Inspiration – Vegas Style
I have always said that one can get their inspiration and ideas from anywhere. And it’s true, I can look out my window in New Mexico and think of ideas as well as inspiration from the wildlife just outside my home.
But growing up in the Las Vegas area, I can honestly say I had trouble some days because of the type of desert the place is in. Sure, there are times when the desert is absolutely beautiful, like during a spring rain or one of the few snowstorms that occur there. Some even get inspiration from walking down the strip, which I think is absolutely boring except for the fact that one can go from ancient Egypt to Paris in about five miles.
So when writing my story for the Decades of Love anthology, I had to dig deep, really deep, to come up with something that inspired me. Each of us got assigned a decade to write about and I cringed a little. Would I even get one I knew about? I mean, sure I’d grown up there, I’d take all sorts of Nevada history classes and I was there when the mob reigned supreme but there were tons of things I didn’t know. And I really wanted to do this story justice.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out my decade was the 1970s. I grew up then. I graduated high school and started college during that time. I remembered it well: Nixon, Watergate and Vietnam. Those dominated the national scene. I was lucky enough to meet President Ford and take care of some of those vets who made it home. And I managed to not go out with any mob related characters…that was a big plus!
This time in Vegas inspired me and was locked in my memory so I could write about it like it was yesterday. There was really nothing past the Tropicana on the strip except on small hotel. There weren’t any of the mega-conglomerates that are there today. There was no New York, New York or other adult play places that exist today. Then it was home and I was proud to be a part of it.
I pulled my story from my own experience and my knowledge of the area. The Naked City was a part of Las Vegas that most good girls wouldn’t find themselves in at all. Adding a heroine related to a prominent mob family gave the story a little spice. Making her a Vietnam Vet gave it a little reality. Having her fall in love gave the story all the romance she wanted in a time when romance could be an iffy prospect in the valley. Yes, we all called it the valley as well. Hooked On A Feeling pulls together all the inspiration that my growing up in the Las Vegas area gave me.
Come join me in walking on the Vegas wild and tame sides of life in Las Vegas. Every author in this anthology was inspired by the sights, the sounds, the history of Las Vegas. Each story is written with those thoughts in mind. And remember – What Happened in Vegas…is in this book!
Anthology Blurb:
Love hits the jackpot in these six seductive tales, each set in a different decade in the hottest, wildest, most sinful of cities – Las Vegas. In Elizabeth Spaur’s Miss Atomic Bomb, a beauty pageant brings a cowboy and city girl together. A desperate singer finds new hope with a not-so-jaded casino owner in B.A. McIntosh’s Home at Last. In Lynn Crain’s, Hooked on a Feeling, two Vietnam vets get a second chance at love while facing enemies at home. A rodeo star falls hard for a showgirl in Diane Deeds’s Total Eclipse of the Heart. In Kay Phoenix’s An Unexpected Knight, a hero on a mighty steed captures the heroine’s heart. A good girl learns that being bad can be very, very good in Tami Cowden’s It Happened One Vegas Night. Mobsters and G-men, cowboys and showgirls, singers and dancers, and even a knight in shining armor all find that Sin City is not just a place to have fun – but also a great place to fall in love.
Story Blurbs:
It Happened One Vegas Night by Tami Cowden
Jorja Knox has been a good girl all her life, but all she has to show for it is a cheating fiancé. Now she wants to try being bad. But when you work for the FBI, being bad just isn’t done. So her brother’s Las Vegas wedding seems the perfect time to take a walk on the wild side. After all, like the commercials say, what happens in Vegas ….
Las Vegas lawyer Tony Santori has always walked a very straight line, steering clear of his uncle’s mob connections. But being a good boy in Sin City loses its appeal when a drop-dead gorgeous blond “tourist” from Denver decides he is her Vegas fantasy. The last time the FBI tried to get to his family through him, he was left heart-broken. This time, he’s spotted the bluff. This time, he’ll be the one who wins.
Hooked On A Feeling by Lynn Crain
Now that she’s returned home from the Vietnam war, all Reggie Genarro wants to do is forget she’s part of the infamous Vegas Genarro mob family. True, her father had broken the mold by becoming one of Las Vegas’ premier prosecutors, but it doesn’t negate the fact that her name has caused her more problems than it’s worth.
