227:, describes the novel as "a sprawling tragicomedy set in a gold-rush town called Excellent, Idaho. Shed, who is definitely bisexual and most likely mixed race, shares time, beds, and whiskey bottles with a pair of loving, flamboyant prostitutes and a soulful rancher who might be his father. The book is equal parts bizarre Bildungsroman, raucous picaresque, and hard-driving wild-West yarn." In keeping with the thread of autobiography that runs through his novels "by the time his first novel was published... in 1988, Spanbauer had already descended into Shed's twisted world, where morality, sexuality, and race are gigantic question marks," and he admits to going to "a very, very dark place" while writing
285:"A clumsier writer would clutter up a story about a gay man simultaneously in love with a "straight" guy and a woman with denial and angst; Spanbauer simply unpacks imagery, events, and dialogue without judgment, allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions. If anything, I Loved You More provides an empathic view of bisexual relationships as the most natural in the world, perhaps the most generous expression of love and shared strength for the survival of humanity."
178:"There's something very troubling inside me, something that won't let me go. It's tossing me about and I am in fear and I am helpless. When I finally sit down to look at this thing that scares me, I make myself a deal to tell the truth no matter what. I write one paragraph and my narrator breaks the deal and begins to lie. There are no rules except that I can't forsake my original intention. To find that hidden thing driving me nuts."
115:"It is a terrifying thing to bring your inner life out of the closet and read it aloud to a group... Because I encourage excellence, and each of us has our own excellent, and excellence only comes with not being afraid of who you are. To learn to speak your truth honestly with a clear voice takes lots of practice, and every trick in the book to keep you going down the arduous, cruel, lonely, glorious path of a writer."
257:"This coming-of-age story charts teenager Rigby John Klusener's hilarious and poignantly painful experiences in a small Idaho farming town before his flight for San Francisco in 1967. If Tom Spanbauer's too-choppy succinctness and propensity for using four-letter cusswords as entire paragraphs initially feel awkward,
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eventually settles into a comforting rhythm and warmhearted intimacy. And the author's narrative choice has purpose, vividly reflecting Rigby's shame for playing dress-up, rage at his strict
Catholic family, and confusion over a nonsexual relationship with his girlfriend. The emotional complexity of
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is so finely crafted, Spanbauer's characters so true to life, the New York City he remembers from the early days of the plague so exactly captured in its "unrelenting" mess and glory, you'll think you've been reading a modernist classic by the time you're through, rather than the latest entry in an
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follows Will Parker from the
Northwest to New York, where the specter of AIDS looms large. Salon Magazine's Peter Kurth reminds the reader that Spanbauer's "fiction, while riding on conventional coming-of-age, coming-to-terms, coming-out plots, is unlike any you've read or are likely to read before
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as "a family drama with a pitch perfect crescendo." The Los
Angeles Times stated that "in his promising but uneven first novel, a coming-of-age story set in the early 50s, Tom Spanbauer writes convincingly as a teen-age boy bewildered by events that destroy his family's rural life."
100:, and has stated on his website that his work also addresses "how we make a family for ourselves in order to surmount the limitations of the families into which we are born." Spanbauer's childhood in Idaho influences his writing. He attended
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Dangerous
Writing focuses on a minimalistic style and "writing from the body," the act of overcoming fear to write painful personal truths. According to Spanbauer, approximately forty of his students have published memoirs and novels.
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is the first of
Spanbauer's novels to address his personal struggle coping with HIV and AIDS, as well as male bisexuality, through the looping narrative of main character Ben Grunewald. Lambda Literary Foundation gave
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returns to the bildungsroman arcs of earlier
Spanbauer novels, opening as young Rigby John leaves his small town behind for San Francisco. Entertainment Weekly favored the novel, writing this review:
208:, Spanbauer's first novel, young Jake Weber witnesses the murder of a Native American woman and is forced to reevaluate the community he was raised in. This coming of age story was hailed by
72:(born 1946) is an American writer whose work often explores issues of sexuality, race, and the ties that bind disparate people together. Raised in Idaho, Spanbauer has lived in
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Spanbauer's novels are written in first person and connected to the author's personal life; in an interview with Judy Reeves for San Diego
Writers, Ink], Spanbauer said:
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hopscotches back and forth from Idaho to New York, San
Francisco, and Portland, Oregon, all places where Spanbauer has lived and worked.
