Getting Better All the Time

Las Vegas Writes is an annual themed anthology that showcases the best of Las Vegas' writing talent, from novelists and short-story writers, to essayists and literature journalists. Produced in conjunction with the Vegas Valley Book Festival, this 2013 edition is the fifth collection in the series, with this year's contributions exploring the concept of "progress" in its broadest sense, from net positives -- downtown's rejuvenation; personal stories of emotional or spiritual growth -- to the flipside of social dislocation and other dark portents highlighting the limits and risks of change and "modernization." As a city that, from its very inception has consistently challenged convention, "Sin City" has always coined its own definition of progress. In these stories and essays by some of Las Vegas' finest writers, you will see how locals weave spectacle, risk, and reward into the narratives of civic, political, financial, and personal progress -- and at what price it comes.