennedy (his Administration was a celebrity itself – Camelot) and Barack Obama. Celebrity only requires public interest in the celebrity's comings and goings. There is even an industry devoted to their celebrity, the paparazzi. Indeed, the White House press corps has become little more than paparazzi in recent years.
The people who are most interested in celebrities desire to become celebrities themselves. Some stalk celebrities hoping to steal a little fame for themselves even if it means going to jail. Jail time is no impediment to celebrity status. In fact, in many cases it enhances celebrity status. Others attempt to imitate celebrities in the hope that they will reap the same rewards. This syndrome is most often seen in celebrity monsters. Experts from the FBI frequently comment publicly that the paparazzi should refrain from publicizing monsters such as the one who recently shot 26 at a public elementary school in Connecticut. They contend that such publicity serves to inspire other wannabe monsters. Still, the paparazzi press on. We can't escape the news stories being aired daily. The perpetrator's name and face have become well known. He will live forever as the model of aberrant behavior to be emulated by others who may fear that they will not attain celebrity status unless they raise the body count. One would hope that we would celebrate the victims and consign the perpetrator to perpetual anonymity. That is not to be. Not only are the paparazzi using the story to build ratings and income, but also ideologues are using the horror of the incident to press their agendas: Gun control, banning violence in games and entertainment, or whatever. They too help build the cache of the celebrity monster to their own purposes without regard for the damage they are causing. It's interesting to note that the paparazzi and the ideologues don't seem to have a problem with the murders of hundreds, even thousands of children every day, occurring in cities, mostly due to gang violence. Is it possible that this horror doesn't interest them because they feel that no one would care about the loss of life of a black or Latino child? Such incidents wouldn't help their cause. But, let a monster strike in a decent neighborhood and all hell breaks loose. It would be nice if some of the energy being expended these days to punish law abiding citizens for the act of a monster could be saved for a rational response. Do you think anyone will be interested next month? Do you think that the paparazzi will ask the tough questions? For example, someone called the authorities on the same day as the shootings in Connecticut about another potential monster, and another tragedy was averted. Why didn't someone take the time to report this kid before he became a monster? Given his problems, he was displaying enough “red flags” to form his own May Day Parade in Red Square. Yes, I know that I've been using the term “paparazzi” to encompass the news media. It is my intention to demonstrate my lack of respect for them. Unfortunately, the problem is unlikely to resolve itself until we learn to celebrate the deeds of heroes, the performances of entertainers, the accomplishments of sports men and women, and stop celebrating the people themselves. Remember, even the great biblical celebrities were brought low by their own foibles. Noah became a falling-down drunk. Moses so upset God that he was tantalized with the sight of the promised land but forbidden to enter it. Everyone has feet of clay, even the greatest heroes. Good ReadMeet the author of Mists of Adriana, Roger M. Woodbury
CubaTHE UNITED STATES stood behind Fulgencio Batista as caudillo and as Presidente of Cuba even though he legitimized the Communist Party in Cuba and instituted progressive reforms that might have caused concern among American businessmen. Even though these same acts by Fidel Castro would incur the wrath of Washington, President Roosevelt and his Administration overlooked them. The Americans didn't think they were anything more than political show, and Batista became a valuable ally in World War II. German u-boats were the scourge of shipping along the shores of North and South America, and throughout the Caribbean. They were attempting to cut the pipeline of strategic supplies to the Allies fighting in Europe and North Africa. Operational cooperation between the United States and Latin American countries allowed America to deploy the greater part of its forces to the front lines. A fleet of U.S. Navy blimps patrolled the coast of South America where merchant fleets from Argentina and Brazil passed before transiting the Atlantic. Their crews coordinated attacks by the Brazilian Air Force and Navy on the u-boats. The American Coast Guard helped the Argentinian Navy patrol its nation's ports. Batista increased his military: He augmented the army to 14,000 soldiers, the marines to 3,000, the Havana police to 3,000, and the rural police to 3,000. The United States provided him with warships. During World War II, the Cubans helped patrol and protect the strategic shipping lanes from Galveston and New Orleans as well as the waterways to the Panama Canal. A lieutenant in the Cuban Navy, who served on one of these warships and helped sink a u-boat, later became a member of the Fidelistas and piloted their invasion from Mexico to Cuba aboard the motor yacht Granma. Even Ernest Hemingway, a long time Havana resident, got in on the act. He and his drinking buddies used Hemingway's fishing boat, El Pilar, to mount patrols searching for German u-boats. Their exploits, some contended floating drinking parties, mirrored patrols mounted by American civilians on both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. (I think that I, too, would have been drinking before I went to sea piloting a 30 foot cabin cruiser, armed with Tommy Guns, searching for German warships.) Ultimately, Cuba received more than $7 million in arms and ammunition. Furthermore, to offset the loss of trade with Europe during the war, the United States guaranteed a scheme to purchase the entire 1942 sugar crop through the Federal Loan Agency. At least in war, Cuba benefited more from its commercial ties to the United States than at any other time.
