The Rio. Dotty’s. Chef Kenny’s Vegan Dim Sum. And the congested 215 beltway.
These and so many more Las Vegas landmarks appear in “Dangerland!,” the recently released, Las Vegas-set debut novel by local writer Erin Singer.
The romantic-comedy title tells the story of Vegas natives Eugenie and Kurt. They’re two middle-aged residents of a Summerlin-reminiscent community who maintain a pent-up sexual tension for four decades. Making matters worse for them is a supporting cast of wary family members, neighbors, and nannies ... to say nothing of an ongoing lawsuit over a golf course that drew inspiration from local headlines — and the author's own experience.
Singer and her family lived in the Queensridge community when residential development was being planned for the adjoining Badlands Golf Club, which would eventually result in major legal drama involving — and a multimillion-dollar settlement paid by — the City of Las Vegas.
"The security company accidentally released everyone's email address," Singer told KNPR's "State of Nevada." "They didn't BCC everyone; they CC'd everyone, so almost immediately we started getting these crazy emails for and against the development of the golf course, and over time they seemed to get more and more unhinged. The writer in me was like, this is too funny. There was drama, there was comedy...."
Singer's own history with the city is worthy of the novel treatment alone. She moved here in 2007 after a journalism trip, when she interviewed — and then began dating — her future husband, a professional gambler. As such, "Dangerland!" is packed with only-in-Las Vegas scenery and scenarios, from references to the Italian-American Social Club and Sphere, to character commentary on all the Californians emigrating to the city.
For passages involving action on the casino floor, she leaned on her husband for authenticity — including a passage detailing an all-night poker session with Eugenie's son, Austin, an aspiring professional gambler. "Everything that's in that section was fact-checked by [my husband]," Singer said. "Or he'd be like, 'Don't say that, that's just embarrassing, you've got to write it this way,' or, 'This is how people really speak.'"
Part of what drives the latent romance of Eugenie and Kurt is their roots in — and love for — Las Vegas; their camaraderie often stems from their enthusiasm for a life they've built for six decades, both separately and together — and it rarely involves the Strip. It reaffirms that "Dangerland!" is squarely a book steeped in local culture, not the usual Vegas cultural touchstones. And that's partly what sold Summit Books — an imprint under the giant Simon & Schuster publishing company — on the novel after Singer's agent sent them an early version.
"[Summit] were the ones who read it," Singer said. "And they were like, 'You know what? More Vegas. We love this. Give us more. ... A lot of books are set in New York and L.A., but we don't get to see this sort of suburban side of locals' Las Vegas.' So they wanted even more after they read the draft."
Singer will read from "Dangerland!" on October 2 at The Writer's Block bookstore. She'll also interview author Claire Vaye Watkins — who grew up in Southern Nevada and attended UNLV — at the same location on October 9.
Guests: Erin Singer, author
