Nov. 20 book signing at Town Square

Huntington Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Beneath the Neon Author to Reveal New Book and Sign Copies at Borders in Town Square

Las Vegas—Matthew O’Brien, author of the book Beneath the Neon, will sign copies of his new title My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas on Saturday November 20 at 3:00 p.m. at the Borders store in Town Square.

My Week at the Blue Angel ($14.95) is a collection of creative nonfiction stories that chronicle O’Brien’s forays into the underbelly of Las Vegas, and his discovery that beauty can be found in the unlikeliest of places. The stories revolve around the real-life characters of Sin City that are incongruous to the valley’s picture-perfect neon image: A convicted murderer on parole, a missing prostitute, a strip club owner looking to found his own church, and the downtrodden masses living in the storm drains beneath the Strip.

Matthew O’Brien’s first book, Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas ($19.95, Huntington Press), has been reviewed or covered by more than 100 media outlets, including Publisher’s Weekly, Le Monde, Wired Magazine, The Sunday Times, “The Evening News with Katie Couric,” and MTV’s “The Buried Life.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact:

Heidi Olson-Barwell
heidi@huntingtonpress.com
702-252-0655

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Panel discussion post-mortem

I thought the panel discussion and book signing went pretty well. One of the highlights, in my opinion, was the two other panelists, Juan Martinez and Victoria Patterson. (Juan was added a day or two before the discussion.) They were extremely well-spoken and interesting, and I look forward to reading more of their work. Another highlight was the late-arriving and eventually fairly large audience. It included sign designer Betty Willis, Rich Penksa of HELP of Southern Nevada, Marty Flynn of the central sewage plant, Valentino Santiago (my neighbor at the Diplomat apartments), my mom and dad (in from the Atlanta area), a few guys from the tunnels, a handful of former tunnel-dwellers, and quite a few other friends and family members. Indeed, it was an interesting cross section of my life.

Thanks to everyone who attended the discussion, and I’m sorry if you weren’t able to buy a book. However, I’m told that both Beneath the Neon and My Week at the Blue Angel are available at the Town Square Borders and the Barnes & Noble on Maryland Parkway (near Flamingo). Also, I have a few other local signings scheduled before Christmas.

I’ll keep you updated, of course.

E-book available

The e-book for My Week at the Blue Angel is now available (in pdf format). If you prefer the Kindle, etc., version, I’m told that will be available in a week or so. Two advantages of the e-book over the hard copy: It’s cheaper ($5.98 versus $11.21 or so, depending on the retailer) and most of the interior photos, which are black and white in the paperback, are in color.

For more info, visit:

http://www.shoplva.com/products/my-week-at-the-blue-angel-ebook

A reminder

My panel discussion is at 1:45 p.m. this Saturday at the Historic Fifth Street School (401 S. Fourth Street, Las Vegas, 89101). I’ll sign copies of My Week at the Blue Angel and Beneath the Neon from roughly 2:45 to 3:15. (Yes, the books will be available there.)

For more information about the book festival, visit http://vegasvalleybookfestival.org.