Notes from an Editor: Las Vegas Boasts a Growing Number of Diverse Writers
By Jarret Keene
I love reading short fiction that takes my breath away. Stories that, one after the other, make my head spin with fantastic plots, and with burning questions like: Is the laconic hotel security officer about to witness an ugly fistfight or a make-out reunion between a mature couple on the casino floor? Can an on-the-run mother-daughter duo roaming the post-apocalyptic desert evade the flying sand whales that deafen with uncanny songs? Does the time-machine operator know how to calculate the right moment to meet his beloved for the “first” time since she is arriving in Las Vegas at multiple points throughout her life? Will the werewolf hockey player and the grad-student witch ultimately hook up after rescuing their friend from the clutches of a vampire cult?
And I especially enjoy stories like these when they are penned by people whom I might bump into around town.
Having written and edited books about Las Vegas for 20 years, I am continually dazzled by the number of spellbinding writers who reside in this valley. Sure, a few authors have come and gone over the years, but for the most part our literary community is solid and dedicated. And the number of talented wordsmiths here grows, making connections among our varied communities and expanding our city’s literary reputation.
Cover Art/Shan Michael Evans, Cover Design/Christopher Smith.
Nothing confirms this better than my role as the editor for Las Vegas Writes, a Nevada Humanities program that annually commissions an anthology project highlighting the work of writers who have fascinating things to say about life in southern Nevada. Each year’s volume offers a new theme, and for 2021 the subject is love, which, like everything today, suffers supply-chain issues. And so, in collaboration with 11 authors and a typographical artist, we have constructed the 12th volume in the series, Love in the Dunes: Las Vegas Writers on Passion and Heartache.
Published by Huntington Press, Love in the Dunes is the boldest, most diverse—in terms of identity and occupation—entry so far. Contributors include a Hollywood actress, a janitorial company owner, a librarian, a Whole Foods cashier, a video poker expert, a defense contractor, a downtown bookseller, a dystopian sci-fi writer, a YA urban-fantasy author, a fine-art photographer, a motorcycle blogger, and a university professor. All but one makes their very first appearance in the series, and I can’t imagine a stronger collection of literary firepower.
What can I say about the stories? They are by turns bruising and bittersweet and beautiful, and they cover every hunger and hurt that romantic love provokes, moments of terror and tenderness and blistering truth. Indeed, Love in the Dunes features characters you can’t help but root for even as you (your palm pressing your face) watch them trip in the throes of bad romance. Or surrender, sometimes helplessly, in the arms of a fantastic lover. Or, in the case of one specific character, chastely instruct one’s mother-in-law on the best strategy for winning a Mother’s Day slot tournament with a huge payout.
Love in the Dunes, which arrives in stores this week, has everything a book needs to succeed: great writing and beautiful design (courtesy of designer Christopher Smith and cover artist Shan Michael Evans). It has support from Nevada Humanities and Huntington Press, along with a platform provided by the City of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Book Festival. All it needs now is a readership. Given how supportive the Las Vegas and the larger Nevada literary scenes are, Love in the Dunes will have no problem finding an audience.
See you at the book launch!
Click here to RSVP for the Love in the Dunes book launch and conversation with the authors on Wednesday, October 27, 7 pm PDT, at the Clark County Library Theatre (1401 E. Flamingo Rd., Las Vegas, Nevada).
Copies of Love in the Dunes will be available soon at The Writer’s Block in Las Vegas and Sundance Books and Music in Reno.
Photo/Jarret Keene.
Jarret Keene is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he teaches American literature and the graphic novel. He has written books—travel guide, rock-band biography, poetry collections—and edited short-fiction anthologies such as Las Vegas Noir and Dead Neon: Tales of Near-Future Las Vegas.