Calling Kershaw-Ryan State Park an oasis is an understatement. The small gorge, just south of Caliente, is green from canyon wall to canyon wall.

My favorite repairs were at showrooms. The upper-level bar at Zumanity, for example, had an open view of the show, so after I fixed whatever was broken — usually something as simple as replacing an empty bag-in-the-box the bar back forgot to change — I would hang out at the bar to, you know, “make sure the machine didn’t break again,” and catch the rest of the performance.

How my limp attempt at penning the next hot erotica franchise reminded me what writing is really about.“What are you doing here?” Marlena followed him to the kitchen, not at all paying attention to his well-sculpted shoulders or the identical tattoos of a marine compass on each shoulder blade.

Mad scientist of mixology at RX Boiler RoomNathan Greene’s quiet voice is muffled under the avalanching sound of ice being shoveled into the bar wells. At Rx Boiler Room, and probably at the other bars inside Mandalay Bay, that means it’s about four o’clock.

How the accidental Republican became an infamous party firebrand, learned how to lose and joined the City Council to become ..

M.E.

Sometimes modern life seems upside-down. Our private homes are stocked with the stuff of public amenities: They’re our movie theaters and espresso bars and arcades, spun into cocoons of distraction and stimulating entrapment.

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.

… to a perfectly mixed cocktail enjoyed with friends you had long before your Facebook account. To a glass of wine after a day of conquering the world from your office.

Filmmaker Ted Faye’s “Weird Tales” remind us that Death Valley is, well, yeah, pretty weirdThe uninitiated call Death Valley many things. Bleak.