Author Gary Schanbacher
Gary Schanbacher was born in Indiana, raised in Virginia, and lives in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains outside Denver, Colorado. He was educated at Randolph-Macon College, Old Dominion University, and the University of Colorado, where he earned his PhD in Economics.
Books
The Waterman
This collection of closely linked stories follows the journey of Clayton Royster, a waterman living in the fictional coastal town of Sand Point, Virginia. Since childhood in the 1940s, he’s plied the local waters, crabbing in the estuaries, and fishing the open waters of the sea. But when Loretta Pine, the teenage wife of a much older man, comes to town, things change. With powerful and salty prose, Gary Schanbacher shows how the decisions we make reverberate through the decades of our lives and affect not only our destiny but also the destinies of those around us.
Reviews
A moving testament to what fulfillment can mean, what regret can engender, how simple desire can tangle a life.
A gorgeous collection populated with memorable, original characters.
Gary Schanbacher performs a miraculous feat, riding the fierce wave of naturalism to gracefully land in the sands of community.
The Waterman has a spare, crystalline beauty to it, much like the ocean on a clear day. It’s an incredible book.
Gary Schanbacher’s vivid imagery takes the reader deep into his main character’s journey.
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Crossing Purgatory
Set against the backdrop of the Great Plains during the years just preceding the Civil War, Crossing Purgatory deals with questions of unprincipled ambition, guilt, and the price one man is willing to pay for atonement. Beautifully scripted, spare and powerful, this is a story of relationships, of human frailties, and, ultimately, of redemption.
Reviews
This striking tale, a literary western..(is a) visceral and triumphant saga of the Old West.
Schanbacher is a gifted writer whose prose is always elegant, whether describing the land, a winter storm, or the inner life of his characters. This is an intense and emotionally stirring saga.
This striking tale, a literary western..(is a) visceral and triumphant saga of the Old West.
A beautiful, lyrical experience memorable for its timeless evocation of human struggle at the fringes of civilization.
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Available at :
Crossing Purgatory
Set against the backdrop of the Great Plains during the years just preceding the Civil War, Crossing Purgatory deals with questions of unprincipled ambition, guilt, and the price one man is willing to pay for atonement. Beautifully scripted, spare and powerful, this is a story of relationships, of human frailties, and, ultimately, of redemption.
Reviews
This striking tale, a literary western..(is a) visceral and triumphant saga of the Old West.
Schanbacher is a gifted writer whose prose is always elegant, whether describing the land, a winter storm, or the inner life of his characters. This is an intense and emotionally stirring saga.
This striking tale, a literary western..(is a) visceral and triumphant saga of the Old West.
A beautiful, lyrical experience memorable for its timeless evocation of human struggle at the fringes of civilization.
Previous
Next
Available at :
Awards
2013 Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction
2014 Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Western Traditional Novel
Awards
2013 Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction
2014 Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Western Traditional Novel
Migration Patterns
This beautifully drawn collection of stories features characters living in or touched by the American West. Young and old, with heartbreaking pasts and uncertain futures, they cope with migration in all of its nuances—a young crab fisherman who exiles himself from the life he desires; an aging flower child who experiences enlightenment while waiting in the express checkout line; a veterinarian watching birds fall mysteriously from the sky; an old man seeing his life come full circle in the garden harvest. Spare, yet emotionally engaging, Migration Patterns is an exploration of the physical and spiritual aspects of moving on in life.
Reviews
Introspective and soul searching, but not self-indulgent, the selections feel timeless.
Schanbacher’s unflinching prose is also lyrical. With the accuracy of a laser, it lays bare the deepest emotions of the human heart.
Schanbacher writes beautifully, but not in a showy way. He builds up characters and landscapes through simple, precise detail.
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Awards
2008 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award Honorable Mention
Colorado Book Award, Fiction
High Plains First Book Award
Eric Hoffer Book Award, General Fiction
Independent Publisher Book Awards, Bronze Medal
2008 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award Honorable Mention
Colorado Book Award,
Fiction
High Plains First Book
Award
Eric Hoffer Book Award, General Fiction
Independent Publisher Book Awards, Bronze Medal
More About The Author
Gary Schanbacher was born in Indiana, raised in Virginia, and lives in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains outside Denver, Colorado. He was educated at Randolph-Macon College, Old Dominion University, and the University of Colorado, where he earned his PhD in Economics.
His short story collection, Migration Patterns, received a PEN/Hemingway Honorable Mention for “distinguished first works of fiction,” and won the Colorado Book Award, the High Plains First Book Award, and the Eric Hoffer General Fiction Award. His novel, Crossing Purgatory, from Pegasus Books, is called an, “intense and emotionally stirring saga,” in a starred review from Booklist. He has been a Hemingway Fellow at Ucross Foundation, served many years on the board of directors of Lighthouse Writers Workshop, a nationally recognized non-profit writing center, and was a founding partner of The Writers Block, a writing community in Denver. To contact Gary Schanbacher or to schedule an event:
garyschanbacher@gmail.comSend Gary a Message
Give me a couple of days to get back to you.