Castro's Bomb is an American

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

ebook written by

Robert Conroy Joseph Robert Conroy (August 24, 1938 – December 30, 2014) was an author of alternate history novels. Life After he got an MBA, Conroy was a professor at Macomb Community College and taught business and economic history. Following his early ...

. It was first published on Kindle on September 21, 2011.

Plot

In 1963, a year after the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

, the leader of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

, and the

Cuban Army The Cuban Revolutionary Army () serve as the ground forces of Cuba. Formed in 1868 during the Ten Years' War, it was originally known as the Cuban Constitutional Army. Following the Cuban Revolution, the revolutionary military forces was recon ...

use weapons left behind by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to seize the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

military base at Guantanamo Bay and then plan missile strikes against America.

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

tries desperately to retain his leadership and to keep the war from escalating into

World War III World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely predicted that such a war would involve all of the great powers, ...

Reception

''Castro's Bomb'' was a finalist for the 2012 Sidewise Award, Long Form.Sidewise Awards Nominees for 2011 Work
by

Mike Glyer Mike Glyer (born February 16, 1953) is both the editor and publisher of the long-running science fiction fan newszine ''File 770''. He has won the Hugo Award 12 times in two categories: ''File 770'' won the Best Fanzine Hugo in 1984, 1985, 1989 ...

, at

File 770 ''File 770'' is a long-running science fiction fanzine, newszine, and blog site published and administered by Mike Glyer. It has been published every year since 1978, and has won a record eight Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine, with the first w ...

; published June 13, 2012; retrieved April 22, 2022 Blaine Pardoe considered it to have "huge gaps".Interview: Blaine Pardoe
by Mitro; at Alternate History Weekly Update; published March 18, 2015; retrieved April 22, 2022

References

2011 American novels American alternate history novels Novels by Robert Conroy Cultural depictions of Fidel Castro Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy {{2010s-ah-novel-stub