Joni Eastley: I am in my third term as a Nye County Commissioner.  My career in public service will expire at the end of 2012—term limits are going to get me.  I am not a native of Nevada; I am a native of Ohio.  I moved here in 1984.  My husband accepted a position with, well, it was Tentacle Minerals then, in Manhattan as an administrative services manager.  So I went from living in a suburb of Cleveland to Manhattan, which to me was essentially like being dropped on another planet.

NVR: How did that transition work?

JE: Not very well at first.  I was shocked at where we were going to live.  I had owned my own home in northern Ohio and went from living in a three-bedroom, two-bath house in the suburbs to a living in what was considered to be one of the best places, if not the best place in town, which was essentially a miner’s shack with a boxcar and caboose hooked onto it.

NVR: But over the years you grew more accustomed.

JE: Oh yes.  In fact, we lived in Manhattan for five years and then Tentacle Minerals, the Manhattan mine, was purchased by Round Mountain Gold Corporation and my husband was transferred to Round Mountain.  We ended up moving to the Hadley subdivision as it was being constructed.  And I really have to say, I missed Manhattan.

NVR: What did you miss about Manhattan?

JE: We lived up Pipe Springs Road, which is just a road going through a canyon.  If you follow that road to its end, it will lead to Tonopah.  It was being able to see deer in the canyon, and the wildlife, and it was so quiet living up there.  I missed that.  I didn’t have the stresses and the fears that I had living in the city.  And I appreciated that, and I grew to appreciate and love being able to raise my kids in that kind of environment.

NVR: How do you transition from being dropped on another planet to being one of the community leaders?

JE: Well, I was raised in a very strong Christian family.  One of the things that I learned very early on from Sunday school was that you bloom where you are planted.  And that is the best way to be happy, and to have a life that will serve you and will serve others.  So, becoming part of the community was a big thing for me.

NVR: As a County Commissioner you have overseen the birth and the rise of the Nye County Press.  Can you give us some background on that?

JE: Well, actually I didn’t really oversee the birth and the rise of it.  Nye County Press was created long before I was on the Commission.  What I like to think is that I was a part of it resurrection.  It laid dormant for
a number of years.  And then several years ago Dr. McCracken called me and asked if I would like to resurrect the Nye County History Program.  Of course I was interested in that.  So he came to Tonopah and we sat down and had a meeting and talked about some of the things that we could do together.  And I threw a few more things on the list and we went from there.

NVR: You say that “of course” you were interested in that.  What was your great interest in resurrecting it?

JE: Because I love history, and because I love preservation.  And I love historic preservation.  Of course, historic preservation is much more than just securing buildings.  It is also about preserving people’s stories, and preserving a way of life, and for me, it was preserving history, no matter what form that history came in.

NVR: What kind of works had the press put out before it was revitalized by you and Dr. McCracken?

JE: Before it was revitalized it had produced history books on, I think, most of the communities in Nye County.  Amargosa Valley, of course Tonopah, there was a Round Mountain History, the Railroad Valley history was another one that was very popular.  And I just built from there: we determined which communities did not have histories yet and we concentrated on those.  We recently released a history on the Big Smoky Valley, and one on Manhattan.  We have in the works right now a book on Tybo.  I don’t know that a book on Tybo has ever been done.  That’s another thing that I was looking for: we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, but to tell stories that had not been told previously.

NVR: Is there anyone else out there doing what you are doing?

JE: No, not to my knowledge.

NVR: In the last few years, the project seems to have really come to fruition with these beautiful volumes, to include the most recent, if I am not mistaken, the release of Ms. Lucile Berg’s book.  Can you tell us about how that came about?

JE: Yes.  Well, that was Bob McCracken’s idea.  Bob ran across, in his collection, a Xerox copy of Lucile Berg’s thesis, which is a history of the Central Nevada region.

NVR: She was studying at the University of Nevada for that thesis.

JE: Yes, she was.  It was her master’s thesis.  He was in Tonopah.  He has a really fun and unusual way of calling in the morning from his home in Las Vegas and he’ll say I have some great ideas.  Can I come up to Tonopah and we’ll sit and have lunch and talk about them.  So that’s really where this happened.  We were having lunch and he asked me what I would think about printing her thesis.  Well, I had seen it previously.  I had seen a dog-eared copy many years ago when I worked at Round Mountain Gold.  I immediately thought: this is going to be a winner.  So, I said, yes, let’s do this one.  And it was a matter of finding some of her relatives who are all, for the most part, still in Round Mountain.  And Bob kind of took it from there.

NVR: What was it about this volume in particular that was so attractive to Bob, and then you, and then the press?  What made you bite on this one?

JE: I believed that, because it was another one of those stories that needed to be told, and those stories are told best by the people who lived them.  Lucile lived this story.

NVR: Tell us about that story.

JE: Dr. McCracken and I both were just so struck by how she was really not a woman of her time.  She was more, if you want to use the term “liberated.”  I like the word independent.  She was independent.  She lived her life independently.  She thought independently.  The customs and values of women raised in her generation were that you completed some basic schooling, you found yourself a husband, and then you raised a bunch of kids.  Well that wasn’t good enough for her.  That wasn’t her dream for her life.  She wasn’t interested in doing that.  She took, which I thought was a huge step for someone having been raised in a community like Round Mountain, essentially a mining camp, to have gone to school and gotten not only a degree, but also an advanced degree.  She flew her own plane, flew it everywhere, and lived where she wanted to live, worked where she wanted to work.  Getting married wasn’t good enough for her, although she did have boyfriends, and she admitted that.  By God, she wasn’t going to have kids because she didn’t like them.  And how did she know she didn’t like them?  Because she was a teacher.  She had gotten her degree in education and came back to Round Mountain and taught at the Round Mountain school.  I thought that was pretty forward thinking for a woman of her time.

NVR: She is clearly a remarkable woman.  And it is a beautiful book as well.  What kind of stories does she tell?  Is it popular history or scholarly history?

JE: It’s scholarly history.  She cites her references within her thesis.  But the other part that I liked is that this book was a tribute to her father and her mother.  She admitted in the book that she had gotten a lot of information from her dad, who was a big lover of history.  He shared that love with Lucile, and I believe that is what her incentive was for going to UNR and getting her advanced degree in history.

NVR: Now you had a chance to present her with this book.

