Anthony Curtis’ Huntington Press is launching a new fiction line, Vegas Lit, in September, 2012. As U.S. publishers have been releasing fewer fiction titles every year for the past five years, this is an unusual gamble for HP, a Las Vegas house that has concentrated almost exclusively on non-fiction titles in its twenty-five-year history.
According to Curtis, “There are some incredible novels being written today by authors who are finding the big New York publishing houses unwilling to gamble on fiction, especially by little known authors, or even well-known authors who have made their names as non-fiction writers. If you’re not cranking out the next predictable romance or spy thriller, New York’s not interested, but we are."
Arnold Snyder has signed on as senior editor of Vegas Lit. All Vegas Lit titles will be published in print as well as in ebook formats.
On September 30, Vegas Lit is leading off with Arnold Snyder’s Risk of Ruin, a social satire about a professional blackjack playing biker tattoo artist who becomes obsessed with a stripper who thinks she's God. Snyder is a well-known author of books on games and professional gambling. This is his first work of fiction.
On November 30, celebrated novelist and playwright David Kranes’ thriller abracadabra comes off the press. It's about a renowned Las Vegas stage magician who makes a volunteer from the audience disappear, except that the volunteer really disappears. Kranes, who lives in Salt Lake City, is the author of 50 plays and seven novels.
On January 15, 2013, Vegas Lit will publish Michael Konik’s surreal satirical fantasy, Becoming Bobby—the story of a working stiff who suddenly finds himself the highest of high rollers. Konik, former gambling columnist for Cigar Aficionado, is the author of seven nonfiction titles about gambling, golf, and travel.
Vegas Lit is seeking first-rate book-length fiction submissions for its 2013 line-up. For submission details, see http://www.write-aholic.com/announcing-vegas-lit-snyder-gets-a-job/.