Good ReadLior Samson, author of Chipset, answers your questions in this brief interview. 1. What is the one book you want us to read (title, genre, and availability).
Chipset (Gesher Press, 2012), a techno-thriller in The Homeland Connection series, just published and available in print (ISBN: 978-0-9843772-8-2) and Kindle (ISBN: 978-0-9843772-9-9) editions from Amazon and elsewhere. 2. Give us a one sentence synopsis. Madeira, a charming and picturesque Portuguese island, proves dangerous when a technology journalist uncovers a mystery in the military chipset he is delivering to the Madeira Intelligent Robotics Institute. 3. Who are the main characters and who would you like to see portray them in a movie? The Homeland Connection novels share a number of characters in common, but the two central ones are Karl Lustig, an American ex-pat consultant and journalist living in Israel, and his British-born Israeli wife, Shira Markham, an artist and major force of nature. I am no casting director, but I could see William H. Macy playing Karl and Rachel Weisz as Shira. 4. Tell us about the story, but please don't reveal too much. Like the other novels in The Homeland Connection, Chipset is a meticulously researched action thriller centering on genuine technological threats involving ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. Like the novel that launched the series, Bashert (Gesher Press, 2010), the narrative is non-linear, in this case plunging the reader back to World War II in a story-within-a-story that is intricately connected with the present circumstances and the fate of the main characters. As with the other Homeland Connection books, Chipset stands on its own or can be enjoyed as part of the series. 5. What inspired you to write this book and how long did it take? I was inspired by my experience with real-world cyber-security threats, as was the case with Web Games (Gesher Press, 2010), an earlier novel in the series. There were also lurking personal secrets of my characters that begged to be brought to the surface. In this novel, Shira and her intelligence-agent friend, Anat Dorfman, get the opportunity to take over the stage, something that I had long planned. I made my first notes for the book in December 2011, but didn’t start writing in earnest until March of 2012. The manuscript was finished in September but it took several months to get and incorporate feedback from a number of reviewers and subject-matter experts. 6. What other books have you written? In addition to the four books of The Homeland Connection (Bashert, The Dome,, Web Games, and Chipset) my fiction includes the somewhat noir medically-centered thriller, The Rosen Singularity(Gesher Press, 2011) and Requisite Variety (Gesher Press, 2011), a collection of science fiction short stories. I also have seventeen published non-fiction books, including one award winner. 7. Which authors inspired you, your style? I have been inspired by many writers, starting with the inimitable Ursula Le Guin, but I can’t say that my style has been inspired or influenced all that much by any particular writers. That said, several reviewers have compared me to John Le Carré, and one writer has said I am better than Tom Clancy. Whether true or untrue, deserved or not, I am flattered by the company into which I have been cast. 8. Where can we learn more about you and your books? My Amazon author page (http://amazon.com/author/liorsamson/) is as good as any place to start. 9. How can we follow you? Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. I am on Facebook under my pen name, Lior Samson. 10. Is there anything else you would like us to know? There are more novels coming in The Homeland Connection, but my current work-in-progress, like The Rosen Singularity, is another excursion into uncharted territory. CubaFOLLOWING HIS OUSTER of Cuban President Gomez in 1937, Fulgencio Batista began to fear that his political maneuvers on the island were alienating President Franklin Roosevelt. He spoke of plots in the United States against his life. He may have been correct. Batista had begun instituting progressive programs that were not viewed favorably in the United States. Minimum wage laws, an eight-hour workday, paid vacations, extended social security, equal pay for equal work, and the right to strike, were all acceptable. However, Batista also declared sugar to be a national industry, threatening to control foreign ownership and vague promises of land reform. More importantly, he made a deal with the communists. Batista seemingly turned towards the left. He blamed the failure of economic and social advances on the big sugar planters, predominantly American businessmen. He contracted a political agreement with the communists, agreeing to legalize the party, appoint a member to a future cabinet, and grant the party political spoils. Not even Castro courted the communists this openly until after he was rebuffed by the Eisenhower Administration.
Given these turns of events, how could Batista be acceptable to the Americans? The truth is that Batista was more concerned with power than the ideals of progressivism. The landowning elite were more concerned with stability in government than with political ideology. They recognized that most of his reforms turned out to be nothing more than political show. A $600 million investment in sugar alone in 1939, clearly demonstrated that the Americans were confident that they had hitched their wagon to the correct horse. Cuba, Business Week magazine wrote, would not be able to expropriate foreign holdings, for the island was politically and economically an adjunct of the United States. The American government hedged their bets by withholding economic assistance until both President Laredo Bru and the president-elect, Fulgencio Batista, affirmed that they would honor their obligations to investors. It was clear that the United States would not intervene militarily in island politics any more. There was no need. They could control Cuba economically. The U.S. Department of State withheld loans to Cuba in 1940 until a thorough study of tax reform, monetary and banking changes, and proposed public works projects was completed. The recommendations of the study were curiously familiar to modern Americans. Cuba, they said, required a fiscal and taxing reorganization and a reduction in budget expenditures. Batista promised change. |
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