A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Portland icon Viva Las Vegas, whose new book, MAGIC GARDENS, is about to be released by Portland-based Dame Rocket Press.

If you don’t know about Viva, her story is truly an amazing one: highly gifted and intelligent Midwestern girl goes off to the Ivy League, studies anthropology, picks up five languages, falls in love with the idea of stripping, moves to Portland, becomes the face and voice advocating stripper rights, locks herself away to write a book, finds a publisher, develops breast cancer, beats the cancer, returns to the stage, and has the book published. She’s a great writer and a fantastic conversation, and I encourage you to check out our interview.