Fidel Castro in a recent public appearance at the Havana aquarium

Don’t count him out yet: Cuba’s Fidel Castro, long considered at death’s door, has announced that he is publishing a new book. According to this CNN report, Castro will “publish a new book in August on the fighting more than 50 years ago between his ragtag rebels and the 10,000-strong army under former dictator Fulgencio Batista.”

According to a (Spanish language) post on the state-run website, www.cubadebate.cu, Castro says the book will be called The Strategic Victory, and “I didn’t know whether to call it Batista’s Last Offensive or How 300 Defeated 10,000, which would sound like a science fiction story.” Always the jokester.

Castro, according to CNN’s report, said “the 25 chapters contain photos, maps and illustrations of the weapons used during a series of battles that lasted 74 days in 1958 and paved the way for his bearded revolutionaries to declare victory on January 1, 1959. “The enemy suffered more than 1,000 losses, more than 300 of them deaths and 443 taken prisoner,” he writes, seeming to indicate that math may not be his strong point.

Since 2006, when illness caused Castro to cede his head-of-state powers to his brother, Raul, he has been posting his “Reflections of Comrade Fidel” for cubadebate.cu. Now, with his announcement of the forthcoming book and a concurrent increase in his public activity – making seven appearances in the last few weeks – it sounds like he is ready for his comeback tour.

And there’s more. According to CNN, “Castro said he would now start work on a book covering the second half of the fighting, called The Final Strategic Counteroffensive.”

Which all brings to mind a classic Chevy Chase routine from way back when on Saturday Night Live. For those of you too young to remember, you can catch it here: