Question of the Day - 15 January 2021

Good question. 

Our book by Matt O'Brien, Beneath the Neon -- Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas, introduced the world to a different kind of Las Vegas "underworld," the shadowy underground community of homeless that exists in the storms drains of the Las Vegas flood-control system, including directly below the Las Vegas Strip.

It's a well-known story. Following the footsteps of a psycho who killed his girlfriend and her son, then evaded a major dragnet by using the tunnel system, Matt discovered subterranean Vegas and, armed with a flashlight, tape recorder, and expandable baton (for self-defense if needed), spent the next four years exploring the drains. Beneath the Neon, published in 2007, became an international sensation, as Matt guided media from around the world through the tunnels. 

As an outgrowth, in 2009, Matt founded Shine a Light, a not-for-profit organization that provides food, clothing, housing, and counseling services to those in the drains. Through his own outreach work and as a media guide, he continued to visit the tunnels and assist people who were trying to work their way out of the darkness and back into the light of mainstream society. In the process, he conducted interviews for a new book, "collecting voices of hope and recovery forged from deep despair."

The result is Dark Days, Bright Nights --Surviving the Las Vegas Storm Drains. The new book shares the stories of drug- and gambling-addicted tunnel dwellers who've successfully clawed their way out of the drains and turned around their lives. The book also paints a larger picture of homelessness and recovery in America. 

Matt is one of the best writers among Huntington Press' stable of authors. He has a master of fine arts in creative writing from UNLV and a Silver Pen (mid-career) Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. We also published his second work, My Week at the Blue Angel, a collection of narrative non-fiction short articles about other hidden aspects of Las Vegas. 

As for why we didn't publish Dark Days, Bright Nights, there are two reasons.

First, it's a human-interest book that's less about Las Vegas than it is about people who could be living on or under the streets of any city in the world, really.

And second, luckily for Matt and interested readers, Las Vegas has another publishing company that's tailor-made for a book like this. Central Recovery Press specializes in a full spectrum of behavioral healthcare topics, including addiction treatment and recovery, addiction and the family, parenting, relationships, trauma, grief and loss, and mindfulness. CRP’s mission is to shift the prevailing perception of addiction and other behavioral health issues as moral failing, character weakness or vice, offering books such as this one that promote a broader view of recovery and encourage a holistic approach to emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

All in all, we consider it a win-win-win. Matt's new book got published. CPR has a fine frontlist title that stands on the shoulders of the bestselling Beneath the Neon. And the world gets the inspiring stories, in the words of another friend and fine author, Lee Barnes, "of caring hearts trapped inside humans whose lives have been a struggle against the forces of the world, addiction being the greatest of those."