REWARDS

A writer struggles to be inspirationally creative, imaginatively informative and excitingly entertaining while fighting for market share and critical recognition. Not easy to have all these balls in the air at the same time.

But at times the rewards – and I’m not talking about financial rewards – are quite amazing. Yes, at times the light is worth the candle.

I received two such rewards last week.

The first was an extraordinarily civilized interview with Jason Hartman, the host on the JetSetters radio show. Listen to how well it went by clicking on

You can also read about what was said by going to http://jetsettershow.com/category/podcast/

The second was most touching. My publisher sent me a large envelope that contained a greeting card and an in-depth analysis (12 handwritten pages) by Isabelle MacWilliam of Toronto, Canada of my book Havana Harvest.

She quotes Chapter 3, page 24, para 3: “He was not lonely, just alone, and he enjoyed being so” and then she goes on: “Essentially I comprehend this very personal salient statement of Lonsdale [the the principal character of Havana Harvest.] For a whirligig of intervening time after a person close to one dies, the sanguine is set aside for a spell.”

Elegantly put.

Thank you for understanding.

START OF UNREST IN CUBA?

“Los Aldeanos” is one of the most rebellious groups of rappers in Cuba. Using admittedly vulgar language, their songs aggressively attack the deficiencies of life on that island.

Last week they were the center of a ‘a public scandal’ in Holguin after they had tried to visit two young brothers, incarcerated since December 25 for having “played the duo’s music too loud”.

They were not allowed access, so they went to visit the brothers’ home where their presence attracted over 1500 young people of whom about 80 were arrested and five wounded. During this ‘public disturbance’ the police were pelted with stones.


On another topic, this week I was very pleasantly surprised to see Havana Harvest as #1 on a list of fantastic international fiction on Amazon.com!

ROTARY LUNCH FEBRUARY 2011

The Westmount (Montreal) branch of Rotary asked me to speak about Cuba and my novel, Havana Harvest, at their weekly get-together last Wednesday.

I was amazed by how many of those attending had already been to Cuba or were planning to go this Spring. Naturally, they were interested in getting information about present conditions in that country, but their predominant preoccupation can be summed up by this question: “What will happen after the Castro Brothers leave the scene?”

I told them about the Cuban Transitional Project undertaken by the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American studies and more particularly about the work of Professors Jose Azel and Brian Latell who are attempting to develop a model of what is likely to happen. I cautioned them about expecting fundamental changes any time soon because, in my opinion, Raul Castro’s control over the military, the government and the communist party seems to be secure – at least for the time being.

I also took the opportunity to say a few words about the imminent launch of a digital edition of Fatal Greed, my novel about a batch of surgical glue, infected by human Mad Cow disease that Islamist terrorists were planning to use as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

CUBA AND PARMALAT – A SPECTACULAR FRAUD

CUBA AND PARMALAT – A SPECTACULAR FRAUD

Although Fidel Castro, now in his mid-eighties, is being accused of many misdeeds, we must acknowledge that the revolution he led did a lot of good things for the Cuban people initially: the establishment of an effective health care system accessible to all, and the eradication of illiteracy, to mention just two.
His regime also became unwittingly involved in a number of spectacular frauds, one of which was perpetrated by the owners of Parmalat, the giant Italian milk conglomerate.

Shell companies and “cut and paste” forgery were combined with more traditional fraud, such as the falsifying of sales figures via phony invoices. In one particularly flagrant case of “cooking the books,” Parmalat’s Cayman Islands subsidiary Bonlat claimed to have sold enough powdered milk to Cuba in one year to produce 55 gallons of milk for each one of the small island nation’s citizens.

The fraud was not discovered for a long time because the Cuban authorities routinely refuse to cooperate with large independent auditing firms and do not acknowledge the existence of accounts payable. In the Parmalat case the auditors, in turn, never bothered to seek alternative means of verification, such as examining shipping receipts, for example.

The Parmalat fraud is typical of the cases I had the opportunity to investigate as a Bankruptcy Trustee and Forensic Accountant and some of which I interwove into my novels, HAVANA HARVEST and FATAL GREED.

THE BIMETALLIC SOCIETY’S ANNUAL DINNER

My presentation at the annual Sherlock Holmes dinner of the Bimetallic Society of Montreal on Saturday, January 22, 2011 – attended by a crowd of over sixty enthusiasts in spite of sub-zero weather – went rather well, even if I say so myself.

I prepared a semi-fictitious story for the occasion, constructed so that I could keep ‘em guessing for a quarter of an hour, until the very last moment. When I finally pulled the ‘rabbit’ out of my ‘hat’ (Holmes’ pipe out of a box) the room dissolved into laughter and enthusiastic clapping.

The venue was elegant, the food good, and the costumes fetching.

I was amazed to learn that there were over 800 active Sherlockian Society branches around the world, (we need another link here) each of which has one member charged with reading the obits. in the London Times daily to make sure no announcement of Sherlock Holmes’ demise has appeared. The Sherlockians hold that Holmes is still alive. Their ‘logical’ argument supporting such a belief goes something like this:

Sherlock Holmes was an important public figure.

