Cuban Cigar Maker Fights Labor Strife and Vigilante Violence in New Book by Mark Carlos McGinty

    MINNEAPOLIS, MN, May 03, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In 1901, a group of cigar makers from Tampa were kidnapped and deported to a deserted stretch of beach somewhere in Central America. They were labor leaders, men who had pushed the tobacco industry into a long, crippling strike over workplace rights and were brandished as radicals by a group of concerned citizens. These men struggled to find their way in the hot, tropical jungles of Central America and somehow managed to return to Tampa hailed as heroes by the local Latin-American community.

This little-known slice of American history is a story that has rarely been told. But now, Minneapolis-based award-winning Cuban-Irish author Mark Carlos McGinty brings you the complete tale in a fictionalized story of the turbulent cigar industry and the volatile Cigar City.

The Cigar Maker is the story of a Cuban rebel who battles labor strife and vigilante violence in the Cigar Capital of the World, Tampa's Ybor City in the early 1900s. Based on true events and his family's history, McGinty's second novel celebrates family and culture in a city made famous by hand-rolled cigars and their connection to organized crime, violence and racism.

The Cigar Maker
By Mark Carlos McGinty
List $19.95
464 Pages 6x9 trade soft cover
Seventh Avenue Productions

For more information visit http://www.thecigarmaker.net.

Advance review copies are available upon request. Email Mark McGinty at [email protected] or call Mark at 513-315-6851.

Salvador Ortiz and his family have escaped the hardship of war-torn Cuba, but the union halls, cigar factories, and dark alleys of Tampa are filled with violence and vendetta. Salvador must defy constant labor strife and deadly corruption in a one-industry town known for backroom cockfights, street thugs, late-night abductions and mass production of the world's best hand-rolled stogies. An ideological battle for control of the cigar industry tests Salvador's self-respect and love of hard work as he fights to abandon his rambunctious, outlaw past and lead his proud Cuban family into a colorful immigrant society. His wish for a peaceful life as a husband, a father, and a man of dignity is threatened by a lawless underworld and a cultural conflict with a dangerous, bloody history.

The Cigar Maker will premiere in Minneapolis during Art-A-Whirl, at Svedberg Studio on May 14th, 15th and 16th. 3359 Tyler St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418.

Mark McGinty will attend a release party for The Cigar Maker at the Tampa Bay History Center on May 22nd. 801 Old Water St, Tampa, FL 33602.

What People Are Saying

"Equal parts history and fiction, The Cigar Maker captures the true spirit of Ybor City. You can practically hear the crowds, smell the tobacco and taste the cafe con leche."
- Rodney Kite-Powell, Curator, Tampa Bay History Center

"The Cigar Maker is a saga, a buddy picture with escapes on horseback and union riots and illegitimate children and even some illegal cockfighting. Despite being set in a time and place you've never been before--Tampa's Ybor City in 1899--you'll recognize sweet notes of George Lucas and dusky Mario Puzo undertones. But one thing is certain: Mark C. McGinty rolls his own."
- Emmy Award-winning writer Steve Marsh

"McGinty's story burns with the steady pace and smooth flavor of a Cohiba Siglo VI. His hand-rolled Cigar Maker bands an impressive blend of history and character in this unique window into America's past."
- Judd Spicer, veteran Twin Cities writer and author of Seven Days

"In basing a story on actual recorded historical incidents and real people, the reader is blessed with a narrative more incredible and fantastic than anything a writer could create of whole cloth."
- Celia Hayes, Blogger News Network

"From the mountains of 19th-Century Cuba, where bandits and revolutionaries fought to overthrow Spanish dominance, to the floors of the cigar factories in Ybor City, Florida, where labor leaders sought to defend Cuban workers from exploitation by Spanish business owners, The Cigar Maker delivers a riveting, little-known chapter in the history of Latino-Americans in the US southeast."
- Dianne K. Salerni, author of We Hear the Dead, SourceBooks

About the Author

Mark Carlos McGinty is a descendant of Cuban cigar makers. He grew up on ropa vieja, Cuban sandwiches, cafe con leche, and fresh-squeezed OJ from his grandfather's tree in West Tampa. His favorite cigar is the Arturo Fuente Flor Fina 8-5-8. Mark's first novel Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy (Beaver's Pond Press, 2003) won an Eric Hoffer Book Award Honorable Mention for General Fiction. He graduated from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida and received his Master's degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati. Mark lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter.

Media kits, review copies and interviews available upon request.

Contact: Mark McGinty [email protected] Phone: 513-315-6851
Website: http://www.thecigarmaker.net

Seventh Avenue Productions is a small press publisher of books, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Call 513-315-6851.

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