Stephen H. Provost is a prolific writer. Very prolific. A former newspaper reporter and editor in California, Provost, who now resides in Carson City with his wife, Sharon (who is also a writer and editor), has written or co-written at least 50 books, most of which are published through his Capital City-based company, Dragon Crown Books.
His works span various genres from travel-history and biographical non-fiction to horror, science-fiction, and fantasy in the fiction realm. He and his wife are also two of the hardest-working publishers in the state, who sell their books at dozens of festivals, craft fairs, conferences, and author events throughout Nevada and California.
Provost’s non-fiction Nevada books include “America’s Loneliest Road: U.S. 50 and the Lincoln Highway in Nevada” and “Victory Road: U.S. 40 and the Victory Highway in Nevada and the West” as well as several books about historic communities (“Carson City Century” and “Goldfield Century”).
He has also written a pair of book about Virginia City, “The Comstock Chronicles: Sagebrush, Silver, and the Rise of Virginia City,” “Virginia City Then & Now,” as well as several focusing on Mark Twain’s time in that community, “Mark Twain’s Nevada: Samuel Clemens in the Silver State” and “The Adventures of Mark Twain in Nevada” (a children’s book).
The Silver State has also been the setting for several short story collections and anthologies he has published, including, “Nevada Nightmare’s Eve: Tales Mined from the Depths of Horror,” “Nevada Nightmares Vol. 1 and Vol. 2,” “The ACES Anthology 2023: Stories and Poems from Northern Nevada,” and “The ACES Anthology 2024: Tales from Northern Nevada.”
The latter four anthologies are collections of short stories containing not only his work and that of his wife but of more than a dozen other Nevada writers such as Bill Brown, Michael Falciani, Janice Oberding, Ken Sutherland, Angela Laverghetta and, in the interest of being completely transparent, several of my short stories.
In other words, Provost has found Nevada to be fertile ground for his writing.
For example, in one of his more recent works, the “Comstock Chronicles,” released in late 2024, Provost retraces the story of Virginia City chronologically, incorporating factual and anecdotal history in a way that makes reading the information both fun and enlightening.
He writes in an engaging style that avoids being dry or boring and incorporates historic images, including photos and from period newspapers, to illustrate the many stories he shares.
Another of his Nevada non-fiction books, “Goldfield Century,” offers a similar chronological summary of the history of the one-time “Queen of the Mining Camps.” Again, he deftly weaves historic details with fun and entertaining ghost stories, legends and local folklore.
His “America’s Loneliest Road” book begins at the Utah state line at Baker, Nevada, and tells the story of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental highway, which roughly paralleled U.S. 50 across Nevada.
He shares the various details of the route, including historic accounts and reports of what was needed to make the journey, and describes the historic communities through which the Loneliest Road travels, such as Ely, Eureka, Austin, and Fallon.
The Provost family (both Stephen and Sharon) of books can be found for sale on Amazon or through the more than four dozen bookstores listed on his company website, https://www.dragoncrownbooks.com/bookshops.
For more information, go to: https://www.stephenhprovost.com/.
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