Early, unused concept art for the cover of BOOK III.
The third book in my Dr. Cuba novel series, THE BLASPHEMIES OF DR. CUBA, is almost done. I really wanted to get the third novel done before the end of the year, if only to have bragging rights that I wrote three entire books in one year, but that’s not going to happen.
This latest book has been tough. The first two — DR. CUBA and THE THREE HEADS OF DR. CUBA — were written back-to-back over about five months, and both are now available for sale. But the third book was a challenge from the start. I decided this one would take the form of three intertwined novels that come together at the end to form the overall story. That structure remains in place, but the three acts are no longer quite standalone pieces. The narrative structure and the plot complexities — this one has a lot going on — just made BLASPHEMIES a lot harder to write. It’s also a lot longer than the other two.
In Book I, set in 1945, Scotland Yard’s inspector Heiner Thumann, a transplant from Germany, investigates a series of gold heists that occurred in broad daylight, in full view of the public, but where witnesses claimed not to have seen anything. Thumann soon learns this to be the work of the criminal organization led by the mysterious “Dr. Cuba.” My inspirations for this book were the early silent films and serials of Germany and France, including Dr. Mabuse, Fantômas, and Nosferatu.
In Book II, set in 1946, Thumann has been transferred to the newly formed “Interpol” organization, and again finds himself investigating crimes alleged to be caused by the Dr. Cuba gang. Thumann is forced to confront his own nightmares as he is thrust back into Germany to check into a series of murders of former Nazi officials by a giant referred to by the locals as “The Golem.” The inspirations for this book were the early films Der Golem, Alraune and (again) Dr. Mabuse.
For Book III, we jump to 1950, and Thumann believes Dr. Cuba to be destroyed. He must now investigate a new rash of crimes by an upstart criminal gang called The Vampires. At the same time, mysterious forces are working to convince the United States to go to war in Asia, and someone is trying to sell atomic weapons to China. As if that were not enough, a strange radioactive mass has been found in the ocean and may pose an entirely new threat to the world. Here, my inspirations were the 1950s-era British science fiction films, X the Unknown and The Giant Behemoth, as well as the silent French serial, Les Vampires.
Final publication of Book III might take some time, as even after I finish it, I still need to negotiate some rights to use some characters. If I can’t get the rights, I’ll have to do another rewrite and alter some plot points and characters.
I’m already plotting Book IV, tentatively titled THE SCREAM OF DR. CUBA, which should get published in 2026, too.
You can grab the first two books on Amazon right now, in either paperback or Kindle (ebook) versions. ¡El primer libro también está disponible en español!
Visit www.drcuba.world for links.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
