Dean's World

Shreveport

Dean

A tale is told here.

This is only the signed & numbered limited edition first available this week. The regular edition will be available shortly through most booksellers.

"Damn fine read, this book. I will look forward to a first edition copy to put in my library.... I will most definitely be looking forward to reading it again, despite that I just read it for the second time last week." --Deanna Barr

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Sean Golden (mail) (www):

Interesting. Having lived in Shreveport and leaving the area just before the "Boats" took it over, this is sort of like an "out of ~~body~~ city" experience for me.

I've been on those boats on trips back to Shreveport over the years, and I have to say, if they are representative of the best casinos in the world, my opinion of worldwide casino gambling just dropped further than it already was.

I spent some time earlier this year just walking around one of those boats, just watching people and soaking in the overall gestalt of the place.

In the casino ads, there is always a lot of laughing, jumping around, flashing lights, etc.

When I was there all I remember was a bunch of morose or angry people who were fixated on the games they were playing, mostly wearing expressions of resignation and bitterness. I thought to myself that if that was fun, I'd much rather be miserable on a mountain stream not catching fish.

8.31.2006 3:42am

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Dean Esmay:

Heh. Well my own memory is mostly the same, although I remember it mildly more cheerfully that you do, although only mildly. Whether it was a casino or a riverboat it was mostly the same: well-lit, highly ventilated, with the din of noise constant but well-ventilated and calculated not to be overpowering. But mostly they just take in people's money.

Lots of retired old ladies spending their spare money. Lots of desperate people foolishly looking to make life better. Mostly a big machine to take in people's money, although there was always those few who were eminently sensible about it and just enjoying themselves...

8.31.2006 5:41am

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Sean Golden (mail) (www):

In the sense of full disclosure, I am one of those people who simply doesn't get gambling. I don't mean that in a superficial way, I mean it in a deep philosophical way. Gambling seems like you are putting your future at the whims of chance. Losing is inevitable, the odds are calculated carefully to ensure that the casino takes in money. Yes, there are those numerical aberrations where some few folks actually do win some money, but how can you be proud of money that you acquired through random chance? You did nothing to win it except make what is by definition a bad bet, one that has a higher chance for you to lose, than for you to win.

So I can't say I was completely objective in scanning the place, but even with my acknowledged bias, I just still couldn't help but be struck by how mechanical, repetitive and boring the whole thing looked.

Overall it looked about as appealing to me as watching paint dry, but with the added distraction of watching your money disappear.

But then, I am not a fortunate soul. My luck with dice and games has never been good, even when no money is involved. Had my experiences been different and had I been fortunate in games of chance, perhaps I'd have a different view.

The way I see it, every time I don't play the lottery, I win a buck. Every time I don't put $5.00 down on a blackjack table, I win a Big Mac.

Cause I can flat out guarantee you, any money I put into gambling ain't coming back.

8.31.2006 3:00pm

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Martin L. Shoemaker (www):

Actually, Sean, it's a little more complex than that. Both by law and because they want to keep the suckers coming back, the payouts are very close to what's paid in. Without visible winners, they lose customers. Their profit is in a huge volume of relatively small losers. So depending on the game and the regulations, a $5 bet might win you back, say, $4.90. So every time you don't put $5.00 down on a blackjack table, statistically you win about a dime.

(And where are you buying your Big Macs, man? They're not five bucks near me!)

8.31.2006 3:20pm

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Sean Golden (mail) (www):

Martin:

OK, I accept your math, and I accept that the average player wins about a dime when they don't put $5 down.

But I was talking about ME.

And as soon as I put that $5 down, it may as well have been sucked into the black hole at the center of the milky way for all the chance I'll ever have of seeing it again.

I guess that Big Mac was the Meal Deal with fries and a diet coke....

8.31.2006 3:27pm

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Dean Esmay:

I confess that gambling has never held much fascination for me. It has often seemed the close cousin of whoring: at its worst those who run the game ply their trade preying upon the weakness, desperation, failures, frustrations, and even the loneliness, of those whose lives never became what they had imagined or hoped for in their youth. Yet at its best gambling might simply be a pleasant distraction, a simple way to wile away time, which even the short-lived sometimes find themselves compelled to do.