JE: Yes, Dr. McCracken and I drove to Sacramento and we presented the book to her at the nursing home that she was living in at the time.  I’m sorry to report that she passed away in her sleep recently at
a Christian Scientist nursing home in Sacramento.  But the staff there was very excited about the fact that her thesis had been published.  So they arranged a small gathering of other folks at the nursing home, and staff members, and we were able to present the book to her.  And I know that during the months that it took for us to produce this, she was asking her caregivers about the book on almost a daily basis.  So
I was really honored and humbled to be able to be there and to give this book to her and to know that I had something to do with that.  It’s something that I will always treasure.  It was definitely a highlight of my political service.

NVR: Did she say anything to you and Dr. McCracken when you were there?

JE: Well, by that time she had already started failing.  She really didn’t talk to us at all.  But I watched her and I noticed that she had her hands on the book in her lap.  I will always believe that she hung on long enough to see her book published.

NVR: And that is just the latest book, the latest in a long series of books that Dr. McCracken has done.  What are some of the other books that are available to the public?

JE: One of the most recent hardcovers that we did is on the Manse Ranch in Pahrump.  We were fortunate enough to find descendants of the Joseph Yount family who really started the Manse Ranch in, oh,
I want to say the 1860s.  He was able to obtain a lot of photographs that a lot of people had never really seen before.  I think that the Pahrump Valley really got its start from those pioneers, the Joseph Yount family.  We were able to tell their story and show a lot of their photographs, which give a completely different story about the Pahrump Valley than is being told now.  I think the story now is one of, I guess you can almost compare it to a gold camp, a boom and bust thing, except that the Pahrump boom came through construction and housing.  They were affected by everything that was going on in Las Vegas because they
were so close, and now that is kind of on the decline.  This book, the Manse Ranch book, is really a wonderful tribute to Pahrump and its agricultural heritage and agricultural roots, which is personally something I really wish they could get back to.

NVR: The project also supports some oral histories in the area.

JE: Yes, oral histories are very important.  I think it is part of building a strong foundation for historic preservation.  Again, the oral histories had been started long before I came on board.  I simply picked up the ball and had a whole new list of folks that I wanted to talk to.

NVR: What kind of folks are you interviewing for this?

JE: We are interviewing a pretty broad spectrum of folks, but predominantly what I am interested in is I want to hear the stories that have been passed down through multi-generational families in the same communities so that those families in Beatty, or in the ranching communities outside of Beatty, or in Tonopah.  I want to get those stories told.

NVR: Is this funded by the county, or how is it funded?

JE: Actually, we fund the Nye County History Program from money that we got from Congress because Nye County is the site county for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository.  There are certain ways that that money can be used, and one of the ways that the money can be used is for socio-economic impact, and nothing says socio-economic impact better than history, a history program that tells people the history of the people who populate the area of the repository and getting it in print.

NVR: So the county manages this.  Does Dr. McCracken choose what stories are covered?

JE: Yes, Dr. McCracken and I are in contact several times a week and we meet several times a month so that I can follow up on the status of any of the projects that he is involved in.

NVR: What would you suggest to other counties or local entities that are interested in doing what you have done.  It seems pretty bold.  No one else is doing what you are doing.

JE: Funding is always going to be a huge issue, and I don’t know what to tell them in that regard.  Depending on one’s point of view, I think that we are fortunate that the Yucca Mountain site is located in Nye County because of the funding that we have received because of that is there.  There are many people who say that there is no economic benefit to that project, but we have reaped a great deal of economic
benefit because the nuclear waste policy act mandates that certain payments be paid to Nye County.  We negotiate that level of payment, and that is how we have been able to fund a lot of our projects: road improvements, building buildings, and provided for the Nye County History Project.

NVR: What kind of outreach do you do?  How do you get the word out about what you are doing?

JE: I haven’t really concentrated on the marketing end.  We will be doing a website, and that is extremely important.  I was recently approached by someone from the Beatty community, and what she has proposed doing is scanning and digitizing all of our books and then making them available on Kindle, and as a link on our county website.  What I have done so far is I make sure all of the museums and libraries get copies of whatever books we are producing.  It was also important that museums and to a lesser extent, libraries, make money off of these books.  So what Nye County Press does is, we provide these books at no cost at the museums, and then we maintain their inventory so they can make money off of the books.

NVR: What kinds of projects are on deck for the future of the Nye County Press?

JE: We have a book, again, thinking that I want to do books that haven’t been done before because I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, we are getting ready to go to print on the United Cattle and Packing company, O.K. Reed’s ranch, which was probably the largest ranch in the state of Nevada that operated for almost a thirty- or thirty-five-year period.

NVR: Often people outside of Nevada identify our State by the marketing of our urban areas.  But this seems to be announcing the identity of the Nye County area.  Is that the aim of the Nye County Press?

JE: You know, I don’t want to make it sound this simple, but the main desire is preserving history.  And if we are able to do that by preserving history, that would thrill me, but my main goal was historic preservation.  A lot of elected officials or public servants think that their legacy will be a law that they passed or some other typical political thing.  But this is what I want my history to be—preserving the history of Nye County, its people, and its communities.  I’ve even spoken to the director of our nuclear waste project office to see if I can be involved in the history project even after I am gone from office.  I don’t just come up with ideas, I proofread every one of these books.  I assist with editing.  I want to continue playing a role in telling those stories.

NVR: They are beautiful volumes and some of them are quite substantial, so I can appreciate why you would be proud of making this a part of your legacy.

JE: Yes, I cannot say enough good things about Dr. McCracken.  Just a wonderful man to work with, he’s enthusiastic about any idea that is brought forward.  And as in any project like this, I cannot say enough good things about my colleagues.  No matter who it has been over the years, anyone who has been on the board, there has never been a question about a project that I have brought forward through the history project.  They have been enthusiastic supporters and ninety-nine percent of the time, when I have another item on the agenda to do another phase of the history project, it passes with no discussion.

NVR: Is there a story out there that you have been dying to do that you haven’t been able to do for one reason or another?

