The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon is an American epic of the old West for our own times—a novel huge in its imaginative scope and daring in its themes. The narrator is Shed, or Duivichi-un-Dua, a half-breed bisexual boy who makes his living at the Indian Head Hotel in the little turn-of-the-century town of Excellent, Idaho. The imperious Ida Richilieu is Shed's employer, the town's mayor, and the mistress and owner of this outrageously pink whorehouse. Together with the beautiful prostitute Alma Hatch, and the philosophical, green-eyed, half-crazy cowboy Dellwood Barker, this collection of misfits and outcasts make up the core of Shed's eccentric family. And although laced with the ugliness and cruelty of the frontier West—Shed is raped by the same man who then murders the woman he thinks is his mother, and the Mormon townspeople bring a fiery end to Ida's raucous way of life—the love and acceptance that tie this family together provide the true heart of this novel. 
The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon is a beautifully told, mythic tale that is as well a profound meditation on sexuality, race and man's relationship to himself and the natural world.

The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon

Literature & Fiction

Spanbauer, Tom

Contemporary

Harper-perennial

During a fateful summer, 13-year-old Jake Weber witnesses the brutal murder of a Native American woman by the town banker. Jake's parents forbid him to speak of the killing or name its perpetrator, even as the woman's African American lover stands falsely accused. The crime and what follows it forever alter Jake's view of his parents and the world around him. Faraway Places won widespread praise for its vivid narrative and incantatory style, and Spanbauer displays singular skill in inhabiting the mind of a troubled adolescent boy.

Faraway Places

United States

Harpercollins

A tale of blood ties, budding friendship, coming of age, and revenge, set in Idaho in the early 1950s, focuses on thirteen-year-old Jacob Weber, whose eyes are opened to the diverse ways of life, including murder

G.P.Putnam's Sons

The year is 1967, and Rigby John Klusener, seventeen years old and finally leaving his home and family in Pocatello, Idaho, is on the highway with his thumb out and a flower behind his ear, headed for San Francisco. Now Is the Hour is the wondrous story of how Rigby John got to this point. It traces his gradual emancipation from the repressions of a strictly religious farming family and from the small-minded, bigoted community in which he has grown up during a time of explosive cultural change. Transforming this familiar journey from American Graffiti to On the Road into something rich and strange and hilarious is the persona of Rigby John himself. Intimately in touch with his fears, hesitantly awakening to his own sexuality, and palpably open to life's mysteries, Rigby John is a protagonist whom readers will fall in love with, root for, and be moved by. Now Is the Hour is a powerful, vastly entertaining story of self-awakening, of the complex bonds of family, and ultimately of America during a period of tremendous upheaval.

Now Is the Hour

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

Rigby John Klusener is hitchhiking to San Francisco. The year is 1967, the town is Pocatello, Idaho. Fresh out of high school, Rigby John is leaving behind his bohemian ex-girlfriend, his prayerful mother, his distant father, and the hay dust of his harsh farm town Catholic upbringing. As he stands by the side of the road desperately waiting for that one ride out, he reflects on the events that brought him there: the discovery of love, friendship, literature, and all the small joys that set him free. At once a tale of sexual awakening, racial enlightenment, and personal epiphany, Now Is the Hour is the disarming and sweetly winning story of one unforgettable teenager who dares to hope for a different life.

Now Is The Hour

Humor & Satire

Shed is a half-breed bisexual boy who earns his keep at Ida Richilieu's outrageously pink whorehouse in the tiny turn- of- the- century town of Excellent, Idaho. Leaving behind the nights of drinking, talking and smoking opium stardust with his eccentric family, Shed sets off alone in search of the meaning of his Indian name and in search of himself.Along the way he falls in love with Dellwood Barker, a man who talks to the moon and who may be Shed's father. But it is not until Shed is back in Excellent and Isa has lost her legs and Dellwood his mind, that he attains the wisdom for which he is searching.

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

Vintage

Eager to escape the provincialism of the West, William Parker, a shy, impotent stutterer who is insecure about himself and his sexuality, leaves Jackson Hole for Manhattan, where he finds himself surrounded by people who understand him and becomes embroiled in a love affair with an African-American drag queen, but the AIDS epidemic could destroy everything. 30,000 first printing.

In the City of Shy Hunters: A Novel

Grove Pr

Set against the harsh reality of an unforgiving landscape and culture, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon provides a vision of the Old West unlike anything seen before. The narrator, Shed, is one of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction: a half-Indian bisexual boy who lives and works at the Indian Head Hotel in the tiny town of Excellent, Idaho. It's the turn of the century, and the hotel carries on a prosperous business as the town's brothel. The eccentric characters working in the hotel provide Shed with a surrogate family, yet he finds in himself a growing need to learn the meaning of his Indian name, Duivichi-un-Dua, given to him by his mother, who was murdered when he was twelve. Setting off alone across the haunting plains, Shed goes in search of an identity among his true people, encountering a rich pageant of extraordinary characters along the way. Although he learns a great deal about the mysteries and traditions of his Indian heritage, it is not until Shed returns to Excellent and witnesses a series of brutal tragedies that he attains the wisdom that infuses this exceptional and captivating book.

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon: A Novel

GROVE PRESS

Tom Spanbauer is one of the most enchanting writers in America today, and In the City of Shy Hunters, his first novel in ten years, is a "rich and colorful" portrait of New York in the 1980s, told with "raw power" (David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle). Shy, afflicted with a stutter, and struggling with his sexuality, Will Parker comes to New York to escape the provincial western towns where he grew up. In New York, he finds himself surrounded for the first time by people who understand and celebrate his quirks and flaws. He also begins an unforgettable love affair with a volatile, six-foot-five African-American drag queen and performance artist named Rose. But even as he is falling in love with Rose and growing into himself, Will must watch as AIDS escalates from a rumor into a devastating tragedy. When a vicious riot erupts in a local park, Will seizes the chance to repay the city for all it has taught him, in a climax that will leave readers shaken, fulfilled, and changed. "In the City of Shy Hunters is so finely crafted ... you'll think you've been reading a modernist classic." -- Peter Kurth, Salon.com "Spanbauer's genius resides even in the asides ... teas[ing] out the genuine complexity of human love." -- Thomas McGonigle, The Washington Post Book World "Ambitious and compelling ... a mixture of the ghastly, the hilarious, and the curiously touching." -- John Hartl, The Seattle Times "In the City of Shy Hunters has the earmarks of a literary landmark ... Its importance and originality are unmistakable." -- Laura Demanski, The Baltimore Sun

In the City of Shy Hunters

The plot twists around the questions of humanity in a comic contemporary novel that portrays the trials of Shed, a half-breed, bisexual boy who works at a Victorian whorehouse in the old West

The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon: A Novel

Atlantic Monthly Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Spanbauer, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Spanbauer, Tom

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Spanbauer, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon

Faraway Places

Faraway Places

Now Is the Hour

Now Is The Hour

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

In the City of Shy Hunters: A Novel

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon: A Novel

In the City of Shy Hunters

The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon: A Novel