1 Timed to last month’s Nevada sesquicentennial — a word, thankfully, that we’ll never have to use again — the October issue’s cover story sought to parse this city’s and state’s history through their epic thingness. Specifically, 25 objects from throughout time … time … time … that collectively add up to our story. A ceramic bird here, a giant dam pipe there, some mining equipment and a showgirl costume: voila, Vegas! To arrive at our 25, we enlisted the help of historians and curators, one of whom you’ll meet in the next sentence. “We just love your thoughtful work with ‘The History of Nevada in 25 Objects,’” says Nevada State Museum curator Karan Feder. She and her NSM colleagues (along with the staff at the Clark County Museum) patiently fielded our numerous requests for information and access to important items. “The selected objects are so wonderfully unexpected — thank you for including a few artifacts from the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas!”
“I like the 25 Objects package quite a lot,” says reader — and, as you’ll note on p. 73, occasional contributor — Greg Thilmont, who adds that he “learned numerous new facts.” That hearty endorsement was not a condition of his work on p. 73.
2 Also for the October issue, Deputy Editor Scott Dickensheets spent an evening with The Illiterati, a fun group of ambitious writers of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and dark fiction, who meet weekly to critique one another’s work-in-progress. In that spirit, we asked them to critique the resulting article, titled “ Write Club.”
“Scott, I saw what you were attempting with this piece, and it mostly worked real well,” judged Mason Ian Bundschuh. “Especially the parts between each word where you put a space. Lots of emotional resonance there.” [*Dickensheets beams appreciatively*]
Matt Czarnowski likewise found something to like in the piece: “This article oozes potential,” he writes. “I am impressed by your ability to portray our critique group in such a positive light, despite the obvious cultish attributes not mentioned (animal sacrifices, blood rituals, etc.).” [*Dickensheets beams appreciatively*]
Mercedes M. Yardley, however, had a different take: “I wanted to hear more about the night. It was unusual and full of rain. The sky was oddly illuminated. … When we stepped through the door, it was into the bosom of safety from the jaws of that inhuman darkness. That contrast juxtaposed with the light and life of the critique group could add drama and a touch of surreal madness.”
Bundschuh agreed: “What if you opened with, ‘It was a dark and stormy night’?
“All in all a solid start,” he avers. “With a few revisions (and maybe a fight scene featuring futuristic robot bears) I think you’ll have something worth submitting to your editor.”
“Do not listen to Mason,” Czarnowski counters. “Boxing T-Rexes would suit the story much better.” Those are just suggestions, he allows, but Dickensheets should follow every one if he wants to see his article in print.
[*Dickensheets beams appreciatively*]
3 Reader Lizbeth Bostrom seemed to find the subject of Heidi Kyser’s report on rooftop solar energy (“ Power to the people,” October) inspiring: “(It’s) an indication of how clean, affordable and abundant electricity can be generated at the micro level,” she commented on Facebook. “At the macro level, what would be the possibility of acres of desert land being used to furnish the energy to distill seawater to freshwater?” Powering desalination without fossil fuels would provide necessary water without ecological damage. “It is past time that Nevadans need to push our politicians to respond to the thorny fact that with the current population, the water supply is dwindling much faster than nature can keep up.”