About Nevada Stories
Nevada Stories is a serialized history of downtown Reno told through fiction. 130 stories, published Monday through Friday, spanning 158 years — from the founding of the city in 1868 through the present day.
Each story follows one of eight fictional families across generations. The characters are invented. The world around them is not.
The Eight Families
Ah Lum — Chinese railroad worker arrives 1868. Thread: Midtown restaurant, four generations.
Morales — Sonoran railyard worker arrives 1868. Thread: city planner, urban Reno.
Kellerman — German saloonkeeper arrives 1869. Thread: saloon to casino to developer.
Toná — Washoe woman watching the city grow. Thread: UNR professor, oral historian.
Fitzgerald — Irish hotel cook arrives 1874. Thread: son is a police officer, granddaughter covers city hall.
Reinholt — Divorce visitor from Cincinnati arrives 1911, stays. Thread: dress shop, record store, gallery.
The History
Every building, street, institution, and historical event in Nevada Stories is drawn from documented sources — primarily the Reno Historical archive (renohistorical.org), the Reno Gazette-Journal archives, the 1868–69 Nevada Directory, and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. Real historical figures appear as background characters only. No invented dialogue is attributed to real people.
A note on AI: Nevada Stories is a human-directed project. The editorial vision, the story arc, the historical research standards, and the final judgment on what publishes are ours. The daily drafts are written with AI assistance and reviewed before publication.