JE: Yes, I want to tell the story, and it’s almost like a taboo in some circles, but one of the stories that we have in the works is a history of prostitution in Nye County.  It’s just a dispassionate view.  I want to talk about how we got to the point of where we are.  Prostitution has been, even in modern days, one of those subjects where, yeah, well, in Nevada it’s there but you don’t really want to talk about it.  Well, I do want to talk about it.  I want to know why from its earliest beginnings why it was necessary.  Of course we know why it was necessary.  But I want to know how it got its start, how it took its hold, and how, at least in Nye County, how it became the legal industry that it is today.  I don’t want to talk about it in terms of pros or cons, but I want to look at the issues of the day as prostitution grew, and I want to look at it in terms of the law, what ordinances were passed, what people were talking about at the time as these laws came into effect, and just give a history of the concept.  Dr. McCracken, with the assistance of some of the folks at the Central Nevada Museum up in Tonopah, is going through all of the early day newspapers and taking out the articles that relate to early prostitution.  Prostitution was really tough in those days.  There were a lot of murders associated with it.  There were a lot of suicides.  They had their own ups and downs in that industry and we are going to tell those stories.  We aren’t only going to tell the personal stories of the women involved, but we are going to tell the stories about why prostitution legally needed to be what it was, where it is today.

NVR: There is no question that it is a unique Nevada institution.

JE: Yes it is, and I have no patience for do-gooders, but in this particular instance I would much prefer that they take all of that zeal and desire to save people and take it down to Las Vegas where there are women who are working the streets because they have a pimp, or drug habit they are trying to support, or kids they are trying to support.  Save those women.  Don’t save the women in a legal business who are there because they want to be there.

NVR: Most of the literature that comes to mind is either condemnatory or glamorizing.  It sounds like there is room right down the middle to just tell the story.

JE: That is exactly what we are aiming to do.

NVR: What do you see as far as the future goes?  You’ve spoken about the web content and the oral histories.  Is there a specific audience that you are trying to reach?

JE: Well, obviously, anyone who loves Nevada and people who love history, those are easy.  You are always going to reach those folks because they will seek out the material.  But really the folks that I want to reach are, and I am speaking specifically of Nye County, are those who do not know what a wonderful part of Nevada that they live in.  How some of these communities, and I’ll concentrate on Tonopah now because that is where I live, how if there was not a Tonopah, then I truly do not believe that there would be a Reno or Nevada that is as great as it is today, historically speaking.  You look at some of the folks who came from Tonopah and went on to do great things in the state.  Pat McCarran and Tasker Oddie and Key Pittman, those are all people who came from Tonopah and helped to build that community.  They are huge Nevada names and there are more.

NVR: I wonder how much traffic comes from urban Nevada into frontier Nevada, or even knows about the unique offerings of the different towns.

JE: Yeah, I have to tell you a story.  I was in Las Vegas a few years ago.  I was at a store there and making small talk with the cashier as she was checking out my purchases, and she said, well, are you from around here?  I said, no, I’m from Tonopah.  And she said, well, Tonopah, where is that?  I asked, where were you born?  And she said I was born right here in Las Vegas.  So I wouldn’t say that the knowledge of frontier Nevada is that good.  Can I tell you one more thing about the United Cattle and Packing book?  This book is going to be interesting from a number of different points of view.  Not only the mechanics of O.K. Reed operating a three million acre ranch, or even bigger.  But his personal story is very Shakespearian.  Here is a man who married a woman and they have four children, three daughters and a son.  Two of the daughters committed suicide.  His only son died when he was eleven of leukemia.  His wife subsequently divorced him for one of the cowboys on the ranch.  And he died alone and lonely.  The fact that you have that kind of personal fabric injected into the mechanics of everyday life is just fascinating.  It just struck me that no matter the period, people just really aren’t that different.  People really are the same no matter if you are talking people from the 1700s or people from the modern day.

NVR: Well, thank you very much for your time today, and for all you are doing for Nevada and its literature. ■

The Latest issue of The Nevada Review, Spring 2012, Volume 4, Number 1, is available.  Take a look at the contents below:

• Excerpt from A History of the Tonopah Area and Adjacent Region of Central Nevada, 1827-1941, by Lucile Rae Berg, edited by Robert D. McCraken
• “Battleship Nevada: A Remarkable Ship of Firsts,” by Wayne Scarpaci
• “An Institutional History of the Nevada State Board of Education,” by Joe McCoy
• “The Season,” by H. Lee Barnes
• “My Dad and the Ox-Bow Man,” by Kevin Fagan
• “Billy Button Starnose,” by Lawrence Fagan
• “A Field Guide to the Trout Stream of Your Heart,” by Chad Hanson
• Poems: “Quinn River New Year: Warm After the Blizzard” & “Cairn/Women Sculpted of Stone,” by Carolyn Dufurrena
• Fiction: Excerpt from “The Flamer,” by Ben Rogers
• Interview: Joni Eastley
• Book Reviews
• When We Walked Above the Clouds: A Memoir of Vietnam by H. Lee. Barnes
• A Century of Enthusiasm: Midas, Nevada: 1907-2007 by Dana R. Bennett
• Jesse’s Ghost: A Novel by Frank Bergon
• Tahoe Hijack by Todd Borg
• Hassie Calhoun: A Las Vegas Novel of Innocence by Pamela Cory
• Crit by Andrew Kiraly
• Neon Nevada by Peter Laufer and Sheila Swan Laufer
• Looking Up From the Bottom Reno by KNPB
• Stewards of the Rangeland Reno by KNPB
• A Short History of Carson City by Richard Moreno

Schumacher, Geoff, ed. The Perpetual Engine of Hope.  Las Vegas, NV: CityLife Books, 2010, 156 pages, $14.95 (paperback)—The Las Vegas Writes project is a program that builds upon the efforts of groups like Stephens Press and the Las Vegas Arts Council.  Every year, they combine to produce linked short stories into a publication set in, based on, and by writers of Las Vegas, their work published in time for the Vegas Valley Book Festival.  To use a corporate term, it is a true example of synergy that has produced works like 2010’s Restless City and last year’s The Perpetual Engine of Hope.  The synergy that conspired to produce this latest book can also be seen on its pages.  Unlike the first effort, which was a serial novel, The Perpetual Engine of Hope is comprised of seven distinct stories by seven equally unique authors that explore the distinctive themes of Nevada literature: the dreams and realities that play on the hopes and fears of all those willing to win big today or lose everything forever.

