New Website Helps Nevada Authors Spread the Word About Their Works

 

  Carson City writer Steven Provost, who has written some 50 books covering a wide range of topics ranging from fantasy to horror to travelogue to history, was surprised when he discovered that the Capital City did not have a bookstore selling new books.

  While there were used book places, museum gift shops and other retail outlets, the community had not had an actual brick-and-mortar bookstore selling new books since the days of the fondly-remembered Kennedy’s Books or the Borders Books south of town.

  So, Provost, who had relocated to Carson City about a year ago, set out to do something about it.

  His solution was to create a website that specifically catered to Northern Nevada authors and provide them with a link for them to promote their work and lead would-be readers to places where their books could be purchased.

  Known as ACES of Northern Nevada, which stands for Authors Collective E-Shop of Northern Nevada, the site explains his motivation (in the About section) and lists nearly two-dozen (and growing) local authors with short bios, their photos and links to sites where their books can be purchased, such as Amazon.

  Additionally, the site lists local book vendors around the northern part of the state, including Sundance Books and Music in Reno, the Nevada State Museum gift shop, Luminary Books in Gardnerville and many others.

  Provost has also divided the authors’ book by subject matter, so users can click on topics ranging from Young Adult to History to Mystery to the Paranormal, and find links to books covering that subject by any of the authors.

  An Upcoming Events section lists future opportunities for readers to attend book signings or other presentations by any of the listed authors.

  Among those listed on the site—participation is free to the authors, which is great since most writers don’t make Stephen King-type money—are retired Reno TV anchorman Bill Brown, who has written 13 mystery/horror novels, children’s book author Monica Marcinko, and fantasy and science fiction writer Jade Griffin.

  Others include Nevada history author Peter B. Mires, Jacci Turner, who writes young adult and inspirational/spiritual works and Janice Oberding, who writes frequently about true crime and Nevada paranormal places.

  It also lists Provosts own works, including his latest, Crimson Scourge, a science-fiction novel, and America’s Loneliest Road, a travel-history book devoted to driving on U.S. 50 across Nevada, the so-called Loneliest Road in America.

  Provost is a former California newspaper editor, who enjoyed writing books in his spare time. After being laid-off in 2018, he decided to begin writing books full-time and established his own book imprint, Dragon Crown Books.

  To check out the new website, go to: https://www.acesofnorthernnevada.com/.

The Best Source of Information on Las Vegas Area Geology and Natural History

Nevada's Spring Mountains near Las Vegas   

   While it’s been out since 2008, the best book for anyone interested in the geology and natural history of the Las Vegas region remains, “Geologic Tours of the Las Vegas Area,” published by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology at the University of Nevada, Reno, with assistance from the Bureau of Land Management.

   The book is written by the same folks who produced “Traveling America’s Loneliest Road: A Geologic and Natural History Tour through Nevada along U.S. Highway 50.”

   Authors Joseph V. Tingley (who also co-wrote the Highway 50 book), Becky W. Purkey, Ernest M. Duebendorfer, Eugene I. Smith, Jonathan G. Price and Stephen B. Castor have compiled a comprehensive guide to the unique geologic and historic sites found throughout Clark County in Southern Nevada.

   The 136-page spiral-bound book, which is an expanded and updated version of a 1994 edition that was published in a different format, begins with a brief overview of Southern Nevada’s geology and history. It also includes GPS coordinates for various sites.

   Following a nice color photo gallery depicting some of the natural history and geology of the region, the book moves into a series of five trips with detailed mileage road logs, which provide mileage counts beside the descriptions of the various places you’ll see along the way.

   Trip 1 takes you from Blue Diamond to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, directly west of Las Vegas. Along the way, you’ll learn about Sandstone Bluffs, also called the Red Rock Canyon Sandstone Escarpment or Wilson Cliffs (the authors explain why it has three names).

   In this section, you’ll also learn about old gypsum mines and a historic sandstone quarry in the area as well as Joshua trees, coyotes and what’s so special about Red Rock Canyon.

   The second trip in the book is devoted to the Spring Mountains, northwest of Las Vegas. This 100 mile journey the Mount Charleston region and something known as the Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone, where mountain ranges that were once contiguous were pulled apart millions of years ago and are now separated by miles of valley floor.

   Trip 3 essentially follows Lake Mead Boulevard from Frenchman Mountain to the Valley of Fire State Park, an area that is northeast of Las Vegas. This section includes the curiously named “Great Unconformity,” a place where, apparently, there is a mysterious billion year gap in the geologic record.

