#atozchallenge: R is for Russia

Bonus R: I'm going to be revealing the cover for Sign of the Green Dragon starting May 1. I could use some help with that if you feel up to posting for me. Just tell me in a comment and I'll put you on my contact list for May. That is if I can still think clearly enough to do that. Now onward with this #atozChallenge, and don't spare the horses.




Here's to a great AtoZ!

Join in the FUN.


This year I traveled to Cuba. You know, it's that little island that's spitting distance from Florida and should not be visited without special dispensation. I wanted to see it before MacDonald's arrived. I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people. It seems they like us. Now there's a change!

I'll add a short T/F quiz to each post the same as I did last year about Burma, and I'll post the answers to the questions the following day. 





Answers to your T/F Quiz for Q
TRUE 1. The Chinese influenced Cuban music. They contributed the cornetín chino (Chinese cornet) It's a wind instrument. 
FALSE 2. A TRES is only a 6-string guitar, not 12. It's known for a distinctive tuning and used to help create the guaijira sound--a strident rural acoustic music.
R is For Russia:
SourceFollowing the Bay of Pigs, Castro aligned himself with Russia. He wanted protection from the U.S. and money to support the newly established Cuban government. Castro joined the COMECON, an organization of socialist countries designed to improve their economies, and Russia was the key player in that organization. All was moving forward--if not as economically successful for the people as it was touted--when the Soviet Bloc collapsed and all economic aid ended. Now Castro was forced to look elsewhere for money. Venezuela in fact. Now that oil is in the (pun alert) "tank," he's looking closer to home. And that would be the good old U.S of A. Ergo, his brother's now holding up Obama's hand.


Your T/F Quiz for R:
1. The Bay of Pigs was an attempt by the U.S. to overthrow the Castro government.2. The Soviet Bloc collapsed in 1969.
Answers tomorrow.Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew