Horace Langford JR. / PVT Ben Malisow smiles as he talks about "1001 Things To Do If You Dare." Horace Langford JR. / PVT Jill Po lowered her eyes to sign a book, but her title next to her showed her pleasant face. Horace Langford JR. / PVT Geoff Schumacher, who spent much of his life in Pahrump, just published a new biography of Howard Hughes. To the left, Bob Pilkington. Horace Langford JR. / PVT Buzz Sodeman was joined by his wife Kathie as he discussed the books he has written. Advertisement

Whether the subject was famed Las Vegas tycoon and recluse Howard Hughes or children's character Deputy Dorkface, customers showed up to buy autographed copies from over a dozen authors at the Meet, Greet Buy and Sign at the Pahrump Community Library last Saturday.

Heart Lanier Sharpe, who authored "Why Elvis Left The Building," said she dealt not with Elvis Presley as a showman but his childhood as told through a man who helped raise him, James Samuel Denson.

Sharpe said she was attending an Elvis convention at the San Remo Hotel in Las Vegas in 1993 when she made the connections that enabled her to write the book.

Another equally famous Las Vegas personality was Howard Hughes. But author Geoff Schumacher said Hughes was "a folk hero of the 20th century" who also had a deep Nye County connection as well.

Coincidentally, at that same time, a woman who asked Schumacher to autograph her book remarked she used to work for Howard Hughes.

Hughes had an employee named John Meier, who bought up mining claims in places like Tonopah and Goldfield at inflated prices, then pocketed the difference, Schumacher said.

Then there was the story of Melvin Dummar, who claimed he was entitled to Hughes' inheritance after picking up Hughes on a lonely road near the Cottontail Ranch at Lida Junction in Esmeralda County. Schumacher said he had a lengthy interview with Dummar at the Clown Motel in Tonopah.

"I try to draw some realistic conclusions about what really happened," Schumacher said. "People are fascinated by Melvin Dummar and they're fascinated by Howard Hughes. They're fascinated by the intersection of those two people in the 1970s. It's one of those folk tales people can't get enough of."

Matt O'Brien, a former reporter for CityLife, a Las Vegas alternative publication, became inspired to write about Las Vegas storm drains in his book "Beneath The Neon."

"I took a flashlight and tape recorder and a baton for protection and explored the underground flood channels that run beneath the city," O'Brien said.

It all stemmed from a murder that occurred in spring 2002 in Las Vegas, O'Brien said.

"This guy killed his live-in girlfriend and one of her sons and raped her young daughter. He was on the run. Police had him cornered at one point and he just kind of vanished, and it turned out he had used one of these storm drains to evade a police dragnet," O'Brien said.

A few authors dealt with personal events in their lives, like Christy Leskovar's novel, "One Night in a Bad Inn."

"It's a true story of a ranch in Eastern Montana. The house burns down, a dead body is found in the ruins, determined to be dead before the fire, and the inquest determined that he's my great grandfather," Leskovar said.

Leskovar said it was a hard book to research and weave into a narrative.

Merle Savage, who wrote "Silence in the Sound," about the 1989 oil spill in Valdez, Alaska, volunteered to clean up the spill, then came down with health problems later. Savage was discouraged Exxon oil company still hasn't settled the case.

"The Supreme Court met on the 25th of February and the judges will be voting in June as to whether to drop the (settlement) amount," Savage said. "A lot of people have been bankrupt because of it. If you buy a fishing boat and you're making payments on it and there's no work, you go bankrupt."

Vivian Lee, who works in the reference section of the library, said writing her book "The Picking Fields," was an inspiration for people who need to reveal an unpleasant childhood. The book describes children having to resort to picking trash and living under a sexually-abusive, alcoholic father. The book, however, had to be fictionalized since publishers were afraid they would be sued for libel, Lee said.

Herb Jaffe said he spent 39 years as a newspaper reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., which inspired him to write his fictionalized account of mob, mayhem and murder, "Fallen Dominoes." It ties in to real-life allegations of mob ties to the garbage industry.

Pahrump author Bob Pilkington, who wrote a handbook on dealing with Chrone's disease in 2003, just released "The Boys From D.I.R.T." about six misfits in the U.S. Marines whose unit goes to the Korean War while they stay home.

"It's a fictional book. Or is it? It's very historically accurate," Pilkington said.

While he doesn't have a bookstore in Pahrump to sell his books, Pilkington said he's sold a lot of his first book on the Internet.

Another Pahrump author, Buzz Sodeman, said "Doin' It In The Dirt," is a book for a captive audience.

"Racers are going to buy it," Sodeman said. "It's a select group, anybody involved in racing, whether it be in the Southwest or anywhere, they want a history of some of the drivers. They're going to buy the book."

Sodeman writes about 15 years covering auto racing at Mojave Valley Raceway and Canyon Raceway in Arizona as well as Pahrump Valley Speedway. He plans another book signing April 19 at Death Valley Raceway in Amargosa Valley.

Ben Masilow, author of "1001 Things to Do If You Dare" said he wasn't selling many books Saturday but still was having a blast.

"It's just a lot of fun things to entertain yourself with vicariously," Maslow said. "I recommend you put it on the back of the toilet and read it in five-minute increments, just a short verse of entertainment to get you through the day."

Channel 3 weatherman Kevin Janison promoted his children's book "Deputy Dorkface -- How Stinkville Got Cleaned up," during a recent trip to Manse Elementary School. He has a sequel which is in the editing stage right now.

"This started out as a bedtime story I told my kids, so there's a lot of family values in this story," Janison said. "The key is to try to get the kids to do a little more reading and a little less television viewing, a little less computer gaming."

Richard Draude and Jo Wilkins had a series of books which involves science-fiction, but they described them as more character-driven than technology-driven. Wilkins said they sold the rights to the series to Books in Motion, which sells the compact discs narrating the tale in audio, which have been a big success.

"A truck driver would rent it in one stop, listen to it, then drop it off at another truck stop, pick up the next one in the series," Draude said.

Kat Jaske, author of "Righting Time" looked the part of her characters, with a hat that evoked a medieval theme. The French teacher at Green Valley High School who practices fencing seemed to relate to her original book set in 17th century France. A sequel however transports that character to the year 2060.

"It's a great escape and I've noticed people have loved the characters," Jaske said.

Michael Broderick's book "Vegas...The Mob and the Dead Pig on the Dance Floor" dealt with another topic popular among Las Vegans. Broderick said he was a casino manager for 55 years but figured there was enough written on people like the infamous Bugsy Siegel.

He includes a chapter on an encounter with the late Roland Wiley, while roaming on his land in Cathedral Canyon near Pahrump.