Las Vegas holds a unique place in the popular imagination and in the work of any number of contemporary writers of fiction. The fourteen stories in this anthology explore the multifarious personalities of America's "Sin City" through the experiences of the dreamers and gamblers, the losers and the lost, who inhabit Las Vegas and confront its myriad attractions and disappointments. The authors of these stories write of the city and its people from the perspective of true insiders. They knew the smoky casinos and the dead-end apartment complexes, the almost unbearable lure of the gambling pits, and the aching bitterness of loss. And they understand, as only insiders can, the humanity and individuality of the people who flock to the city to realize their most precious dreams or to escape unendurable memories. "In the Shadow of the Strip is a powerful collection of stories--honest fiction by remarkably gifted and perceptive writers. They dig deep into the city's core to reveal both its myth and its reality, its glamour and its corrosive powers of greed and despair. And most of all, they explore the passionate human hearts that give the city its unique flavor, its inimitable mixture of brilliance and darkness.