CityLife Books

In the latest ‘Kats Report’, writer John Katsilometes, of the Las Vegas Sun, gave an advanced review of upcoming CityLife Books title, Blue Vegas, as well as some insight into the book’s enigmatic author, P Moss.

Read it here.

The first title published by CityLife Books will be available for purchase on Saturday at the Vegas Valley Book Festival. It’s $14.95.

Restless City is a serial novel written by seven respected Las Vegas authors, each of whom contributed a chapter. The novel, set in Las Vegas falls into the crime noir category, but the writers are not necessarily practitioners in that genre.

The writers are, in order of appearance, H. Lee Barnes, John H. Irsfeld, Brian Rouff, Leah Bailly, John L. Smith, Constance Ford and Vu Tran. Barnes and Irsfeld are members of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. Tran recently won a Whiting Writer’s Award. Smith is a respected newspaper columnist and nonfiction author, while Rouff is a successful novelist and public relations executive. Bailly and Ford are award-winning fiction writers. Geoff Schumacher, editor of CityLife Books, served as coordinator and editor of Restless City.

If you would like to buy a copy of Restless City, drop by the Stephens Press (parent of CityLife Books) booth Saturday or Sunday at the Fifth Street School in downtown Las Vegas. The book also is available for purchase online at Amazon and restlesscity.com.

ALSO:

The authors of Restless City will be assembling at 4 p.m. Saturday at the festival for a panel discussion about the writing of the novel and for a debut reading of the seventh and final chapter.

The short story collection “Blue Vegas,” by P Moss, has a great cover designed by Sue Campbell. The book debuts Feb. 1.

From CityLife 07/09/09

By Andrew Kiraly

PHOTO BY BILL HUGHES P Moss in his office. Okay, it's actually the Double Down bathroom.

Chances are you know P Moss as the affable, low-key owner of the Double Down Saloon, the sweatbox punk rock dive that sits west of the UNLV campus as it peters out into strip malls and convenience stores. Turns out you’ll soon get to know the goateed bar impresario as an author, too. His debut short story collection, Blue Vegas, will be published this fall by CityLife Books. (CityLife Books is an imprint of Stephens Press, a division of Stephens Media LLC.)

“It’s called Blue Vegas because the stories are sad, or built around sadness, some of which is unique to Las Vegas, some of which is universal,” says Moss.

Read entire article . . .

P Moss, well-known Las Vegas cultural figure, pens dynamic short story collection.

CityLife Books, the new imprint of Stephens Press, has signed its first author, P Moss, a fiction writer and owner of the famous Double Down Saloon. His short story collection, Blue Vegas, will be released this fall.

“Blue Vegas is the perfect book to launch the CityLife Books imprint,” says Geoff Schumacher, editor of CityLife Books and publisher of the Las Vegas CityLife newspaper. “Moss has produced an incredible collection exploring the dark, human stories lurking in the shadows of the neon sheen of Las Vegas.”

The stories, Schumacher says, represent the work of a writer who knows Las Vegas and is a keen observer of its diverse population.

“Moss’ stories are a visceral exploration of the clash between old and new Las Vegas,” Schumacher says. “They shine a light on the hard luck and lingering anguish faced by Las Vegans who’ve been trampled by this single-minded city.”

After working as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, Moss came to Las Vegas in 1992 and opened the Double Down Saloon on Paradise Road. Dubbed a “clubhouse
for the lunatic fringe,” the Double Down soon became internationally famous, drawing a lively mix of tourists and locals. A second Double Down opened in New York’s East Village in 2006, and Moss recently opened a new Las Vegas establishment, Frankie’s Tiki Room, on West Charleston Boulevard.

Despite his success in the bar business, Moss has always envisioned a second career as a writer. “No quality Las Vegas fiction has ever been written,” Moss says. “The soul of the city has never been captured on the printed page. This can be attributed in large part to the fact that writers try to sensationalize the obvious, rather than focusing on the raw human emotions unique to the people who live and work in this unique place. I believe I have done a good job of reversing this trend.”

CityLife Books plans to publish up to four titles per year in a trade paperback format. The books will be available directly to CityLife newspaper readers and at area bookstores and online retailers.

Stephens Press is a division of Stephens Media LLC, and a sister company to CityLife and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Established in 2003, the press publishes primarily regional nonfiction.

“The imprint provides a vehicle to publish quality Vegas-centric fiction with a unique CityLife vibe,” says Carolyn Hayes Uber, president of Stephens Press, “and we’re especially excited to have P Moss’ stories set a high bar for our fiction offerings.”

CityLife Books accepts nonfiction and fiction proposals and manuscripts that speak to regular readers of the alternative weekly newspaper. For submission guidelines and more information, check out the imprint’s website at www.lvcitylifebooks.com.