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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2001)
juna 1.2001 » He says: “It had nothing to do with the heart or feelings; it was just, ‘Let’s get really fucked up and get our rocks off.’ It always seemed so empty to me.” He adds: “I’m not saying that it’s bad; I’m just saying that there’s more. And I’m always looking for more.” One way that Spanbauer is look ing for more is in the develop ment of his spiritual life. As in his previous novel, In the City o f Shy Hunters explores Native Ameri can mysticism and spiri tual transcendence. “I’m very interested in my relationship to the divine or whether there is a divine,” he says. “W hen I got AID S, the lights went off for me as far as faith went ’cause I really thought that if I believed hard enough I wouldn’t get it...b u t then I catch myself praying.” But after 14 years of writing and the breakup of an 11 -year relationship, Spanbauer finds himself facing a blank page in both his writing and his life. “How does a 55-year-old man with AIDS begin dating .r ’ he asks. “All I can wish for is that somebody with a spirit will see my spirit in some way.” Like the characters who populate the city in his latest novel, Spanbauer is once again a shy hunter— a mild, gentle soul yearn ing to reach out to make a con nection and find a new place for himself in the world. “I’m still trying to come back to life,” he says. “I think I might just write a love story next.” j n M i. M in ' s ( leaning Second Nature H O M E S> GARDEN CENTER 503 - 892-8227 mrmans<leaning@aol.«om ’B ring in this ad and receive !0%OFF all perennials through June 30,2001 T om S panbauer will read from In the City of Shy Hunters June 21 at Twenty-Third Avenue Books, June 26 at Broadway Books and July 9 at Powell’s City o f Books. W e fe a tu re M a r c A c it o was raised in an Italian Catholic enclave in N ew Jersey surrounded by morons. He is writing his first novel. Annuals Perennials Roses Shrubs & Trees Garden Accessories Hanging Baskets European Baskets Statuary Vases and Lamps Cut Flowers Pottery Keepsake Gifts REVIEW I n the C it y of your sex S h y H u n ter s by Tom Spanbauer. G rove/A tlantic, 2001; $26 hardcover. T en years ago, Tom Spanbauer’s second novel, The Man W ho Fell in Love with the M oon, slid qui etly onto bookshelves, into readers’ hands and onto favorite book lists across the country. The story of a group of outcasts turned family in the mountains of Idaho at the turn of the century, it never has gone out of print. Part J.D. Salinger, part Tom Robbins, part Louis L’Amour, The M an W ho Fell in Love with the M oon was listed in the Advocate among the Top 100 Gay and Lesbian Fiction of all time. Spanbauer’s first novel, Faraw ay Places, about a curious rural Idaho boy and the volatile landscape around him, retains a cult following that keeps used copies of the out-of-print book hard to find. Anyone expecting Spanbauer’s newest, In the City o f Shy Hunters, to be a letdown after a decade’s impatient anticipation will be in for a shock. He completely has outdone himself, creating a novel of sophistication, humor and pathos to rival, if not top, his earlier novels. William Parker arrives in New York City just as two cataclysmic monsters rear their ugly heads: society’s meltdown concerning the homeless and the sudden rise of the AID S pandemic. The novel weaves his past life growing up in the ruthless lands of Idaho with his pre sent and mythological life in the Big Apple. In the course of searching for forgiveness, Will col lects about him an assembly of intricately drawn charac ters who become friends, lovers and, ultimately, co-war riors. Ruby Prestigiacomo, Charlie 2Moons, C hef Som Chai, Bobbie, The Art Family, Two Shot, Fiona, Daniel the boss’s brother, Mack Dickson T he Perfect Homosex ual, etc.— no character is left without dimension and humanity. The ultimate center of the novel is New York City itself, portrayed with more balls-out honesty than any novel in a long, long time. Spanbauer tells stories better than anyone around. There is an intimacy in the telling that recalls friends sitting around a campfire or around a bar table, giving up the hopes and fears of a life lived with conviction. T h e first-person voice is visceral, colloquial and fully engaging. Spanbauer employs ele ments o f magic realism with the same masterful hand he used in T he M an W ho Fell in Love with the M oon. T h e novel, to the bitter honest end, does not fail. Tom Spanbauer is, in fact, a most dangerous writer. Open any o f his three novels with an open heart and a willing ear and you just might have your life altered. His work barrages you like a pyroclastic flow— battering and burning like the first time you read Kurt Vonnegut or Carson McCullers or Carlos Casteneda. He is an indigenous writer— origi nal to the ground he covers, authentic in memory. Spanbauer writes about dangerous things— astrologically speaking, Fighth House issues like death, sex, taboo and the exchange of power. Few have the moxie to take on these topics with such frank intensity and lack of sentimentality as he does. No one else does it as beautifully and personally as he. Simultaneously eloquent and perverse, Spanbauer creates a personal form of sto rytelling that breaks any mold to which one wishes to assign him. Comparisons ultimately fail. W e’ve waited 10 years for this novel to come to press. It was damn well worth the wait. And now the only thing left to say is...encore, encore. — Glenn Williams and treatment STD screen HIV testing . or withoutyiames A/B vaccination M ul t no m a h C ounty H D ealth 8601 SW Tervvilliger Blvd. (next to the Chevron station) 5 0 3 . 977.6545 e p a r t m e n t 426 SW Stark, 6th Floor • ( 5 0 3 ) 9 8 8 . 3 7 0 0 T IE COMMUNITY'S • N ew purchase • 100% equity loans • Pre-qualification by phone or fax • Refinance/cash out • Pre-approved loans • Residential, com m ercial & investm ent property • A ppointm ents at your convenience Office 503 . 297.9900 Evenings / W eekends 503 . 780.1561 Toll Free 1 . 877 . 826.9900 Email colleenw@tntgadvocates.com www.mtgadvocates.com ,,T, ., I mavailable when you are! 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