A unique aspect of these annual works is that they are a catalyst for creating more works set in Vegas, as well as for bringing forth more writers that we may have never read together otherwise.  To the latter point, The Perpetual Engine of Hope brought together professional writers like Juan Martinez, Alissa Nutting, Megan Edwards, and K.W. Jeter together with talented amateur writers like Dayvid Figler, Oksana Marafioti, and P Moss.  The result is a work that could easily be seen as a product of a formal creative writing program that is juxtaposed against a grittier approach from those whose lack of formal training might make them more willing to take a literary risk.  Both approaches combine to create a readable and enjoyable book.

The former point, that of this book serving as a catalyst for creating more works on Vegas, this is quite literally true and one of the best aspects of this book.  Relying on the old authorial approach of using prompts to inspire an author, The Perpetual Engine of Hope provided seven historic Las Vegas photographs to these writers and asked them to explore them in their short fiction.  After selecting the photos from various sources, editor Geoff Schumacher describes the result this way in his introduction: “The seven stories in The Perpetual Engine of Hope are diverse in style and scope, flirting with an array of genres.  But more importantly, they are all well written and have something interesting to say about Las Vegas.”

He is right on both points.  Juan Martinez’s explores loss and hope in “On Paradise,” which is written in the form of a letter, or letters, from long lost family members.  Examining a photograph of a glamorous young lady getting out of her convertible outside of the Sahara, Dayvid Figler writes about a young Midwestern girl recreating herself in Vegas in “Palms.”  In “No Time for Betting,” Oksana Marafioti writes a classic diabolical story set in Vegas that is as steeped in the supernatural as Alissa Nutting’s story, “The Sands.”  Megan Edward’s “Fallout” tells a plausible story behind a photograph called “Miss Atomic Bomb,” a picture that you have to see and a story that you have to read to fully understand.  P Moss’s “Dead Ringer” picks up where he left off in Blue Vegas, telling a gritty casino story about the elite and how they are behind the scenes.  Finally, K.W. Jeter produces what is arguably the best story in the collection with his piece, “Will the Last One to Leave Please Turn Out the Lights,” a story about the incredible lows that follow the highs for some of his characters.

This book is effective for all of the reasons listed above.  The right people affiliated with the right organizations saw a void they could fill in the Nevada literary scene.  They provided the right prompts and boundaries to the right authors to do so.  In the end, The Perpetual Engine of Hope is a significant contribution to the literature of our state, combining talented authors and an intriguing setting to develop works that examine the truly unique nature of Nevada and her literature.

Moss, P.  Blue Vegas.  Las Vegas, NV: CityLife Books, 2010, 148 pages, $14.95 (paperback)—Not surprisingly, Las Vegas author P Moss’s collection of short fiction, Blue Vegas, is at least in part about people who live sad lives in Nevada’s famous southern city.  Men and women from all walks of life who were born there or just settled, surviving away from the glamour, living lives that are never quite what they wanted them to be.  The characters of Blue Vegas represent a lot of the reality of the city, the reality that many of the area’s native and transplanted authors have been trying to capture in recent works.

There is a refrain that is repeated throughout the subtext of Blue Vegas, though never quite written explicitly.  It is that common phrase that “life is not fair.”  While some may say this to mean that one has to accept the good with the bad, Moss seems to write it with an indignant sense of injustice.  Life isn’t fair, you can read between the lines, but it should be.  Or at least we should acknowledge that fact when we are in a position to judge others, their shortcomings, or their trials.

“Performance Art” tells the story of a convicted murderer who is executed in front of an electrified Las Vegas crowd that cannot understand how ignored he was his whole life.  “Snatched” tells of Ben, who has waited for the police to help him when he needed them most, but when he is wrongly arrested, they seem to have more than enough resources at their disposal.  And there is Danny in the story “Peace” who contemplates how his life might have been different if he had gone to college moments after being robbed and moments before being killed.

There are many more such examples in Blue Vegas, a short book with too many stories to list here–seventeen in all.  In them, he captures Vegas in the same light from many angles.  The stories show Vegas as a place where chance brings equal parts hope and guaranteed failure.  There is the father who is a successful businessman and gambling addict who has to borrow money from his daughter at the strip club where she dances in order to cover his debts.  There is the retired bookie who can’t scrape a meager amount of money to participate in a sure thing scheme that would bring him back into the good life.  And there is the past-her-prime showgirl who holds onto her old stories and her faith to help her make it through the lonely nights.

These stories and others capture a gritty side of Las Vegas, which is no doubt Moss’s point.  As a writer, gambler, bar owner in Las Vegas, he no doubt has an intimate knowledge of many of the things he writes—most of which revolves around gambling, glamour, money, sex trades, and some of the mysteries that tie them together.  Set against the backdrop of Las Vegas, many of these themes are reasonably portrayed and believable, often avoiding the clichés that seem to accompany the city’s literature.

The best stories in Blue Vegas—“Performance Art,” ”Career Moves,” and “Peace”—are great because of the mystery that Moss builds early on.  Nearly every story has an opening line that captures the scene and the reader’s imagination and goes a long way towards building this mystery. “Danny’s shirt was damp with sweat as he sat in a creaky straw-bottom chair, counting to see who had the most chips in a hanging velvet tapestry of Jesus shooting craps with Elvis,” for example (p. 139).

All in all, this award-winning book represents aspects of Las Vegas that are seldom covered in mainstream literature.  Moss is an able storyteller with extensive knowledge of the culture he examines.  Blue Vegas is an interesting read, and a worthwhile contribution to the literature of Las Vegas.

The first place to go is her website.  Take a look, it’ll give you a glimpse.   Be sure and read about her new book, girlchild.

Then you should read the short interview below.

Then you should tune into KUNR tomorrow morning for Beyond the Headlines with Michael Hagerty at 9:00AM to hear an interview with her.  Be sure to call in (1-866-723-KUNR) or email your questions in (headlines@kunr.org).

Finally, you should see her live and in person at her reading Saturday night at Sundance Books and Music.  More information here.

* * *

Tell us about yourself.

I take constant dog inventory. I’ll interrupt any conversation to explain the number, size, and specific cutenesses of all dogs in the vicinity. If this Q&A were at a café, I would have done this ten times by now. I pay attention to dogs partly because they pay attention for us, they attend to this agreement we have with them with extreme honor no matter that the agreement is so old even carbon dating can’t reveal its age.

