Books-DC

Juan Martinez on Las Vegas as inspiration for his new novel literalizing the horror of capitalism, trauma, and xenophobia

Erin Langner's new collection of essays on escape have much for local readers to enjoy, if they can lower their Las Vegas defenses

From her Boulder City upbringing to her Mormon adulthood, writer Phyllis Barber has always been a ‘creature’ of the desert

Musing on Nevada from Salt Lake City, novelist, playwright and casino design consultant David Kranes is the neighbor who knows us better than we do.Author David Kranes is drawn to dream spaces, so naturally he writes often about Nevada — its casinos, its nowhere towns, its gamblers, magicians, hit men.

Remember when Vegas was a crucible for reinvention? These authors do At the heart of these three recently published books lies one question: “What kind of place is Las Vegas?” Gov. Bob Miller and former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman say they know.

In H. Lee Barnes’ new novel “Cold Deck,” protagonist Jude is a longtime casino dealer who’s seen his share of Las Vegas history — in fact, he barely survived the deadly MGM fire in 1980.

An excerpt from Oksana Marafioti’s upcoming book, “American Gypsy: A memoir” Las Vegas is a city of transplants, but Oksana Marafioti’s transplant story is unique. She is a Roma who emigrated from the Soviet Union to America when she was 15.

H. Lee Barnes’ Vietnam war memoir captures the heightened reality of combat Maybe it’s the former deputy sheriff in him, but College of Southern Nevada professor of English H.

Conversations with the Vegas Valley Book Festival’s two keynote authors, Max Brooks and Jane Smiley Max Brooks: Don of the dead If it seems you can’t swing an (un)dead cat without hitting a zombie novel, zombie TV series, zombie movie, zombie comic book or zombie videogame, well, it’s because you can’t. But the writer most responsible for the current trend of apocalyptic horror doesn’t deal in straightforward B-movie clichés.

Erica Anzalone’s gutsy verse embraces — and explodes — formalism Few bards these days can rock a red dress and cowboy boots and still be taken seriously by their professors and academic peers. But Las Vegas poet Erica Anzalone makes it look easy as she steps up to the microphone in the Contemporary Arts Center on this March afternoon.