Working Titlez

by Krissy Hawkins
Each year, the Vegas Valley Book Festival (VVBF) presents its Crystal Book Mark Award to an individual who has significantly advanced the cause of literature in the Vegas Valley. This year Jim Frey, chairperson of Nevada Humanities, presented popular columnist and author, John L. Smith, with the award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of literature in the Vegas Valley.

Smith carries the distinction of being a fourth-generation Nevadan, an award-winning columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the author of a dozen nonfiction books, including Sharks in the Desert and Bluegrass Days, Neon Nights, as well as a contributing author to Restless City, the serial novel project of the book festival.

This event marked the second annual presentation of the Crystal Book Mark Award. The first went to Kris Darnall, one of the originators of the Vegas Valley Book Festival and a colleague at Nevada Humanities. The rules dictate that the award cannot go to anyone currently on the planning or literary committee of the VVBF and that the recipient must have made a major contribution to the encouragement of reading in the community through service or through a body of work that enriches, clarifies, or encourages reading and writing in and about the Vegas Valley.

This year’s presentation took place at the Clark County Library at a panel led by Smith entitled “Amelia’s Long Journey: The Challenge of Writing What You Know.” In Amelia’s Long Journey (Stephens Press) Smith tells of the joys of becoming a parent and raising a beautiful little girl, and the terror of almost losing her. With the skill of a journalist and the heart of a father, Smith lovingly chronicles Amelia’s life: her early carefree years, the diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor, the surgeries, the treatments, the remissions, the relapse, the recovery, as well as the courage, humor, and optimism she showed throughout.

Amelia’s Long Journey is not only a story about a brave girl’s fight against cancer, but a story about a precious little girl’s love for life. Proceeds of the book benefit Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Nevada, Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, and St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

What happens when a parent’s perfectly normal day turns into every parent’s worst nightmare?

For the Smith family, life was good. John, most known to R-J readers as Nevada’s best-read newspaper columnist, and wife Tricia, were the parents of a beautiful little girl, Amelia, then eight-years-old.

That perfect and perfectly normal life was shattered with the terrifying diagnosis of a brain tumor. Little Amelia was whisked to specialists in Phoenix on an medical flight for life-saving emergency surgery. Then the worst-day-in-their-life got worse yet with the news the tumor was cancerous. The next days, months, years were dizzying rounds of doctors and hospitals, chemotherapy and radiation, recoveries and replapses.

As the Smith family went through this terrible ordeal, John pondered the old adage — write what you know. Should he write about Amelia’s health crisis? In the ensuing five years, John did write about his brave and stalwart daughter as she endured the relentless pain and suffering that comes with modern medical treatments for cancer.

AMELIA’S LONG JOURNEY will debut at the Vegas Valley Book Festival. John will present the keynote address, “The Challenge of Writing What You Know” this Saturday at the Flamingo branch of the Clark County Library. John and Amelia will sign books together.

Amelia’s favorite childhood cancer charities will benefit from sales of the book. They include:

• Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada
• Make-A-Wish Foundation
• Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation
• St. Baldrick’s Foundation

The book acknowldeges the crucial supportive role these charities provide to the families of children with cancer.

When: Saturday, November 7, 7:00 PM
Where: Clark County Library Theater, 1401 E. Flamingo
Web: www.ameliaslongjourney.com

Writing is a solitary endeavor, and save for some tweaking by an editor, the storyline and characters are the author’s own. The author is in charge of what happens when, what each character does, says, and even looks like. So how did seven of the region’s best authors, all tremendously accomplished in their own right, deal with having to share?

John L. Smith said, “In school I often got into trouble for failing to work well with others, so I wasn’t optimistic that I could cooperate on a story with six  writers. Collaborating on a writing project was pretty new for me. But it was intriguing to participate in a collective creative writing project. And I think the story works.”

