Occupation Columnist Name Patrick McManus Nationality American Role Writer | Subject Humor, outdoors Spouse Darlene McManus (m. 1954) Children Four daughters | |
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Born August 25, 1933 (age 90)
Sandpoint, Idaho ( 1933-08-25 ) Education Washington State University Books A fine and pleasant misery, Never Sniff A Gift Fish, They Shoot Canoes - Don't The, The Grasshopper Trap, The Night the Bear Ate Goom | ||
Patrick Francis McManus (born August 25, 1933) is an American humor writer, who primarily writes about the outdoors. A humor columnist for Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, and other magazines, his columns and stories have been collected in several books, beginning with A Fine and Pleasant Misery (1978) up through The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories (2012).
Contents
Biography
McManus was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho. His father, who served in the 42nd ("Rainbow") Division under Douglas MacArthur during World War I, died when Patrick was six. Although his mother later remarried, for the most part he was raised by his mother, grandmother, and older sister Patricia McManus Gass (referred to in his childhood stories as "the Troll"). After high school, McManus worked construction and other such jobs until he had saved enough money to attend Washington State College, now Washington State University. He is married to Darlene "Bun" McManus and has four daughters.
Works
McManus wrote mostly about his outdoor adventures from his childhood with semi-fictional characters such as his old woodsman mentor Rancid Crabtree and his childhood friends. The stories' humor is mostly based on elaborate exaggerations of his surreal adventures in the outdoors. McManus's writing is characterized by a dry wit that has drawn comparisons to Mark Twain and Robert Benchley.
As of 2014, his most recent work is Circles in the Snow, the sixth in a series of mystery novels starring the character Sheriff Bo Tully. Other departures from his column-collections include Kid Camping From Aaaaiii! To Zip (1979, an alphabetized, and partially serious, listing of useful tips and concepts for beginning campers); Whatchagot Stew (1989, both a cookbook and a less-fictionalized memoir of his childhood); and The Deer On A Bicycle (2000, a discussion of the art of humor writing.) It was announced on McManus's official website that Circles would be the last Bo Tully mystery, and that the author now considers himself retired.
Pat McManus has also written 5 separate, distinct one-man comedies for his indentured actor, Tim Behrens. Tim has toured these shows to 21 states and two provinces in more than 1600 performances since 1992. They are: A Fine and Pleasant Misery; McManus In Love; Pot Luck; Poor Again...Dagnabbit!; and Scrambled McManus. For complete descriptions, reviews, and booking information, go to www.mcmanusplays.com.
In October 2011, an index of his stories and novels titled "Where's the One About the Bobcat?" was compiled by Lauren Ball, making it easy for readers to find their favorite stories.
Recurring elements
McManus' shorter works include a recurring cast of fictitious characters and running jokes, both from the stories set in his childhood and as an adult. The foremost among the childhood stories is his "mentor" Rancid Crabtree, a colorful woodsman who lives near Pat's childhood home, who doesn't bathe because he believes that soap and water would wash off his 'crust', which would let germs in. Other recurring characters are his childhood best friend, 'Crazy Eddie' Muldoon, his rough-and-tumble mutt appropriately named Strange, and his adulthood friends, the goofy and dim-witted Retch Sweeney, his straitlaced neighbor, Alphonse 'Al' Finley, and his rich friend Fenton Quagmire. Throughout the majority of the stories is a recurring theme of McManus's lifelong love of hunting and fishing—which is mostly an excuse to just enjoy the outdoors, often in good company. Most of his friends likewise enjoy hunting and fishing, even if they aren't particularly good at it. McManus, in his stories, has a certain amount of disgruntlement for people who take great pleasure in the minutiae of various sports (such as encyclopediac knowledge of firearms calibers and ballistics). He refers to firearms enthusiasts as 'gun nuts' and treats their excited sharing of the fine points of ballistic arcs and grain sizes as something to be endured to get on a good hunting trip.
Some of the elements show up in his longer works, and are even worked into the plots. Bo Tully, the protagonist of the Bo Tully Mysteries, shares McManus' views about firearms. In the course of his job as Sheriff and his hobbies, Tully uses guns, knows about guns, but isn't particularly excited by them or even sentimental towards them. He is, however, aware that many people are. This even serves as plot point in one of the Bo Tully mysteries.