If the first thing we say about ourselves is revealing of how we self-define, then the dog introduction probably reads as very odd, but where else to begin? Perhaps there is nothing more important to be said about me than that I have an unnerving love of dogs, and all the creatures, really. (This might come from being one. My father’s nickname for me was “Creature.”) For example, I move snails so they won’t get stepped on. I was broken up with once for revealing this habit. I think the breaker-upper was right to be outraged, but not for the reason he gave. He thought this moving of snails was a stupid waste of time. What’s actually wrong about moving snails is the presumption that I know the snails’ fates. What’s wrong is getting in the snails’ business. Hubris! I am a person guilty of hubris (because I still move snails, and report on snails’ whereabouts to fellow travelers). Were I to start this answer over, that is how I would begin, with an admission of guilt about hubris, but starting over would feel like a lie.

Tell us about your new book, Girlchild.

girlchild is about growing up poor in America. I say “America” here, instead of “the United States” or “the U.S.”, because I’m talking about that old down-home America where it is still said this way without the humbling sting of awareness that there are many beautiful Americas out there that deserve the title at least as much as ours does. In that America, there are still ideas about the American Dream that sparkle in the sun and it is that dream that girlchild hopes to antagonize awake.

It is set in Reno.  What is your connection to Nevada?

girlchild is set near Reno, maybe the way a small piece of turquoise is set in a belt buckle. I lived near Reno off-and-on from when I was four until I was twelve and I’ve always had family there. Those are the surface connections.

How do you present the town in it?

Rory Dawn, the girlchild of girlchild, presents Reno as one might expect a teenager to present the place that has formed them. There’s a great deal of resentment, there’s very little concern for saving feelings. When girlchild was nearly done with her near-decade writing journey, I ran across a letter my mom had written and never sent. In it, she describes Nevada as this beautiful woman who, unlike California, had girded herself from an attack of population. It was an eye-opener to me to read this description that was so appreciative of what is unique to the state, especially after having been immersed in Rory Dawn’s quite opposite feelings about the place for so long. Nevertheless, Reno, to me, drives a hard bargain for her beauty.

How have people responded to your representation of Reno and Nevada as you travel the country?

There’s been so little fuss about what might be considered an unkind representation, that I am beginning to realize that, much as Rory Dawn’s community in girlchild, the Calle, is invisible (to society as a whole), so Reno has grown increasingly invisible, perhaps in the shadow of Las Vegas.

Do you have any favorite Nevada authors that you think really get the state right?  Any that were influential?

What I know about Nevada authors is shamefully little, though I did just hear great things about Willy Vlautin and I am going to be looking for his work at Sundance Books in Reno, when I take girlchild there. Sundance has been a wonderful partner on this strange journey and I’d bet good gambling money that they’ll have Vlautin’s catalog.

How do you think Girlchild fits into or adds to the greater body of Nevada literature?

Again, not a question I feel wholly educated to answer but I will say that girlchild is a commentary (if it is a commentary, but let’s pretend it is) on the U.S., not on any particular state. The Calle (the town near Reno where most of the novel takes place) could be any quasi-urban ghetto and speaks to me about what is most missing from our big picture in this affair we call a country. It goes back to the idea of invisibility.

Any future Nevada writing planned?

Not right now, but Nevada has a way of asserting itself.

What is “Hardbound: A Novel’s Life on the Road” about?

Hardbound: A Novel’s Life on the Road is a wee film I’m hoping to make about girlchild’s book tour. I don’t know of a single documentary about a book tour and so, had this idea to capture what happens when a new book comes out. I held a fundraiser to get a reasonable digital camera and now am learning to use it sink-or-swim style. I’m filming tour events whenever I’m allowed and talking to writers I find on the road with me about their experiences of releasing their work into the world and their experiences of receiving the new work of others, as audience. That’s the question of Hardbound, about the reception of the work after what, at least for me, was a long and mostly lonely enterprise. Now that I think about it, Hardbound might also be about invisibility. Who are these people, these wonderful people who get out from behind their computer screens and get out from behind their steering wheels and get out from behind all the rest of life’s barriers and show up to meet a newly-released book in person? I want to meet them, capture them on film, and then release them back into the wild.

What are you working on now?

In what’s left of my brain, I’m courting two ideas simultaneously. One is fun and light-hearted and a great dancer, and right now it’s called The Hassman Family Experience: A Fully-Interactive Country & Western Album (no relation) and is about a family of bootleggers on the run from the law. The other idea is serious and dark and more likely to break my heart, right now it’s called An Open Letter to Dan Bejar. Bejar is a popular musician and represents, to me, the way our culture hones in on celebrity genius. I want to look at how often that genius can lead to self-destruction, and how we, the audience, develop a relationship with that genius, regardless of what the genius thinks, or wants, or doesn’t want at all. There is much going on at those crossroads, especially when addiction barrels through them.

Of course, it’s easy to flirt with ideas when commitment isn’t yet possible because I’m still seeing girlchild off into the world.

His latest book, A Man of His Word: The Life and Times of Nevada’s Senator William Raggio was released last year to great fanfare.  The book was based on countless hours of personal interviews and personal access that few could hope for from the “Lion of the Senate.”  Like I said, Mike is a great writer, and he did an admirable job telling the complex and interesting story here.

In writing this book–and dedicating the hours and weeks and months to getting it right–Archer has essentially become the source on the life and times of Senator Raggio.  With the Senator’s passing, he is one obvious person to talk to and to listen to when it comes to the man who led Nevada for decades.

With the passing of Raggio, we have decided to run this interview again.  It’s a tribute, of sorts, to a Nevada public servant who was a part of much of Nevada’s history in the last 60 years.  But it is also a tribute to Archer’s book, a massive work that is an equally huge addition to the literature of public and political life in Nevada.

* * *

As Washoe County District Attorney from 1958 until 1970, Bill Raggio is probably best remembered for his legal battles with vice kingpin Joe Conforte (epitomized by the enduring tale his burning down one of Conforte’s brothels in 1960).

Raggio also attained national prominence due to his many successful and often sensational prosecutions of heinous criminals, particularly that of Thomas Lee Bean for the 1963 murder-mutilation of former British Olympic skier Sonja McCaskie.

In 1965, Raggio’s fellow district attorneys from around the country bestowed upon him their highest honor: Outstanding Prosecutor in the United States for 1964.

