Top writers gather for Vegas Valley Book Festival

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2002 | 8:26 a.m.

Novelist Dale Brown makes his home near the quiet shores of Lake Tahoe, where he writes action-packed, best-selling stories with military and aviation backdrops.

His latest, "Wings of Fire" (Barnes & Noble; $25.95), focuses on covert military activity in the Middle East.

"Tahoe is a perfect place for a writer," Brown said during a recent telephone interview from his Incline Village home, where he has lived for eight years. "It's quiet and peaceful, a small town but accessible to any place I need to go."

Brown is among 50 writers who will participate in the first Vegas Valley Book Festival, which will be held Friday and Saturday in Green Valley.

The event was created by the Nevada Humanities Committee, the Henderson District Public Libraries and the city of Henderson. It will feature two days of panel discussions, workshops, seminars, readings by authors and other related activities.

Among a host of notable participants in addition to Brown are keynote speakers Tom Robbins ("Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"), John Irving ("The World According to Garp") and Stephen Coonts ("Under Siege"), a friend of Brown's and another novelist whose fiction is military oriented.

Also scheduled to take part are comedian Louie Anderson ("The 'F' Word") and Las Vegan H. Lee Barnes ("Dummy Up and Deal: Inside the Culture of Casino Dealing").

Hal Rothman, author and chairman of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas History Department, will read from his latest work, "Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century."

Rothman scoffs at the idea that an event such as a major book festival signals a shift in the cultural landscape of Las Vegas.

"Las Vegas is better known as a cultural center in a world view than locally," Rothman said.

He often defends Las Vegas against those who snub their noses at the Entertainment Capital of the World.

"We are a national and international literary center, much more than anyone realizes," Rothman said. "We don't get credit for the International Institute of Modern Letters."

The institute has headquarters on the campuses of UNLV and Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.

Two years ago the organization joined forces with the International Parliament of Writers in Paris to make Las Vegas the first City of Asylum, of which there are now 34 around the world. The Cities of Asylum objective is to provide safe havens for international writers who are under threat of death, torture or imprisonment in their home countries.

Talking writing

No one can say exactly how many professional authors live in Nevada, but Dale Brown may be one of the most popular. Ten of his novels have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Brown says that while a number of authors are expected to read from their works at the upcoming book festival, he probably won't.

"The main thing I'm going to do will be talk about the writing business," Brown said. "What I enjoy doing is talking about the books, about the business and the craft of writing."

The former Air Force captain, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., has written more than a dozen novels. Among them are "Flight of the Old Dog" (1987), "Sky Masters" (1991), "Battle Born" (1999) and "Warrior Class" (2000).

"I love talking about imagination and writing, charging up other writers and urging them to finish their books," Brown said.

He also will discuss the future of books and of writing.

"It's much easier to get your manuscripts read today than it was before the Internet and e-mail," Brown said. "I used to send out 12 query letters a month. Now you can send out 12 per day or more if you want."

Contrary to popular belief, there are still a lot of readers in the general population.

"It's not a lost art, as some people think," Brown said. "If you look at the raw numbers, book publishers still make more money than all other forms of entertainment, including the combined sales of tickets to concerts, movies and sporting events.

"Reading will always be there."

Brown says not everyone believes that, however.

"What I see in the industry is a lot of discouraged writers," he said. "They think with publishing houses consolidating and being bought by foreign companies, and with competition from TV and films, there isn't much hope.

"But they need to remember, part of writing is producing scripts for all the other media outlets. Every TV show, every motion picture starts with a writer who sits down at a computer or with a pencil and paper and starts letting his or her imagination go. That's what I love to tell writers."

One of the seminars at the festival will be "Successful TV Writing" (noon to 12:50 p.m. Friday at the Paseo Verde Library). Others will deal with such tops as what book publishers are looking for, self-publishing and marketing your novel.

Something for everyone

Kris Darnall, program coordinator for the Nevada Humanities Committee notes that the festival is not just for writers or those who want to become writers, but also for those who just enjoy reading.

"We wanted the program to be very diverse," said Darnall, who helped start planning the festival two years ago.

The committee has organized another book festival in Reno for the past five years, but Darnall says that one is different from the one coming to Henderson.

"We tried to make this program very distinctive," she said. "In addition to discussion of novels and various kinds of fiction writing, there will be a heavy emphasis on children's literature, poetry and on comics. We want to look at writing in several different mediums, and we also want to attract young people to the festival."

Darnall said it was decided to have the festival now because, "We saw a confluence of events. The Henderson library district was expanding, building a new library. The city of Henderson built a new amphitheater and Green Valley Ranch Station Casino was constructed."

Festival activities will take place at the new Paseo Verde Library, and nearby Henderson Promenade and Special Events Plaza and the Multigenerational Center. Parking will be available at those locations and at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.

Darnall says getting authors to come to what some perceive as a cultural desert posed no problems.

"It has been really wonderful getting people to come to Las Vegas," she said. "There are so many authors who have never been here before. Most of them are very excited by the idea that we are going to be one of the highlights of local culture."