Lora Shaner - Madam: Inside a Nevada Brothel

Published by

Huntington Press

3665 Procyon Street

Las Vegas, Nevada 89103

Phone: (702) 252-0655

Fax: (702) 252-0675

e-mail: books@huntingtonpress.com

Copyright 1999, 2003, Lora Shaner

ISBN: 978-1-935396-09-3

Production & Design: Laurie Shaw

Cover Photo Gerhard Steiner/CORBIS

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright owner.

Names and other identifying characteristics of the people whose stories appear in this book have been changed to preserve their anonymity.

To working girls everywhere

and particularly those at Sheris Ranch,

past, present, and futurethis ones for you.

Gratitude to my perfect daughters, Peggy and Kathy Shaner, who, every time Id throw up my hands and proclaim, I cant do this! would lead me gently back to my computer and say, Of course you can. And then saw to it that I did.

To my granddaughters, Pamela Meza and Kimberly Meza Rose, who called just to say I love you,thanks, girls. Thanks too, to Kims husband, Bradley Rose, who really likes his in-laws and has added so much to our family.

Sincere gratitude to the friends of my salad days and beyond, whom I have loved and cherished and who have loved and cherished me through all the vicissitudes of life for more than three decades. I am the sum total of my lifes experiences, made rich and fulfilling by Brad Alf, M.J. Atlas, Barbara Bauman, Dr. Don Brady, Mike Durocher, Jerry Emerson, Brent Faulkner, Todd Gardner, Gary Gray, Don Hageman, Joan Hart, Roy Hruska, Doris Kirgan, Jim Kolius, Tony Moore, Sandy Paul, Ralph Pinckley, Larry Rabun, Loehr Rigby, Harry Rogers and the late Al Gehl and Nick Perry.

I acknowledge, too, my latter-day Nevada friends who have given my life here new luster: Martin Bickler, Jim Carney, Richard Emery, Larry Maietta, Phil Vogel, and Ralph Williams.

Good fortune smiled upon me when, more recently, Cheryl Barr, Dr. Richard Bralliar, John Curry, Richard De-Spain, Pete Gillott, Peggy Johnson, Ray Nielson, John Rainer, and Wayne Wallace came into my life and brightened it with white light and warm friendship.

Together, these people constitute my enormous personal wealth, the kind that can not be acquired with mere money.

Appreciation to friend and fellow author Cathy Scott. She and I were there for each other through the agonies and ecstasies that define the writers life.

A nod of appreciation to the personnel of the Resort at Sheris Ranch, who so generously took the time to acquaint me with their new enterprise, especially J.P. Martin, Laraine Harper, and Susan Campbell.

Special thanks to the working girls with whom I established a close bond, for sharing their thoughts, their joys, their griefs, their humor, and their lives with me.

And, of course, enormous admiration and respect go to my brilliant editor, Deke Castleman.

If I failed to name someone whose contribution should have been acknowledged, Im truly sorry. To quote Thomas Gray: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen/And waste its sweetness on the desert air. I hope that offers some consolation.

Prostitution, in one form or another, has been around forever. In our society its generally looked upon as an aberration, deserving of study by sociologists, psychologists, behaviorists, even the clergy.

Dozens of scholarly tomes have been written about prostitution, offering theories and analyses based on socioeconomic, psychological, or cultural motivation and the social significance of the practice.

This book is not one of them. Madam tells the story of prostitution as practiced in a legal, regulated, tax-paying brothel where I talked the talk and walked the walk for five years. I speak from an insiders point of view.

I metaphorically fling open the doors of Sheris Brothel in southern Nevada and invite the public in to witness incidents that occur daily.

The stories related here are strange, funny, sad, fascinating, disturbing, and sometimes grim. I use the language of the prostitutes and their clients. I tell it like it is with no attempt to clean it up or dumb it down.

My purpose is to tell the truth simply, without trying to analyze or interpret. I dont believe all of lifes anomalies can be explained away. They simply exist. Whether they serve a purpose is a matter for each individual to determine.

Those of you who are interested in learning more about what might be a strange and mysterious lifestyle: Welcome to Sheris Ranch. You will leave with either a new understanding and compassion or renewed condemnation of the worlds oldest profession. Either way, you will have been enlightened.

The events, people and practices depicted in the main body of this work existed at Sheris Ranch during the period of, and for a few years following, my service there as madam. As it was, the brothel had become a Nevada institution. We, the Sheris family, closely knit and protective, believed it would never change. And then it did.

Sheris Ranch was sold in January 2001 and within a few months, its structure and modus operandi took a 180-degree turn. Nothing of the former brothel remainedexcept its heart. The real stuff of life in a brothel, as everywhere else, exists in its people: the prostitutes, the men who pay for their services, and the vicissitudes that often influence personal choices. These dont change with structural remodeling or policy and procedural revisions. The basic humanity of the people whose stories and points of view are presented in Part I, remain relevant.

My life as a brothel madam, a fascinating chapter in the story of my long and checkered career, had ended by the time Sheris Ranch was sold. Although I was a frequent visitor to the new remodeled brothel, I did not take part in its daily operation.

The contents of Part IIThe Way It Is, describing the new facility, was born of close personal observation and many interviews with management personnel and working girls. It reflects the function and fun of the expanded beautified Resort at Sheris Ranch.

Lora Shaner

Pahrump, NV

Although my enthusiasm for Sheris Ranch shows throughout this book, I didnt intend it to be a personal endorsement of this one particular brothel. There are 29 legal brothels operating in Nevada in 2003. Im not qualified, nor would I want, to critique or compare them. Each has its particular ambience and charm and its own amenities, special perks, and ability to provide customer satisfaction.

R ip and Slash race toward me, their growls as ominous as the rumbling of an earthquake, neck-fur bristling, menacing me with rapier teeth. I stand perfectly still and wait for them to draw close enough to get my scent. Theyll recognize me, I hope.

Its almost eleven oclock and dark in the stretch of Nevada desert in back of Sheris Ranch. The dim security lights cast spooky shadows. I stash my car in back this night to leave as many spaces as possible in the well-lit guest parking area in front of the brothel. Its Saturday, November 9, 1996. Boxer Mike Tyson has just lost his World Heavyweight Championship Title to Evander Holyfield, a 20-to-1 underdog. I know that the brothel, sixty-four miles northwest of Las Vegas and its casino sports books, is preparing to provide solace-through-sex to the incredulous losers and elaborate celebration parties for the newly flush winners. It promises to be a busy night, a lucrative night for the girls, a highly profitable night for the house, and a non-stop energy-sapping night for the madamme.