8.31.2006 3:32pm

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Martin L. Shoemaker (www):

But I was talking about ME.

And as soon as I put that $5 down, it may as well have been sucked into the black hole at the center of the milky way for all the chance I'll ever have of seeing it again.

Hehehe. Well then, Sean, you've answered your own (implied) question:

In the sense of full disclosure, I am one of those people who simply doesn't get gambling. I don't mean that in a superficial way, I mean it in a deep philosophical way. Gambling seems like you are putting your future at the whims of chance.

You do get gambling, if you think about it. After all, if you can somehow believe that you're special -- that the odds don't apply to you, and you're sure to lose -- then how hard is it for the guy next to you to believe that he's special, and the odds don't apply to him, and he's sure to win?

And then given the two of you, which one is the casino going to rope in as a customer? Which one is going to come home now and then with stories of his great luck that night, luck that keeps him coming back to give up that dime over and over again?

8.31.2006 4:06pm

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Deanna Barr (mail):

If my husband and I go to a movie and dinner, we're spending a good $50, for approximately three hours of entertainment, with no hope of recouping any of the funds we've spent. And yet, we don't mind spending the money for that kind of entertainment.

If I put $50 down on the black jack table and sit there for three hours, I'm getting the same amount of entertainment time for my money. But I have a chance of walking away from the table with more than I put in. True, I could lose my $50 in a lot less than three hours; but on the other hand, I once played for eight hours at the same table with an inital $10 bet. When I walked away from that table with no money, I had well spent my $10 for entertainment.

It's all a matter of perspective, I think. I do like to gamble. The rush of hitting it big is fun. I'm not going to put myself in the poor house by sitting at the table or the slots or the video lottery (which is legal in SD) betting the mortgage payment. But if I spend my $20 that way instead of at the pool table, the movies, or on beer, I'm just choosing a different way to be entertained. And I am being entertained with a chance of walking away with more than I started.

8.31.2006 4:10pm

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Arnold Harris (mail):

We all love you, Dean, and we hope your novel does well. But don't you think you are spending too much space on Dean's World pumping for "Methuselah's Daughter"?

Having been a public relations functionary after I learned they made more money than reports, and got about as much respect in any case, I can appreciate your liberal use of tested tactics to sell your book. But I also learned long ago tht being your own PR man is not always a winning idea.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

8.31.2006 9:35pm

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maggie may - labrat:

Put a sock in it Arnold. I consider it an honor to get this chance to support Dean's book.

Congrats Dean. I'm so happy for you. I know it wasn't easy to get published.

Just put in my order!

8.31.2006 10:30pm

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Dean Esmay:

Arnold, I hate to tell you, but:

This is my masterpiece. And, that being the case, I will regularly promote this book. It's the best thing I've ever done creatively, save my two sons.

In fact I'll just break it to you: over the next 6 months at least, there will be at least one mention per day of this book on Dean's World.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

(Thanks Maggie! Hope you like it!)

8.31.2006 11:06pm

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MaryJ:

Waoh, that is some very good writing. I like the casino story and the way the two characters interacted with one another.

The description of the river boat gambling was so real. My own imagination put me right there at that exact time. Getting lost in the story and absolutely thinking of nothing else. I really, really felt like I was right there. I see gambling the same way, so I saw two people enjoying one another's company. The riverboat...uumh!

Anyway, you have to sale yourself and then in doing that, what you are selling is more appealing. I do hope you continue to let your fans of Dean's World, get pits and pieces EVERYDAY! There will be a lot of people gone this weekend but, many will be online.

I can not wait to read the whole book, I am thrilled and full of JOY!

8.31.2006 11:06pm

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MaryJ:

HEY! WE were on the keyboard at the same time. I was telling you somethings and boom...

Giggle giggle

8.31.2006 11:08pm

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MaryJ:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHA...me is so dumb ;-)

Above I wrote, I do hope you contimue this everday and then I say, "pits and pieces!"

HAHAHAHAHAHA, was I in 'THAT CASINO' or WHAT!!??!!

Giggle giggle

Good Night All...

8.31.2006 11:34pm

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Arnold Harris (mail):

Ok, ok, I can take a hint. I'll read it.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

9.1.2006 12:20am