RESTLESS CITY will debut at this year’s Vegas Valley Book Festival. A signature project of the festival organizers, editor Geoff Schumacher invited seven of the area’s best-known authors to each write a sequential chapter in a yet-untitled book. The only provisions were it had to be set in Las Vegas, be fiction, and each chapter was limited to 3,000 to 4,000 words. Oh, and they’d have a short couple of weeks to write their chapter.

H. Lee Barnes. John Irsfeld, Brian Rouff, Leah Bailly, John L. Smith, Constance Ford and Vu Tran were game for this admittedly experimental project. Barnes set a high standard with the first chapter, and introduced his colleagues to a story we’ve come to label Vegas Noir. By the time John Irsfeld added his contribution, the title RESTLESS CITY was coined by editor Geoff Schumacher.

The concept of a serial novel was recently a bestseller in THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT by thriller-master Jeffery Deaver and a team of likewise bestselling mystery and suspense writers. I read THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT with great curiousity, wondering if I could sense the different voices from chapter to chapter. Yes, I could.

As I can in RESTLESS CITY. But not in a negative way. It is more of an undercurrent that something has shifted as the story moves on. Too, there was a greater anticipation as to where the story would go next as each new author took the reins.

According to author Brian Rouff, RESTLESS CITY required him to “step up my game”. Rouff said “Chapter three was a great opportunity because I got to delve into back story. John Irsfeld gave me a lot to work with. In turn, I finished my chapter with an old-fashioned cliffhanger for the next author. I hope the readers had as much fun as I did.”

THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT was such a success, that Deaver and his colleagues have produced THE COPPER BRACELET. Deaver was fascinted to “see how a group of authors with vastly varied writing styles and approaches to creativity produced such a cohesive thriller with a relentlessly fast-paced narrative”.

Vu Tran, the final chapter author said, “Writing the last chapter and trying to tie up everyone else’s plot and character threads was in turns a unique, infuriating, and fun experience. Complementing and resolving other people’s ideas was even more difficult than I thought it would be, but I ultimately found it very satisfying and educational.”

RESTLESS CITY is available at www.RestlessCity.com and will be available on Amazon and in local bookstores shortly. Both a print and eBook formats are being published. The book will debut at the Vegas Valley Book Festival with a reading by final author Vu Tran on Saturday, November 7 at 4:00 PM at the Historic Fifth Street School (on Fourth Street). Authors will be available to sign books.

The story marches on . . . and what has happened to our protagonist Brady in the Restless City since we last heard from him? Find out now, in Chapter Five, the latest posting for the serial novel, Restless City. Native Nevadan John L. Smith penned the newest chapter in the Vegasesque story written sequentially by seven local authors. A signature project of the Vegas Valley Book Festival, the chapters are posted online with the final chapter to debut at the festival in November. An e-book edition will be published by Stephens Press. If you’ve missed previous chapters, you can start with Chapter One. If you think writing is hard, taking your turn in a sequential story is MUCH harder (I’ve done it). Somehow you have to incorporate what’s happened in previous chapters, make your contribution make sense, and move the story forward for the next author. Enjoy.

My buddy Brian Rouff is next up with Chapter Three of the serial novel Restless City. Brian’s got a great knack for dialogue (not that simple to write) as his chapter demonstrates. The story moves forward, marching toward the final chapter to revealed at the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival. You can read Brian’s chapter here

Missed chapters one and two? Start at the begining here..

The collaborative novel, now titled Restless City, has chapter two posted here. Written by UNLV professor John Irsfeld (Night Moves, Rats Alley), the story moves forward. A project of the Vegas Valley Book Festival and sponsored by CityLife, the entire book has seven sequential authors. The final chapter will be read at the festival in November. Enjoy and speculate what third author, Brian Rouff, will do next.

Our friends at the Vegas Valley Book Festival have launched a new signature event, “Las Vegas Writes,” a collaborative serial novel that is being written by seven local authors over the next five months. The first chapter was completed recently by Stephens Press author H. Lee Barnes. It was released for public reading today at www.lvcitylife.com.

“Some of the city’s best writers have committed to this project,” said local journalist and author Geoff Schumacher, who is coordinating the project for the book festival and serving as the novel’s editor. “The novel promises to be well written, fast paced and drenched in the sights and sounds of Las Vegas.”

