Stories from the Desert: An Evening with Caleb Cage

Fallon readers and lovers of literature are invited to an evening of reflection and storytelling as part of the Churchill Arts Council’s Literary Arts Series. On Saturday, April 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., author and veteran Caleb S. Cage will take the stage at the Oats Park Arts Center for a live reading, Q&A, and book signing centered around his acclaimed collection Desert Mementos: Stories of Iraq and Nevada.

Cage, a Reno native and U.S. Army veteran, brings a distinctive voice to the page—one shaped by experience in the deserts of both Iraq and the Great Basin. His book, published by the University of Nevada Press, delivers nine short stories that move between wartime deployment and the long road home. The characters in Desert Mementos wrestle with loss, loyalty, identity, and redemption, set against a backdrop of stark, unforgiving landscapes.

As reviewer Scott Neuffer wrote, Cage’s work “shows the effects [of war] up close and personal… the human conscience disappears and reappears and swirls like smoke on the battlefield.” But in quieter moments—driving through a Nevada snowstorm, sitting in a hometown diner—there are glimmers of hope and healing. “The same open desert that kills also nurtures,” Neuffer wrote. “Even in a broken world the soldier could pick up the pieces… and build something new.”

The event is free and open to the public, and promises a thoughtful evening of art, conversation, and community. The Oats Park Arts Center is located at 151 E. Park Street in Fallon.

For more on Cage’s work, visit wnpress.unr.edu. For event details, visit churchillarts.org.