During this time, Bill’s engaging personality and reputation as a tough prosecutor and brilliant legal mind, drew to him the nation’s most famous and powerful, from Presidents and other luminaries in the political, legal and business world, to sports figures and entertainers.

Among them, was one of the biggest names in show business, Frank Sinatra. Few people know the extent of the warm friendship that developed between these two men, one that, because of Sinatra’s reputation as a violence-prone, hard living, superstar, with associations to organized crime figures, at times required Bill Raggio to carefully balance his status as the chief law enforcement officer in Washoe County with his loyalty to a friend.

While researching the book A Man of His Word: The Life and Times of Nevada’s Senator William J. Raggio, author Michael Archer asked Bill about his relationship with Sinatra:

Archer: How did you meet Frank Sinatra?

Raggio: I met Frank through a mutual friend, Sonny King. Sonny, who performed around the country as the sidekick of the great Jimmy Durante, was also a popular lounge singer in Nevada and performed regularly at the Cal-Neva. Although, not technically a member of the famous ‘Rat Pack,’ Sonny was close to Frank and the others.

Whenever Sonny and Jimmy Durante were performing in the area, they would set aside one night to come over to our house on Robin Street in Reno for dinner. Vido Musso, a great saxophonist, would sometimes come with them. Vido would cook Italian food and end up using every pot and pan in the kitchen – making a complete mess – while Jimmy would play with my kids. My wife Dottie had a wonderful time singing with Durante and Sonny King around her little piano.

In 1960, the Cal-Neva Lodge in Crystal Bay, Nevada became the biggest celebrity attraction in the area, after Frank Sinatra, and two business associates, were approved for a gaming license and had purchased the lodge.

They then began a major remodeling, which included a larger entertainment venue called the Celebrity Showroom. When it opened in the summer of 1961, it seemed like all of Hollywood had arrived to perform, including Mickey Rooney, the Andrews Sisters,  Vic Damone, Joe E. Lewis, Eddie Fisher, Juliet Prowse, Louis Prima & Keely Smith and Buddy Greco.

One evening Dottie and I went to the Cal-Neva for dinner and Sonny King introduced us to Frank.  Frank said he had wanted to meet me not only because I was the district attorney of the county in which his business was operating, but also because he had also heard about Joe Conforte and how I had helped put his Triangle Ranch brothel to the torch.

Frank was clearly proud that, as a fellow Italian-American, I had, in his words, “Taken on a pompous, loudmouth like Conforte,” and had successfully prosecuted him for his attempt to ruin my reputation through extortion. Frank apparently took a liking to me and whenever Dottie and I visited the Cal-Neva Lodge, he was a very gracious host.

Archer: I am surprised Sinatra had heard about Conforte. What caused that feud between you and Joe?

Raggio: It was not what I would term “a feud.” I was annoyed by the way Conforte was ingratiating himself with law enforcement personnel and Reno city leaders. As an example, I received frequent reports that he was in the habit of handing out cigars with $20 bills wrapped around them to police officers and deputy sheriffs  — a generous amount of money in the late-1950’s.

Conforte thought he was bigger than the law, and so it became a test of who was going to run the county — him or the district attorney. That is how it grew into what you might call a “contest of wills.” If he had been a guy running a brothel in another county, who didn’t do all that, he probably would not have been bothered by the authorities. However, his presence was a violation of the law because he was obviously a pimp.

Archer: I have heard that Sinatra could be very generous to his friends. Did this apply to you?

Raggio: Yes. One day during my contentious 1962 race for reelection against Conforte-supported Republican primary opponent Rick Breitwieser, my secretary rushed into my office and excitedly said that Frank Sinatra was on the phone. I picked up and he said, “Hi Bill, this is Frank. I understand you’re running for reelection and I would like to help you in your campaign.” 

Frank requested I have some campaign scripts prepared and meet him in Los Angeles the following Friday. I asked my friend Harry Spencer to compose the requested material and join him on this trip. We arrived in Los Angeles about five p.m. and were met at the airport by three men in a limousine. One of them,  noted film producer-director Howard W. Koch, immediately passed along Sinatra’s regrets that some medical testing had prevented him from personally picking us up.

I thought the limousine was there to take them to a small recording studio and so was amazed when we soon drove through the famous main portal of Paramount Studios.

When we arrived at Frank Sinatra’s dressing room, which was actually a large, elegant bungalow, several people were waiting. One took our scripts and began loading them onto a teleprompter, while I was taken to a makeup artist. I was now a bit embarrassed at all the attention.

Harry and I were then led outside and down the street to a large sound studio. We soon realized we were on the set of the film Come Blow Your Horn. To my continuing amazement, the crew had designed an exact replica of my district attorney’s office in Reno, down to the slightest detail.

I was mortified that all these people were on hold waiting for me to show up to do these commercials. Harry and I were given chairs next to the film’s director, Bud Yorkin. I was then called up to do several commercials. It was the first time I had ever seen a teleprompter. Later, when the tapes were delivered to local TV stations in Reno, they were astounded by the quality.

Several months later, I reciprocated Frank’s generosity by inviting him to my home for dinner. He accepted, and one Sunday afternoon drove down to Reno from Lake Tahoe with his entourage of seven or eight people, including Skinny D’Amato and recording artist Buddy Greco, who was then appearing at the Cal-Neva Lodge. I barbecued and my mother made pasta. Dottie took care of the rest. Needless to say, there were quite a few neighbors peering over the back fence at Frank.

Frank was a very thoughtful guy. He remembered my children’s birthdays and brought them gifts. He was a very affable person and I had a good relationship with him. From time to time, he would call me, and it was usually to ask me to help somebody out, never anything having to do with my position as DA. I remember one time there was an orchestra leader performing at the Sparks Nugget, whose name I now can’t recall. The man was ill, and when Frank heard about it, he asked if I could arrange to have this fellow driven to the airport, so Frank’s private plane could get him to a hospital in LA. I saw Frank in good times and bad times, and he was like anybody else. Some days he felt good and some days he did not.

Archer: Sinatra called you for help when his son, Frank Jr., was kidnapped in December 1963.

Raggio: I received a call from Harry Claiborne who did legal work for Frank in Las Vegas. Harry said Frank’s son, who had been performing at the south shore of Lake Tahoe, had been kidnapped. He went on to say that Frank was coming up to Reno and asked that I meet him.