Subsequent chapters, released every three weeks, will be written by John Irsfeld, Brian Rouff, Leah Bailly, John. L. Smith, Constance Ford and Vu Tran. The final chapter, written by Tran, will be released and read at the closing of the book festival on Sunday, November 8^th.

Lee Barnes is the author of five books and teaches creative writing at the College of Southern Nevada. His opening chapter sets the stage for a diverse cast of characters in a Las Vegas setting. He’s followed by an equally fine lineup of local writers.

I’ve been enjoying an “insider’s” opportunity to read these chaps as they are submitted, and I can say the entire concept is fascinating. The writers amongst us will marvel at the notion of picking up another’s characters and plot and moving the story along its arc — and be insanely curious at what subsequent authors will do. It has been a lot of fun speculating what each new chapter will reveal. Bookmark the CityLife website to follow along, and I’ll try to post reminders as each new chap is uploaded.

Now in its eighth year, the book festival is presented by the city of Las Vegas, Nevada Humanities, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and the Las Vegas Review-Journal with the local chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts as the official branding sponsor.

My enthusiasm for the VVBF continues to grow. As the largest literature event in Las Vegas, the festival will present more than 100 authors in a full schedule of readings, panel discussions and book signings, with most sessions taking place at the Historic Fifth Street School downtown. Other special book festival programs include the Comics Festival at the Clark County Library, the Target Children’s Festival on Centennial Plaza, the Local Authors Fair in the Fountain Courtyard at the Historic Fifth Street School and Poetry Under the Stars on the Lewis Avenue Corridor. More info: 229-5431 or www.artslasvegas.org\vvbf.

The "Rock Star" of Writing, author Neil Gaiman (photo by Andrew Taylor)

The annual Vegas Valley Book Festival just concluded. Held for the first time at the Historic Fifth Street School, the new venue helped contribute to the “best yet” festival. What a whirlwind of activities devoted to the celebration of reading and writing! There was something for everyone from the Target Children’s Book Fest to a plethora of programming for aficionados of graphic novels and comic books. The craft of writing was furthered with workshops on everything from character development and point of view to authenticating crime stories. Over eighty individual authors had sales tables and poets performed in the courtyard. Stephens Press was well represented with our own sales area and several of our authors gave presentations in the auditorium. Las Vegas Review-Journal entertainment columnist Mike Weatherford interviewed celebrity columnist Norm Clarke, whose newest book, Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales debuted at the festival, and Norm didn’t disappoint, shaing some “scoops” with the audience that hadn’t hit the media yet. Next up, author and editor Geoff Schumacher (Howard Hughes: Politics, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue) interviewed Laraine Russo Harper, author of Legal Tender: True Tales of a Brothel Madam. Laraine shared her experiences running a legal brothel with plenty of wit and funny stories. Damn the Rejections, Full Speed Ahead: The Bumpy Road to Getting Published author Maralys Wills took the stage along with yours truly. The audience asked many questions following the tips presented for improving manuscripts and seeking publication. The festival was “bookended” by a pair of star authors. The opening keynote, Neil Gaiman drew a capacity crowd of fans for his body of work (Mirrormask, Stardust, American Gods, and more). The Brit-born author gave a long and rambling talk about modern culture, authors who’ve influenced him and his writing, and read from The Graveyard, his newest title. Pulizer Prize winner (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union) Michael Chabon gave the closing keynote address. His essay-like talk covered a lot of territory from Legos to the uber-insulated life our children live today. Interestingly, both Gaiman and Chabon talked about the “crap” their children read — or that they read as children — and observed that while it may not have been literature, it added to their perceptions and body of knowledge. Or, as Neil put it, “great stuff can be grown in crap”. Key sponsors incude the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the City of Las Vegas, the Clark County Library, and Nevada Humanities. It takes a lot of people and a lot of support to pull off such a successful event. I’m heartened and encouraged to see this annual event really come into its own.