So I’ve been kind of quiet since I left my 9-5. I stopped writing for Revenews, and aside from a weekly video spot for HipMojo, I’ve only posted 8 times here in the last 3 months (and 3 of those posts were just me plugging the first few episodes of the HipMojo show). So this all begs the question:
What the f*ck have I been up to?
Well, I was working on a book, and now it’s done. It’s called Rum Socialism: A Travel Diary of Communist Cuba
It’s the result of a week I spent down there last spring, and it pretty much follows me off the resort and onto the streets of Trinidad, Cuba, where I got mixed up with street hustlers, witch doctors, corrupt cops, and all kinds of other colorful characters. The result is a week-long bender of satire insight into Cuban Communism — a system that is trying desperately to reinvent itself in the face of harsh economic realities.
I never meant to write it. I was just keeping a travel diary while I was down there, and then I got into all these strange situations, so when I got back I was looking at this moleskin and thought “I should really write this thing out and share it with the world before Castro dies.” That’s why I decided to not shop around for a publisher and put it up on the Kindle store (it’ll be out on other ebook stores soon), but you can read more about the book and how/why it was written in this interview with me.
So why the pen name?
Well, that was a tough call, and building a separate personal brand from scratch is a lot of work, but I decided it was the thing to do. First of all, the book deals with things that “CT Moore” isn’t known for — such as politics and social commentary.
But I also figured that the kind of audience this book is meant for didn’t need to know about my social media marketing douche-baggery. While I don’t mind sharing the book with you folks (because you already get the import of having a personal brand and marketing yourself), I thought it would be confusing to bombard most potential readers with Tweets, blogs, and updates that have nothing to do with Cuba, politics, or travel.
So what, then, qualifies me to write a book like this?
Well, for starters, I have a degree in political-sciene (and I minored in economics). I spent five years studying political theory, so I feel very comfortable talking about different political systems and ideologies in a comparative sense.
I also make it very clear right at the outset that I don’t have any expertise on Cuba, am not a journalist, and didn’t do any fact-checking. Instead, every “fact” or tidbit in the book is presented as something that was either told to me by someone else or I witnessed first-hand.
So the book is meant to be partially for entertainment purposes (the travel diary) and partially food-for-thought (the political satire). And at a price-point of $2.99 (USD), I believe it delivers on both those counts.
In any case, if you’re into eccentric non-fiction or just want to support me because you like me for some reason or another, I ask that you consider:
- Buying a copy (you don’t need a Kindle to read it)
- Liking Rum Socialism on Facebook
- Following Rum Socialism on Twitter
- Following Kris Romaniuk on Twitter
- or checking out RumSocialism.com
Congrats on the book! Now I understand why you were pondering multiple identities. Good luck with your new double life – I’m sure you’ll be successful with both. :-)
Yup, I totally hear you on keeping my Social Media douchbaggery separate from my fiction-novel writing. So for fiction, literary non-fiction, film making…and basically anything involving creating pure art (no, I don’t consider a 300×250 banner pure art), I go by the last name Allen-Anderson.