To avoid members of the news media waiting in the airport terminal building, I took Frank to a car I had parked on the runaway apron. The two of us attempted to drive the sixty miles from Reno to Harrah’s Lodge. All the mountain passes were closed due a heavy snowstorm, but I decided to try crossing on Highway 50 at Spooner Summit. Ice and deep snow prevented me from getting very far and, after nearly spinning off the winding, mountain road, I turned the car around and took Frank back to Reno.

Because he would need to deal with the FBI and other law enforcement people, we set up headquarters in a three-room suite at the Mapes Hotel. However, I really had no jurisdiction over this, because the crime had occurred in Douglas County.

As the hours dragged on with no word from the kidnappers, Frank became very nervous, sitting and staring at the phone for hours, waiting for it to ring. He wouldn’t eat and so to help solve that problem I asked my mother to make some pasta and bring it to us. Frank had eaten her pasta before — liked it very much – and so he found this to be a nice surprise.

I sat with Frank over the next several days, waiting for the ransom demand. Often it was just the two of us in the suite and so I really had the opportunity to get to know Frank, and sound him out on many issues. Despite his lack of formal education, he was a very well informed man and could discuss almost any topic. One might think because he was a celebrity that he was only concerned in his own life, but he had a broad range of interests.

We talked about his turbulent relationship with the press and the criticism he received for his often-acerbic treatment of reporters. I recall him once commenting to me. “You know, some days in my life I can’t do anything without someone watching me every minute, from the moment I walk out the door. Some days I just don’t feel good, and so am naturally inclined not to be friendly.”

Archer: Journalist Jude Wanniski later observed your fondness Frank in the décor of your office at the Washoe County Courthouse, writing:

He’s probably the only law enforcement officer in the country who has on his office wall instead of a portrait of J. Edgar Hoover an autographed photo of Frank Sinatra, whom he has known for years. The Sinatra photo, the only one in his reception room, is there not to impress visitors; but to give them a chuckle and, more subtly, let them know all at once that he is what he is, no hypocrisy involved. Sinatra’s a buddy even if the Gaming Control Board doesn’t like him.

Frank Sinatra surrendered his gaming license after the press reported he had allowed Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana to stay at the Cal-Neva despite the fact that Giancana was in the State Gaming Control Board’s “Black Book” and so was prohibited from entering a gaming establishment in Nevada. The Board did not pursue an investigation of this matter. However, the implication was that Frank was associated with members of the “Mob.”  How did that affect your friendship?

Raggio: I knew my friendship with Sinatra raised some eyebrows, but much of what was said about him was not based on fact. Most was gossip.  In fact, I’m reluctant to use the term “mob,” because even that gives it credit for being much more organized than it really is. 

In 1981, about 20 years after surrendering his license, Frank asked me, as his attorney, to represent him before the Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission in having his gaming license reinstated.  Frank had always been there for me, and so I said “yes.”

I did extensive research, spending a great deal of time obtaining documents under the Freedom of Information Act from the FBI and IRS. We needed this because several allegations were obviously going to have to be refuted, particularly Frank’s association with Giancana, which resulted in his having to surrender his license in the first place.

In looking over that material, it was apparent much of it was not based on fact, and a lot of it described situations where, as an entertainer, Frank played in places where the demimonde i.e., the underworld, had interests. There was no denying that he knew these people, but there was no proof of any kind, that he was involved in any of their activities.

I told the Board members and Commissioners that the government records showed that much of what had been said about him was inference, innuendo, gossip and rumor, and that such unsubstantiated information often blurred the facts.

Frank never denied that he, like many other public figures, had met or known persons reputed to be members of some type of organized crime society. However, he did deny that he was ever involved with them, or been in business with them, ever dealt with them, or allowed them to interfere in any way with his business or personal life. There was no evidence in all the investigative files to refute that.

A number of well-known people appeared as character witnesses for Frank during these hearings, including actors Kirk Douglas and Gregory Peck. Bob Hope, and newly inaugurated President, Ronald Reagan, sent letters.

I was pleased when Frank was granted his license. I especially enjoyed the experience of reuniting with him, frequently staying at his home in Palm Springs during the preparation and around the time of the hearings. This gave me a chance to get to know him again, and meet his new wife, Barbara. It was an interesting time. I would not see him again after that, other than when he performed.

Brian Crane, the “Pickles” artist and author, is up for a national award.  We ran an interview with Mr. Crane in a recent issue.  Take a look at the whole story here in the Review-Journal.  The RGJ’s story is here.

A Las Vegas novelist inspired by Ken Kesey is still writing books.  Take a look at this profile of Jack Sheehan.

Our Story, INC., has chosen its theme for this year’s oral histories here in northern Nevada.

Sundance Books and Music is hosting an local author’s night.  Take a look here.  Be on the lookout for many great events for Poetry Month in April.

Elko native, Deborah Blohm writes children’s book.

I am writing to let you know about an upcoming reading by H. Lee Barnes at Sundance Books and Music this Friday night.

I wrote about Lee last September for the High Country News in an article that attempted to capture’s his complexity and style.  Needless to say, I barely scratched the surface.  It probably also goes without saying that I believe that Lee is one of the best contemporary writers of Nevada and Western literature—a belief that is shared by many of his readers and fans.

We were proud to officially release Lee’s latest novel, Car Tag, through our publishing imprint, Virginia Avenue Press, earlier this week.  The press release associated with the book launch opened perfectly: “From the desert to the glittering promise of Las Vegas, Nevada has long been the backdrop for heartbreak and broken dreams. Everyone is susceptible to the traps and temptations, but some families make it easy to give in.”  It goes on to describe the plight of the Debecki family, especially Drew, Billy, and their half brother Alex, as they grow up in a troubled home, find ways of coping, and eventually go their own way—finding distance, careers, and trouble to fill their adult lives.

The reviews so far have been simply tremendous.

