Ulises Toirac announced this Thursday that the sale of his second book, "Locos de Barrio: Segundo Round", began and is available on Amazon starting Wednesday afternoon, after navigating a legal entanglement that would have made even Kafka laugh.
The obstacle was, let's say, original: someone objected to the title of the book, arguing that it was the same as a work already published by "an established author." The problem is that this established author was none other than Toirac himself, creator of the first "Locos de Barrio" in 2024. "This is the first time I've been accused of plagiarizing myself," the comedian wrote on his Facebook profile, adding with his usual Creole resignation: "But you know how the laws are and the nonsense that everyone adds to that."
Having overcome the absurd bureaucratic and legal hurdles—something no one in Cuba would be surprised to encounter in any office—the book is now available with a black and white cover, featuring a caricature of the author, and the subtitle that says it all: "From Darkness to Laughter. Never better said."
The volume brings together fifty short stories with personal, external, and fictional anecdotes, all in the popular Cuban language that characterizes Toirac's writing. "This book [...] features fifty short stories in which I continue to share personal and external anecdotes (some of which are invented), always in this style of writing that reflects my being born on this beautiful island, now cursed, but always loved," the author wrote.
Among the themes covered in the book is a satire about the chikungunya epidemic that struck Cuba in 2025, when the disease spread across the 15 provinces and resulted in 44 official deaths—28 attributed to chikungunya and 16 to dengue. That someone found humor in this speaks volumes about Toirac and also about the resilience of the average Cuban.
The book features a preface by Cuban writer Amir Valle, who has been living in Berlin since 2006, author of around 40 titles and winner of the Mario Vargas Llosa International Novel Prize. The edition was overseen by Jorge Fernández Era, a Cuban writer and editor who managed to leave Cuba in March 2026 after two years of travel restrictions and settled in Spain. Toirac, with his usual irony, seized the opportunity: “Amir Valle is already an old neighbor of Germany... and it annoys me that the only guacarnaco living in Cuba was the one who wrote it.”
That phrase encapsulates, albeit unintentionally, a heavy reality: the prologuist in Berlin, the editor in Spain, and the author — the "guacarnaco" — resisting on the island. The same Toirac who on July 31 declared that “every day the wear and tear increases” in reference to the Cuban crisis, and who writes in a country where on July 29 the National Electric System registered a deficit of 2,380 MW, leaving 74% of the country without electricity simultaneously.
To promote the book, Toirac turned to his usual arsenal of pharmaceutical-style warnings: "May cause addiction, consume with caution, and store in a cool place at room temperature." He concluded with a veiled threat that no Cuban can take lightly: "Thousands of people will say the book is out of style, and you (if you don’t buy it or someone doesn’t buy it for you) will be more out of touch than a penguin in a power outage."
The first "Locos de Barrio," Toirac's literary debut published in December 2024, is still available on Amazon and was announced at the time with a phrase that has become a signature: "I am pleased to a level close to orgasm to inform you that my book is now available online." With that background, "Second Round" arrives with high expectations.
Toirac, who announced this second volume in June 2026 and has had a 45-year artistic career, concluded his announcement with a definition that blends culture, humor, and phonetics: "Reading is culture, but in this case, it is also laughter and roots. Words that are difficult for me because I struggle with the 'r'. Educate yourself and see a speech therapist to avoid bigger problems."
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