KINGS WILL BE TYRANTS

A solo by half of a writing team (John and Ward Hawkins) has its center in the Castro uprising in Cuba and follows a small band of revolutionists led by ambitious Tomas Vilar through the plans to ambush a Batista officer, to land ammunition after taking an enemy port, and the mounting antagonism between Vilar and Lt. O'Brien. Capturing Cordova they also take American Jill Corby, and O'Brien's attempts to maintain decency in the treatment of their prisoners are countered by Vilar's authority to term them mutiny; Jill becomes confused by O'Brien's relations with Angela and his submission to Vilar's brutalities. Cordova's death, reprisals by the federal soldiers, Jill's release --pressured by the American consul -- and her report to Batista intelligence of the schedule to attack Boca Rica to land the revolutionists' ship, lead up to the climax of another attack on another port and the vindication of Cuban-American O'Brien's demands of Vilar and his commitment as leader for the remains of the band. On the perimeter of current events this carries its local figures believably and provides a crude setting for its romance, in popular terms. S.E.P. serialization.