A St. Paul neighborhood paper did a feature on my Crosshairs novel this week. It might not be the NYT, but it's still publicity. 

“Historical thriller helps readers understand what happened between the U.S. and Cuba five decades ago.”

http://www.monitorsaintpaul.com/local-author-releases-timely-novel-crosshairs-on-castro/

Got the first review on Amazon today of my historical thriller Crosshairs on Castro. Five star review.
"Perfect story with the current opening of Cuba. A great story I couldn't stop reading, with the intrigue of the White House and frequent glimpses of the internal workings of Fidel"s web of deceit. I recommend it!"

Click here to check it out at Amazon. Only $4.50 for the e-reader version.

http://www.amazon.com/Crosshairs-Castro-John-J-Harrigan/dp/1522848169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456521076&sr=8-1&keywords=Crosshairs+on+Castro

At my Great Decisions Cuba Presentation Yesterday, this WWII vet let me take a photo of him holding a memento of his 1944 visit to Sloppy Joe's, a legendary bar in Havana from the 1920s until it was destroyed by a fire in the 1960s. Below are the vet, his photo and contrasting shots of Sloppy Joe's in the 1920s and during its reconstruction in ca 2007. It was reopened in 2013.

 

Historic Visit

Excitement in Cuba
Obama just arrived. Some like it and some don't. In either case, its historic.

I made a Great Decisions Cuba-U.S. Relations presentation talk the other night, and we had a fascinating exchange of opinions up at the end.

Could the progress we've made in opening up relations between our two countries be reversed?

My response was, "No."  The genie's out of the bottle and it will be impossible to stuff him back into the bottle.

Some other people argued strongly, however, that some of the Republican candidates would reverse the progress if they were to get elected.

As expected, we didn't come to any agreement on this.

Travel to Cuba About to Get Easier

Cuba and the U.S. will sign an agreement Tuesday to open up commercial flights to the island. Until now, you had to sign up with an expensive charter flight and follow a restricted itinerary. The competition from commercial flights will probably bring down the cost of the charters. It will also make on-line booking possible. These two steps will make it both easier and cheaper for you to get there. Whether itinerary restrictions have been lifted isn't clear yet.

I'll keep you posted as more info comes to light. If you have more up-to-date information, please leave a comment. Many viewers will appreciate it.

 

If I ever get to Havana, one of the sights I want to see is Esquina Caliente. You find it in the Central Park where young men gather all day to argue about baseball. Hence the name. Esquina Caliente means "Hot Corner." Take a look, and feel free to comment.