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Christian Dittus
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THE SASQUATCH HUNTER'S ALMANAC

Sharma Shields

a dark, fantastical, multi-generational tale about a family whose patriarch is consumed by the hunt for the mythical, elusive sasquatch he encountered in his youth
Eli Roebuck was nine years old when his mother walked off into the woods with "Mr. Krantz," a large, strange, hairy man who may or may not be a sasquatch. What Eli knows for certain is that his mother went willingly, leaving her only son behind. For the rest of his life, Eli is obsessed with the hunt for the bizarre creature his mother chose over him, and we watch it affect every relationship he has in his long life--with his father, with both of his wives, his children, grandchildren, and colleagues. We follow all of the Roebuck family members, witnessing through each of them the painful, isolating effects of Eli's maniacal hunt, and find that each Roebuck is battling a monster of his or her own, sometimes literally. The magical world Shields has created is one of unicorns and lake monsters, ghosts and reincarnations, tricksters and hexes. At times charming, as when young Eli meets the eccentric, extraordinary Mr. Krantz, and downright horrifying at others, The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac is boldly imaginative throughout, and proves to be a devastatingly real portrait of the demons that we as human beings all face.

Sharma Shields is the author of a short story collection, FAVORITE MONSTER. Her short fiction has appeared in Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Fugue, Sonora Review and has garnered such awards as the Autumn House Fiction Prize, the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor, a Grant for Artist Projects from Artist Trust, and the A.B. Guthrie Award for Outstanding Prose. She received her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Washington and her MFA from the University of Montana. Sharma has worked in independent bookstores and public libraries throughout Washington State.
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Published 2015-01-01 by Henry Holt

Comments

Magic realism abounds in this coming-of-age story about battling monsters, real and symbolic. (20 Books We'll Read in 2015) Read more...

Always a halfstep ahead of the reader, Sharma Shields dares us to follow her through the twisted mazes of her dark rides, tantalizing us with just enough shocks so that when we come out the other side, we immediately want to go again. - Stewart O'Nan (about Shields' story collection Favorite Monster)

Radio interview/reading with Sharma Shields, Jess Walter, and Sherman Alexie Read more...

A sparkling first novel. Eli's quest is not unlike Ahab's, and Shields writes with piercing insight about the monsters that keep us from connecting with one another in this funny and wise first novel.

Imagine a mash up of Moby-Dick and Kakfa's Metamorphosis (with a hearty dash of Twin Peaks thrown in), and you'll begin to get an idea of what Shields' ambitious tale of disenchantment sets out to do.

By all rights, these comic tales, with their cyclopes and serial killers, werewolves and writers, medusas and managers, ought to collapse into lighthearted whimsy. Instead they unfold into objects of extraordinary beauty and darkness, rendered in prose that can turn on a dime from the deadpan to the profound. - J. Robert Lennon (about Shields' story collection Favorite Monster)

Sharma Shields' FAVORITE MONSTER is a deliciously bent collection of short stories–funny, disturbing and surprisingly profound. - Jess Walter

The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac is deeply strange and strangely moving. Like Kafka's The Metamorphosis, it demands and rewards surrender. - Richard Russo

Television rights optioned by Legendary Pictures

I've never read a stranger and more beautiful meditation on familial love and guilt than this novel. Plus, baby-snatching eagles, sea monsters, sasquatches, unicorns, octopus grandmas, and ghosts. Sharma Shields is my favorite weirdo in American letters. - J. Robert Lennon