When she finds Michael Vanzetti, an ex-lover from her time in Vietnam, dumped in the trash by her great-uncle Sonny’s goons, she knows it’s time to confront her family ties to the mob instead of ignoring them. This may prove an impossible task as her feelings for Michael may overwhelm her before she can meet with her uncle.
Michael Vanzetti, on undercover assignment from Army Intelligence, is stunned when Reggie Genarro comes to his rescue. She’s all he ever wanted in a woman but he could never prove it to her while they were stationed in Vietnam. She never made it any secret that her family was mob connected. So, he volunteered for the assignment to find out how involved her family was with the Asian drug and weapons trade in hopes of seeing her again.
Total Eclipse of the Heart by Diane Deeds
Cody Hunter, a talented young bull rider, is in Las Vegas in 1986 for his first National Finals Rodeo. Cocky and overconfident from a good year, he is, however, haunted by the death of his best friend by a rank bull. Cody now considers all bulls as demons to be conquered.
Las Vegas showgirl, Sandy Keyes, can dance any position in the Celebrations revue. However, her current move to topless performer isn’t sitting well. She would never consider it, except she needs the extra money to repay her brother’s gambling debts.
Sandy knows nothing about the rodeo, but when she meets Cody, she encounters an exciting world wholly removed from her city life. She especially likes how he treats her like a lady. But she doesn’t need the responsibility for another man who never grew up.
Cody must face his demons, including riding the devil bull, Total Eclipse, in order to win Sandy’s heart. However, this cowboy has a difficult road ahead to convince the city mouse to join him in his country life.
Home At Last by B.A. McIntosh
After four years on her own in foster care and another three searching, Ella Montgomery has finally narrowed the hunt to her little sister’s last known location – Las Vegas. It’s been seven years since she’d last seen Emma, and Ella would do anything it takes to bring her family back together, including moving to Vegas with nothing but a few bucks, a talent for singing and her dreams.
Casino owner Luke McBride’s businesses are wildly successful, yet his personal accomplishments always leave him feeling unsatisfied and empty. Restlessness haunts him until one fateful night a beautiful and mysterious new lounge singer catches his eye.
Luke is determined to get to know the lovely Ella better despite her reticence. His persistence catapults them on a journey that demands they learn to trust each other, or risk heartache.
An Unexpected Knight by Kay Phoenix
Sarah never expected to see Kyle again, let alone to have to work with him.
Kyle became a Knight, not guessing “the one that got away” would be the one he’d rely on each evening.
But, magic can still happen in King Arthur’s arena.
Miss Atomic Bomb 1953 by Elizabeth Spaur
All Lily Genarro wants is a family of her own. If only she wasn’t a pawn in a war between two Chicago Families. Her uncle thinks he’s got a way to save her –make her the next Miss Atomic Bomb. Nobody asked Lily what she wants, so she comes up with a crazy plan to sabotage everybody else’s ideas and do things her way.
Back home from Korea, all Jack McFadden wants is to get back to work on his family’s ranch. He’s too solitary for his mother’s taste. She insists he get off the ranch and back into the world and has just the job to make that happen – escort his little sister when she competes in the Miss Atomic Bomb Pageant.
The last thing Lily and Jack expect to find at this crazy pageant is love. The pageant might be a bomb, but their love is explosive.
Group Bio:
Welcome to Sin City!
We’re the Sin City Romance Writers and we welcome you to the wonderful Las Vegas landscape. We hope you love our take on the decades that made Vegas what it is today. We’re a diverse group of authors with many different careers from CPA to lawyer, geologist to graphic artist and even intelligence screening. We have done it all. Each of us have a passion for writing, our families and Las Vegas even though many of us are transplants from other places. We call Vegas home and as everyone knows, home is where the heart is.
While this is our first anthology, it will not be our last. Please connect with us at one of the venues listed below. Learn about us as a group and about us individually. And we promise, what happens in Vegas may just stay here. Or not. Read us and see.
eMail: sincityromancewriters@gmail.com
Website: www.sincityromancewriters.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SinCityRomanceWriters/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SinCityRomance
PURCHASE Links:
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Amazon Universal Link ~ http://mybook.to/DecadesofLove
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