   The chapter also describes the amazing journey of Frenchman Mountain. Apparently the mountain consists of rocks different from any other mountains around Las Vegas but similar to those found near the Grand Canyon, more than 60 miles east.

   Many geologists believe the mountain actually moved over a period of millions of years along faults to its present location.

   The books fourth trip includes the area around Lake Mead, Hoover Dam and Eldorado Canyon, all south and east of Las Vegas. Here you learn about Manganese mining in the region as well as volcanoes that were once active in the area (they last erupted more than 15 million years ago).

   There is also a good explanation of the Las Vegas Wash, where water from the Las Vegas Valley drains (a lot of water in some years) and a brief history of Hoover Dam and Boulder City. Additionally, the authors reveal what a “hoodoo” is—it’s a column or pillar of precariously balanced rocks.

   The fifth and final section of the book describes the wetlands and water sources in the Las Vegas Valley. The authors note that the original water sources in the region were natural springs. Over the years, withdrawal of underground water has dried up the springs and created problems like large fissures or cracks in the ground and a sinking of the land in the valley (known as subsidence).

   Unlike the other segments of the book, this tour jumps from site to site throughout the valley, including Tule Springs and the site of the original Las Vegas Springs, now a desert demonstration garden with plans for a park.

   “Geologic Tours in the Las Vegas Area” is available from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, https://pubs.nbmg.unr.edu/Geol-tours-Las-Vegas-area-GPS-p/sp016.htm.

Check Out One of Northern Nevada's Special Surprises: Fly Geyser

Fly Geyser (Photo courtesy of Sydney Martinez/Travel Nevada)

  Fly Geyser, located on the edge of the Black Rock Desert, about an hour-and-a-half north of Reno, is one of those unexpected things you sometimes find in Nevada.

  Continuously spewing clouds of hot water about four or five feet high in the air, Fly Geyser is a remarkable sight when you first spot it from the nearby highway.

  The geyser, located on the Fly Ranch, consists of three, large travertine mounds, with a series of terraces around its base. In addition to the spraying hot water, the most impressive thing about the trio of tufa rock cones is their colors—rich, vivid shades of green and rust.

  The geyser, which is about 20 miles north of Gerlach via State Route 34, is located on private property but you can see the water plumes from the road. Adjacent is a small geothermal pond, fed by run off from the geyser.

  Perhaps the most interesting detail about Fly Geyser is the fact that it’s not really a natural phenomenon. The geyser was created accidentally in 1964, after a geothermal power company drilled a test well at the site.

  While the groundwater in the region turned out not to be sufficiently hot to be tapped for geothermal power, it did have a temperature of more than 200 degrees.

  According to later newspaper reports, the well was either left uncapped or was improperly plugged. In either case, the scalding hot water was allowed to shoot from the well hole and calcium carbonate deposits began to form, growing several inches each year.

  Jump forward several decades, and those deposits have become large mounds taller than an average-sized man that rise out of a field of tall reeds and grasses.

  Scientists familiar with the geyser note that the green and reddish coloring on the outside of the mounds is the result of thermophilic algae, which flourishes in moist, hot environments.

  Interestingly, the set of circumstances that created Fly Geyser in 1964 apparently occurred at least one time before. In about 1917, a well was drilled a few hundred feet north of the geyser. This well was also abandoned and, over time, a massive 10 to 12-foot calcium carbonate cone formed.

  Today, no hot water flows from the older mound—a photo of which appeared on the cover of a late 1940s issue of Nevada Magazine. It is almost as if the earlier geyser dried up when water was diverted to the newer one.

  In 2016, the Fly Ranch was acquired by the non-profit Burning Man Project, which now offers limited public access tours to the geyser and surrounding wetlands. Docents accompany visitors in small groups (minimum 10) for a two-and-a-half-hour tour of the grounds, including artwork from Burning Man.

  Admission to the Fly Ranch Nature Walks is $40 for adults (children under 12 free) and reservations are required.

  For more information go to: https://blackrockdesert.ticketleap.com/2023-fly-ranch-nature-walks-saturday-morning-and-evening-walks/details.

   The closest community to Fly Ranch is the tiny town of Gerlach, which was established in 1909 as a station on the main line of the Western Pacific Railroad. It was named for the Gerlach Land and Cattle Company, part of the large Gerlach and Waltz Ranch, which was founded in the late 19th century by Louis Gerlach.

  It is also home of Bruno's Country Club, a roadside diner that serves up some homestyle meals, including a pretty awesome hamburger with home fries. Additionally, make sure to visit Planet X Pottery, a local pottery studio owned and operated by artists John and Rachel Bogard (https://www.planetxpottery.net/).