With Mcmanus, We All Laugh

No one has accused Pat McManus of being an expert hunter, angler or camper, even though these pastimes have been his bread and butter for nearly 20 years.

The Spokane author is the master of insights, not open sights.

So what if McManus can’t find his way out of a forest. He’s sold 4 million books because he has found the common thread of humor in virtually every outdoor pursuit.

Pat has taken his share of ribbing for missed shots, tangled lines and smoky campfires.

But when we laugh at McManus, we’re laughing at ourselves.

At a typical McManus appearance, you’d likely see doctors, farmers, lawyers, loggers, housewives, hunters and kids all in the same line waiting to get their books signed.

He writes with an instinct that leads you to believe he’s been in a predicament with every one of them.

The author is back in Spokane this week, recuperating from the first leg of an 80-town tour to publicize the recent release of his 13th book, “Into the Twighlight, Endlessly Grousing” (Simon & Schuster, $20).

McManus will be in Coeur d’Alene tonight, 6-7 p.m., for the Writer’s Harvest National Reading Benefit at Book & Game Co. in the Silver Lake Mall. (Bring nonperishable food items for donation to area food banks.)

“So far, I’ve been in Denver, Minneapolis, Kansas City - and I spent nearly two weeks in Texas, which is like a year anywhere else,” he said Tuesday.

When his first book came out in the late ‘70s, the McManus promotion tour ranged from one end of Riverside to the other, he said. “When the second book came out, I expanded the tour to North Idaho.”

A national tour finally developed with his third book. And ever since he made the New York Times Bestsellers list, the local boy has made good.

The problem with book tours is that there’s no time scheduled for fishing.

“I just have to listen to a lot of fish stories,” he said.

Choice essays from his new book include “The Boy” and the story which provides the title for the book. Both stories are rich not just for the written words, but also for what’s between the lines.

“They’re both parodies of (Ernest) Hemingway stories, but I don’t usually mention that because so few people read Hemingway anymore,” he said. “My stories are sort of an inside joke for those who still remember.”

“Into the Twighlight, Endlessly Grousing” involves two old codgers. “A lot of the humor is based on their diminishing faculties,” McManus said. Pausing a moment, he continued, “That’s a subject that’s getting less humorous to me.”

At 64, McManus continues to write magazine articles and screenplays, plus scripts for the one-man plays based on his stories and performed by Spokane actor Tim Behrens.

The stage performance has traveled coast to coast, reeling in the audience already captured by his books.

Given that humor and irony has no boundaries, it’s not surprising that McManus is read overseas.

“Two books have been translated into German,” he said. “And believe it or not, one has been published in Japanese,” he added, wondering out loud how some of his humor translates into a language known for curious interpretations of English.

Most outdoors enthusiasts have read about deer hunters and mushroom hunters. Every English teacher will appreciate the story in the new book featuring the avid hunter.

The story “Sam Spud and The Case of the Maltese Fly,” is an angling take-off on Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon.”

Can you picture Humphrey Bogart’s character Sam Spade twisted into McManus’s Sam Spud?

The new book follows the McManus tradition of contributions to American psychology and sociology. In one story, for example, he points out that 90 percent of all conversations between friends is based on shared ignorance.

The less we know, the longer we can go on about it.

And he’s not just talking about fish stories.

“I’ve researched and practiced this theory for many years,” McManus said.

The beauty of McManus is that he’s not trying to prove anything. A book by a typical outdoor writer tends to conjure up images of a life in which the hunting, fishing and camping trips never end.

McManus reminds us there’s more to life than playing outdoors, even though we’d like to forget most of it.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

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