This poetic novel of love, sex and the journey in search of both is nothing short of brilliant. The writing In the City of Shy Hunters is sparkling and the story captivating. Set against the stark urban landscapes of Manhattan in the 1980s, the novel offers a vivid portrait of New York's East Village culture of junkies and drag queens on the verge of its collapse, just as AIDS is starting to decimate the city's gay population. In the City of Shy Hunters opens in 1983, when William Parker, moves from Jackson Hole to Manhattan, desperate to escape the provincialism of the small western towns in which he has spent his entire life. Impotent, afflicted with a stutter, and struggling with his sexuality, Will is shy and insecure. In New York he finds himself surrounded for the first time by people who understand and celebrate his quirks and flaws. As he slowly learns to accept himself, he becomes wrapped up in a love affair with a volatile, six-foot-five African-American drag queen and performance artist named Rose. But even as he grows close to Rose and the others, Will must watch as they are taken from him as AIDS grows from a rumor into a full-scale epidemic. Meanwhile, tension is also mounting between the police and the squatters in Tompkins Square Park -- until a vicious riot breaks out, providing Will with an opportunity for a heroic, transcendent act. In the City of Shy Hunters is a beautiful and fiery novel.
From the prologue:
There's a couple suicides, a couple sacrifices, a betrayal. An ethical act. A famous movie star. An ancient Indian legend. A journey into the underworld to find a lost lover. There's a greedy king and his evil queen. Vicious Totalitarian assholes. A virus - an epidemic - thousands of dead. A hero on a white stallion. It's a tale lip-synced by a drag queen. So the ending is happy, sort-of. Torch songs forever. It's all drag.
"This extra lovely novel should enchant Spanbauer's fans and win him more." Whitney Scott in Booklist
