Inspired by fifty years of Cuban literary noir, from Cold Tales by Virgilio Piñera to Reinaldo Arenas’ Before Night Falls, Robert Arellano’s Havana Lunar intertwines an insider testimony on the collapse of socialist Cuba with a psychological mystery.

Robert Arellano’s parents fled Havana in 1960. He has been working on Havana Lunar since 1992, when, as a student in Brown University’s graduate writing program, he visited Cuba on a research fellowship. He has returned ten times, chronicling the Revolution in journalism, essay, and song. He is the author of two novels, Fast Eddie: King of the Bees and Don Dimaio of La Plata, both published by Akashic Books.