I’ve gone too long without mentioning local writer Eduardo F. Calcines, who has written Leaving Glorytown, a memoir about his time growing up in Cuba. Nothing I can say captures the book better than Calcines’ introduction: “I was a child of Communism. This means I was raised in two worlds—one a world of ideals, the other the real world. The world of ideals was full of Fidel Castro’s lying propaganda and empty promises of a better tomorrow. The real world was even worse: a world of oppression, hunger, fear, poverty and violence.” Calcines also promises that the memoir “is true in its depiction of Cuban life.”

On a related but also completely different note, if that makes sense, local author Jeff Strand has had his novel, “Pressure”, published by Leisure Books. This imprint of Dorchester Publishing specializes in horror fiction. I’d quote from Jeff’s book, but he scares me too much. Actually, he’s very funny in a completely demented way. Read for yourself.