• Susan Skorupa from the Reno Gazette-Journal writes that “there’s sadness and emotional uplift that the reader might not recognize until after closing the book. Tragedy makes room for renewal and hope for despair.”
• Brian Burghart from the Reno News and Review says that Barnes writes like “Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Burroughs.”
• Janet Walker at bookpleasures.com writes: “Only two American author’s books have moved me to tears; at age nine years, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and as an adult, reading Larry McMurtry’s, The Evening Star.  Now there’s a third – H. Lee Barnes, a good writer touched by greatness. Read his latest book, Car Tag; you’ll be glad you did.”
• The Midwest Book Review recommended it, calling it “a thoughtful novel of family and mystery.”
• Geoff Schumacher writes this: “Do the right thing: Buy this fine little book instead of the latest airport paperback and strike a blow for quality over marketing.”
• And the Las Vegas Review Journal ran a great profile of Lee and his book here.

The signing is going to bring Reno back to Reno, where he used to live and where some of this amazing book is set.  You can find more details about the reading here, but the basics follow:

What: A reading and signing with Nevada author H. Lee Barnes for his new book, Car Tag.

When: Friday, February 24, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:00PM

Where: Sundance Books and Music, 121 California Avenue, Reno, Nevada 89509

Thank you, and we hope to see you there.

We’ve believed in this great book since we first read the manuscript.  Every time we read it, we found more beauty to its tragedy and more depth to its characters.  It is a Nevada story, through and through, and it is classic Barnes.  We were never worried that the reviewers would see it any other way to be honest, but you never know how the reviews will return.

And now, we have two new reviews that, in our opinion, are the best yet.  Well, to be more accurate, one is not a review as much as it is a profile of Lee and the book.  It’s a great piece, in which Lee tells his interviewer not to steal his dog’s chair, goes off on a colleague for teaching through movies, disregards postmodernism (totally appropriately), and embraces existentialism as a literary necessity.  Here is a little piece below:

Feeling alive versus feeling safe, he says, is also a theme through “Car Tag,” addressing Billy’s troubled past. “The closer you come to some kind of danger, especially as a kid, the more alive we feel, and the more safe and secure our lives are, in many ways the less we really live,” Barnes says.

Read the whole thing here.  It is completely worth your time.

And take a look at this excellent review by the great Geoff Schumacher (formerly of Tonopah and Las Vegas and now heading up a paper in Iowa) in Las Vegas City Life.  It’s an excellent review, through and through, and we appreciate this little endorsement at the end:

That Barnes manages to flow all these currents into a coherent and fast-paced 128 pages is a testament to his still-evolving talents. Do the right thing: Buy this fine little book instead of the latest airport paperback and strike a blow for quality over marketing.

Read all of it here.

And remember, he’s reading and signing his work at Sundance Books and Music in Reno this Friday evening.  Details below:

What: A reading and signing with Nevada author H. Lee Barnes for his new book, Car Tag.

When: Friday, February 24, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:00PM

Where: Sundance Books and Music,  121 California Avenue, Reno, Nevada 89509

When: Friday, February 24, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:00PM

Where: Sundance Books and Music,  121 California Avenue, Reno, Nevada 89509

About the Author: H. Lee Barnes lives and writes in Las Vegas, where he teaches English and creative writing at the College of Southern Nevada. In his past lives, he was a soldier, a deputy sheriff, a narcotics agent, a casino dealer, and a martial arts instructor. His short stories have won the Willamette and the Arizona Authors Association fiction awards. Gunning for Ho, his first collection of short stories, was a finalist for the Stephen Turner First Fiction Award offered by the Texas Institute of Letters. In 2009 he was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

What People are Saying:

From Janet Walker at bookpleasures.com: “Only two American author’s books have moved me to tears; at age nine years, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and as an adult, reading Larry Mc Murtry’s, The Evening
Star. Now there’s a third – H. Lee Barnes, a good writer touched by greatness. Read his latest book, Car Tag; you’ll be glad you did.”

Susan Skorupa from the Reno Gazette-Journal: “‘Car Tag,’ a new novel by H. Lee Barnes, could have ended no other way than the way it does. There’s sadness and emotional uplift that the reader might not recognize until after closing the book. Tragedy makes room for renewal and hope for despair.”

D. Brian Burghart editor of the Reno News and Review: “And now, halfway through this ‘book review,’ I’m going to make a discernible statement about Car Tag: If you like the types of writers and topics I’ve just described, you’re going to like this book. I’m not saying H. Lee Barnes is a member of that pantheon of Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Burroughs types, I’m just saying he writes like them. Like if someone were reading novels written in 1940 before starting this, he or she wouldn’t be fundamentally sidetracked by intrinsic differences.”

The Midwest Book Review: “One mistake may shatter a family. Car Tag is a dramatic novel following the fallout from the killing of a police officer by a young man. Over the next nine years, Drew Debecki crusades to try to save his brother from death row, going to various extent to do so. In his journey, he must remind himself of the memory of his brother in order to rescue him from his certain doom. Car Tag is a thoughtful novel of family and mystery, recommended.”

Also, read about Lee and the book in this article in High Country News.

CAR TAG by H. Lee Barnes: From the desert to the glittering promise of Las Vegas, Nevada has long been the backdrop for heartbreak and broken dreams. Everyone is susceptible to the traps and temptations, but some families make it easy to give in. Award-winning H. Lee Barnes chronicles the Debecki sons in his latest novel Car Tag (Virginia Avenue Press) with devastating honesty.

“Their boyhood wasn’t recorded, not the way that some families preserve moments and events. That, he reminded himself, is because there were so few events. They fabricated their own growing-up experiences through mischief, daring, and a little petty larceny.”

In what may be the quintessential Nevada novel, the reader re-lives the chaotic childhood of the Debecki brothers, while the story weaves in the present-day consequences. Younger Billy Debecki has killed a rural police officer; big brother Drew is a police officer on the Las Vegas police force trying to spare Billy the death penalty. The story plays out against a background so vividly drawn it might be a character in its own right.  Moving
from the open desert near Rhyolite, Nevada to the Nevada Supreme Court, Car Tag probes the ambiguities of the death penalty while exploring the complexities of family life. Ultimately the story is revealed to be a mystery shrouded by time and grief, with Barnes skillfully showing us how the chords of memory are stretched thin through time and tragedy but maintain a connection that might save Billy’s life.

Barnes sees an enormous potential for untapped literary resources in his home state. “I really think the parts that have to be explored about Nevada are the parts in between — the trailer communities out in the middle of nowhere,” he says. “Maybe these little places are the last vestiges of the Old West, where the maverick spirit that first brought people here still exists; I’d like to think that they’re populated by people who embrace the idea of escaping the shackles of life in urban and suburban settings.”