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has been praised for its "strikingly beautiful writing… even the one climactic moment of violence is tender and dreamlike."
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Spanbauer is the creator of the concept of dangerous writing, a technique he teaches with the philosophy outlined below:
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Rigby's entertaining arc only makes one yearn to read about the San
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artificial, post-post genre." Publishers Weekly called it "a big, brazen, histrionic work of fiction."
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https://web.archive.org/web/20131103053825/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/spanbauer_t.html
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Although criticized from some corners as following a commonplace plot,
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Encyclopedia of
Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States
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this epidemic ends. Yes, AIDS provides the thematic backdrop of
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786:, Volume 2, ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. Greenwood Press, 2009.
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108:. He also was a member of the Peace Corps in Kenya.
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with an MFA in Fiction and has written five novels.
342:David Bergman, 'Do We Need A Gay Literature?,' in
96:writer, Spanbauer has explored issues of race and
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281:a positive review, closing with this statement:
840:Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction winners
810:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
625:"In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer"
601:"In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer"
193:take place in his home state of Idaho. With
462:"Tom Spanbauer interviewed by Judy Reeves"
76:and across the United States. He lives in
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775:Wexelbaum, Rachel. "Dangerous Writing."
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345:The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide
229:The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
217:The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
183:The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
139:The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
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782:Wexelbaum, Rachel. "Tom Spanbauer."
779:, Spring/Summer 2008, Issue 1/2, 44.
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730:"I Loved You More by Tom Spanbauer"
678:Ness, Patrick (22 September 2007).
522:Solomon, Charles (13 August 1989).
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870:21st-century American male writers
860:20th-century American male writers
728:Wexelbaum, Rachel (7 April 2014).
705:"Now is the Hour by Tom Spanbauer"
574:Dubner, Stephen (19 August 1991).
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219:was a finalist for the 1992
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503:"Praise for Faraway Places"
441:"Tom Spanbauer Author Page"
324:"Tom Spanbauer's New Novel"
304:"Tom Spanbauer Author Page"
32:1946 (age 77–78)
16:American writer (born 1946)
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576:"Tales from the Dark Side"
551:"Tales from the Dark Side"
244:In the City of Shy Hunters
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147:In The City Of Shy Hunters
359:"Tom Spanbauer Biography"
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835:American LGBT novelists
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855:LGBT people from Idaho
380:"Being Queer in Idaho"
102:Idaho State University
800:Novelists from Oregon
680:"Hooray for Lesbians"
348:, Jan-Feb 2010, p. 25
850:Novelists from Idaho
805:American gay writers
654:Entertainment Weekly
221:Stonewall Book Award
766:at The Stranger.com
660:on January 25, 2008
82:Columbia University
54:Columbia University
777:Lambda Book Report
629:Publishers Weekly
580:New York Magazine
555:New York Magazine
529:Los Angeles Times
225:New York Magazine
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63:1989–present
865:1946 births
210:A. M. Homes
181:His novels
794:Categories
762:Review of
739:2014-04-19
714:2013-11-18
689:2013-11-18
664:2013-11-18
634:2013-11-18
610:2013-11-18
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446:2013-11-06
426:2013-11-06
405:2013-11-06
400:"Teaching"
385:2013-11-06
364:2013-11-06
329:2013-11-06
309:2013-11-06
290:References
42:Occupation
88:Biography
106:Columbia
189:, and
162:(2014)
156:(2007)
150:(2001)
142:(1991)
134:(1989)
45:Author
37:, U.S.
605:Salon
124:Works
92:As a
74:Kenya
734:List
709:List
104:and
29:Born
204:In
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