Anna Christiansen’s small-town life is about to go haywire. A young reporter stuck in a dead-end job, Anna falls head over heels for an interview subject, the bass player in an up-and-coming alt band. In short order, she pulls up stakes, moves to Las Vegas, gets married and pregnant, and moves into a big fixer-upper haunted by the ghost of a Sin City racketeer.
That’s when she receives a letter from a corrupt casino owner that he’s buying up all the properties on her street to make way for a parking lot. But Anna has poured her heart and soul into the house, and digs in hard to fight the system, not the easiest of tasks in a city where bribery, mayhem, and murder are standard operating procedures.
Can Anna’s tough-guy ghost provide the help she needs to prevail in this dangerous cat-and-mouse game? Will Anna’s life be left in ruins? Or worse?
Part road trip, part coming-of-age saga, part mystery, part ghost story, The House Always Wins is all Vegas.
Hello book lovers! Today is a day where I will be writing another author spotlight for a well-accomplished author whose work I have loved. As you know book lovers I love learning about authors and the inspiration behind their work, it fascinates me and adds to the depth of the book because the reader will be able to better understand it. That is how the author spotlights were created because I soon discovered that you lovely readers ALSO love learning about author’s, so I am excited to tell you a little bit more about author Brian Rouff whose book The House Always Wins chilled and thrilled me from beginning to end. I personally would recommend this book to all of those that love mystery and suspense novels but really the book can be read by anybody as it is flawlessly written and highly enjoyable. With today’s author spotlight for Brian Rouff, a biography of the author and an interview between us both will be shared, and I hope that you book lovers enjoy reading it! To kick this off here is an author bio about the wonderful Brian Rouff!
Brian Rouff was born in Detroit, raised in Southern California and has lived in Las Vegas since 1981, which makes him a long-timer by local standards. When he’s not writing articles, screenplays and Las Vegas novels such as “Dice Angel,” “Money Shot,” and “The House Always Wins,” he runs Imagine Communications, a marketing and public relations firm. On a personal note, Brian is married with two grown daughters and five grandchildren. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing guitar and an occasional visit to the casino buffet lines.
Now, how wonderful does Brian Rouff sound?! The author is a truly exceptional writer and I hope that you lovely readers have a read of the author’s work because you will not regret it! Please see below an interview between us both, I hope that you enjoy the author’s answers to my questions, they are incredible and provide some great advice too!
Thank you for joining us today at Red Headed Book Lover! Please tell us more about yourself
I’ve been a writer all my life (school, journalism, PR, marketing) but didn’t become an author until my early 40s. Novels are the holy grail for many of us, and I just wanted to see if I could do it. I joke that it’s the way I handled my mid-life crisis. After four books, it’s been a satisfying journey and one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Could you please tell us readers about your book and what inspired you to write your book?
My latest book is “The House Always Wins.” It’s a Vegas ghost story (also a love story and a mob story; I enjoy mashing up genres). It’s based on an actual big old fixer-upper my family and I moved into and remodeled in the early 2000s. We lived there for three years and always swore the place was haunted. That’s all a fiction writer needs to be off and running.
What would your advice be for aspiring writers?
Write for an audience of one: You
In your opinion, what is the most important thing about a book?
The characters. You’ve got to like them, care about them and root for them to come out on top.
What is your writing process like?
For months on end, every time I get an idea for a plot, a character, a snippet of dialogue or a scene, I jot it down and toss it in an old school manila file folder. When it’s bursting at the seams, I know it’s time to start. I’m what they call a “pantser,” which means I have a general idea of where I’m going but I don’t outline. I like to be surprised by the process. Often, I have no idea how a book is going to end until I’m almost done.
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
Depends on the book. For the most recent one, I spent a lot of time at the Las Vegas Mob Museum researching mobsters who had a major influence on Sin City, guys like Moe Dalitz and Meyer Lansky. I created a composite character based on real life people.
Do you have a set schedule for writing, or do you only write when you feel inspired?
Inspiration is for amateurs. My brain works best in the morning, so I try to get in a few hours every day before work. To make this happen, I wake up earlier than a Navy Seal. If you’re motivated, you can get used to anything.
Do you read much and if so, who are your favorite authors?
Not as much as I’d like to, but maybe a book a month. I have eclectic tastes, so I enjoy everyone from Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen to Tom Robbins and Anne Tyler. Oh, and Michael Chabon and Haruki Murakami. All brilliant. I’m also very open to suggestions. A co-worker suggested “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell and it’s become one of my favorites.
Lastly, when can we readers expect to read more wonderful books from you?
Thanks for the compliment. I’m pretty slow because I still need my day job, so possibly 2021. It usually takes me two – three years from inception to final product.
Its official book lovers, I am obsessed with Brian Rouff! If you have liked what you have read about the author and are interested in learning more about Brian Rouff, then please do have a browse of the links below and be sure to have a read of the preview too! You will not regret it.
Goodbye for now book lovers,
