by Stacey Paretti Rase

At the age of seven, Covington writer/humorist Humberto Fontova fled Cuba for New Orleans with his mother and siblings. He lived through the Cuban Revolution, during which his father was a political prisoner and other family members were imprisoned and executed. His book, “Fidel: Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant,” aims to “set the record straight” for those who tout Fidel Castro as a righteous leader.

How did you conduct your research for the book?

I have a master’s in Latin American history from Tulane. In fact, I wrote my master’s thesis on Cuba/Castro. So I dug it out (I wrote it a long time ago, in 1979, while wearing disco pants!), brushed it off, added info from dozens of interviews with eyewitnesses to every stage of Castro’s Revolution, sent it to my publisher—and bingo! Next thing I know, I’m on The O’Reilly Factor, the Dennis Miller Show and Rush Limbaugh. Who’d have dreamed some worthless college paper could get you that!

Is Bill O’Reilly as intimidating in person as he seems?

He wasn’t the least bit intimidating to me. Of course, he liked my book. And from what his producers told me, he liked me, too. In fact, I forgot my coat in his green room and had to rush back to get it. He was in there and could speak off the record. He said, “Great show, Humberto! I’m inviting ’ya back, whenever Cuba’s in the news.” A few weeks later, he did call and invite me back! Alas, that’s the week the pope died, which was, let’s face it, more newsworthy than the Havana Film Festival on which he’d wanted me to comment.

Not all of your novels have been politically based. In “The Helldiver’s Rodeo,” you cover hunting and fishing with a quick wit and (dare I say) demented humor. Were you funny and insightful even as a child?

My sisters sure don’t think so. When I was on Politically Incorrect, they’d always root for Bill Maher and his anti-Humberto lynch mob! Heck, one of the lynch-mobsters was Florence Henderson. So of course, they’d root for Mrs. Brady over me.

Another of your books delves into the world of extreme outdoorsmen who hunt dangerous fish near offshore oil rigs. What’s the craziest encounter you came across?

Actually, my encounters are fairly tame compared to those of the other guys I write about. Whoo-boy! The most vicious man-eater down in the Gulf is the triggerfish. For some reason they’re attracted to the, shall we say, nether regions of the male anatomy. I have an account of a poor guy clambering out of the water shrieking piteously. He had two triggerfish still attached to those nether regions as he got out!

Are you currently working on any new projects?

My publishers want a Fidel sequel. So I’ll deliver. Also, I got a couple of nibbles on movie options for my second book “The Hellpig Hunt; A Hunting/Fishing Adventure in The Wild Wetlands at the Mouth of the Mississippi River by Middle-Aged Lunatics Who Refuse To Grow Up.” I hear these things are always a real long shot. But who knows? I can dream, can’t I?