Geoff Schumacher

This piece was first published earlier today on Facebook:

Tomorrow evening, “Blue Vegas,” a short story collection by P Moss, will make its debut. A book launch party at the Double Down Saloon starts at 8 p.m.

“Blue Vegas” originally was going to be CityLife Books’ first title. But last fall, when we decided to publish “Restless City,” the serial novel commissioned by the Vegas Valley Book Festival, “Blue Vegas” became the imprint’s second title.

I’m extremely proud of both books. I think they represent a great and appropriate start for this imprint, which I dreamed up about two years ago and which Stephens Press publisher Carolyn Hayes Uber embraced from the minute she heard my idea.

Since its release in November, “Restless City” has been well received. Featuring a talented lineup of local authors — Lee Barnes, John Irsfeld, Brian Rouff, Leah Bailly, John L. Smith, Constance Ford and Vu Tran — it’s a fast-moving, edgy crime tale set in modern-day Las Vegas. It’s a fine addition to the local culture, I believe, and an appropriate title for CityLife Books to publish.

“Blue Vegas” also fits perfectly into what CityLife Books aims to do. The 17 stories reflect the dark side of life in Las Vegas, the side where people lose more than a few dollars in a casino, where they find themselves in deadly situations because of greed or stupidity, where dreams don’t come true.

Moss had been working on these stories for some time but it wasn’t until the creation of CityLife Books that he really had an appropriate venue in which to get them published. They deserve a wide audience, I think, wider than the confines of this valley. An article in Sunday’s L.A. Times surely has triggered interest in Southern California, and review copies have gone out far and wide.

The local media coverage has been ample and enthusiastic, promising a good turnout at tomorrow night’s event, as well as at book signings scheduled later in the month.

I am pleased to be involved with these two books, as well as a few more in the pipeline. CityLife Books fills a void, providing a vehicle for promising local authors of good fiction and nonfiction about Las Vegas to get published. It’s a low-cost operation, which means we are willing to gamble on a piece of writing that might not pencil out for Stephens Press or other publishers.

“Restless City” and “Blue Vegas” are just the beginning. The next title will be called “Vanishing Village,” a nonfiction work by Evan Blythin. If you or someone you know has a manuscript or is working on one about Las Vegas, and it is less than 50,000 words, consider making a pitch to CityLife Books. We’re especially interested in writing that challenges the status quo and the conventional wisdom in Las Vegas.

In the meantime, “Blue Vegas” is the hot new title to get a hold of. Whether you ultimately love it, like it or hate it, I guarantee you will remember reading it.