The Times automatically publishes an obituary for every such person.


No such obit has thus far appeared.
Therefore, Sherlock Holmes is still alive – somewhere.
QED – Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

MAÑANA IN CUBA

It has become fashionable, of late, to wonder out loud and in detail about what would happen in Cuba once the regime changed.

Of course, gazing into the future requires an analysis of the past and the present.

One of the most compelling of such analyses is a book written by Jose Azel and entitled “Mañana in Cuba”. Dr. Azel is well qualified to speak on the topic. He is currently a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.

I found the following passage in his book most telling:

“Unfortunately, the Cuban transition to democracy and free markets is highly unlikely to follow the path of some of the most successful Eastern European countries that faced similar, but not identical challenges. Cuba´s post-Castro interregnum [...a period of discontinuity of government organization or social order...] will be, arguably, the most critical period in the nation’s history. It will be a period during which inexperienced post-Castro leaders will face myriad social, political and economic policy decisions. Unseasoned leaders will need to make strategic, tactical and operational policy choices that will impact not only the existing circumstances, but the nation’s immediate and long-term future. And, in all probability, this will have to take place in an environment of socio-political and economic disarray and confusion, if not outright chaos.” (Italics mine).

Will Uncle Sam just stand or will he interfere?

Your guess is as good as mine.

ICCAS RECEPTION

On December 15, 2010, my friends Olga Connor (the well-known journalist) and Agustin Rivero organized a reception at Miami University’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, after which Dr. Jaime Suchlicki, (the Director of the Institute) joined me to reviewed my latest novel, Havana Harvest for a group of over fifty aficionados who braved the unseasonably cold weather to venture outside.

I was amazed by how much Dr. Suchlicki’s analysis of the real reason why General Ochoa was executed coincided with what I had conjured up in my totally fictional work.

I was likewise gratified to see that one of the late General Ochoa’s close acquaintances also attended the meeting.

The Institute, which Dr. Suchlicki helped found in 1999, is the authority in the US on what is going on in Cuba today and in which direction that island’s socio-political development is heading.

CUBAN CHRISTMAS IN CORAL GABLES

On Saturday, December 11, 2010 I was invited to a Christmas Party in Coral Gables that was attended by over a hundred and twenty Cubans. Olga Connor (the well-known journalist whose weekly column in Miami’s El Nuevo Herald is very popular) was my ‘guide’, ably assisted by Agustin Rivero, the son of a dear friend from my old Cuban days. As you can see from the pictures, the party was a blow-out success.

Olga and Agustin made sure that I would meet those people present at the party who – in 1989 – had actually known and worked with Cuban Brigadier-General Arnaldo Ochoa, the officer whose tragic trial and execution inspired the plot of my latest thriller, Havana Harvest.

I also met Meme Solis (the popular pianist and singer) with whom I chatted at length about our late mutual friend, Dania Flores, the woman who – in the early ‘90’s – had helped me research the background for my book.

It was nice to have had the opportunity to recall some of the pleasant times the three of us (Dania, Meme and I) had spent together in New York and Miami, eating, drinking and dancing.

Alas, tempus fugit!

Coast to Coast AM radio show

During the month of December I had a lot of fun “doing” radio.

I ended up getting invited as a “guest” to local radio talk shows in Denver, Chicago, Portland, Saint Louis, Sacramento and Phoenix, and on four syndicated shows, one of which was a monster effort, the Coast to Coast AM show, broadcast over more than five hundred stations across the US and Canada and over Sirius XM – XM Channel 165, and heard as far away as the US Virgin Islands and Guam.

I say that this was a monster effort because I was on the air from 2 to 5 a.m. chatting and answering questions. I also offered to send everyone who would email me to request them – free of charge, of course – two chapters of Fatal Greed my book that will appear in digital form in March.

As a result, over a thousand people visited my website at http://www.robertlandori.com/ and I received over two hundred emails at havanaharvest@gmail.com asking for the free chapters.

Of course the offer still stands, so don’t hesitate to email me at havanaharvest@gmail.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FROM FIDEL CASTRO

A month and a half ago I mailed Fidel a copy of my book, HAVANA HARVEST, and wished him Happy Birthday. Of course, I never expected a reply.

I was wrong!

When I returned from Spain last week I found a hand-delivered envelope in the pile of correspondence that had accumulated in my absence.

It contained an acknowledgement of my gift and a signed extract from Fidel’s marathon speech delivered on July 29, 2000, the forty-seventh anniversary of Castro’s attack on the Moncada barracks.

I found it difficult to translate the Spanish text because I felt I needed to render the meaning of what was written accurately without rewriting the material in colloquial English. I did not want to lose the cadence of the original writing.

click here to display the letter with English TRANSLATION

The Spanish text is most elegant and eloquent, as are the thoughts expressed, though seriously flawed by being politically biased.

click here to display the letter with English TRANSLATION