Talking With Torthell Robinson – September 21, 2026
Author, Men Will Be Boys
What happens when three guys who grew up together in Las Vegas decide they’re ready to get rich — and their plans go spectacularly wrong?
That’s the world created by Torthell Robinson, a Las Vegas-area screenwriter, U.S. Air Force veteran and author of Men Will Be Boys, a fast, funny and dangerous crime-comedy series set against the backdrop of Las Vegas.
Torthell’s journey to becoming a writer is anything but conventional. After serving in the Air Force, he took a regular job before deciding he wanted to do something completely different. He enrolled in a Los Angeles film school, where a professor read his pilot script and recommended him for literary representation. After entering screenplay competitions, Torthell began thinking beyond the pilot and decided to build out the world and its characters.
Then he moved to Las Vegas — and discovered that the city itself seemed to fit perfectly with the stories he wanted to tell.
Torthell explains why he chose to turn his original pilot concept into a three-book series, rather than adapt the books from novels into screenplays. We meet his three central characters: an Ivy League-educated man, a blue-collar local and a degenerate — three very different personalities connected by a shared history and a common ambition to make it big.
We also talk about Torthell’s childhood and the lessons he learned about respect and accountability, his writing process, why the first draft is so important, and the challenge of creating believable characters who can carry an entire series.
And then there’s Las Vegas itself.
For Torthell, Vegas isn't simply where the story takes place. The city becomes a character in its own right.
Could Men Will Be Boys eventually make the jump from books to television? Torthell would certainly like to see it happen.
It’s a conversation about writing, reinvention, friendship, ambition, trouble — and why Las Vegas can be the perfect setting when you want a story where almost anything can happen.
Listen to my conversation with Torthell Robinson on “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira.”
ABOUT TORTHELL:
“Book Collection” by Torthell was founded by U.S. Air Force veteran and Independent author Torthell Robinson.
Enlisting at just 17 and serving in Iraq and Kyrgyzstan, Torthell later studied film and narrative craft in Los Angeles. That diverse background provides an insider’s perspective on the absurd consequences and vast entertainment worlds inspired by Vegas nightlife. He uses a sharp, humorous storytelling pace, mixed with eclectic scenes and a chaotic crime-fiction energy.
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