McManus wrote Outdoor Life’s humor column for nearly three decades, but the magazine terminated his contract, and according to McManus, it did so for budget reasons:

Being among the most highly paid contributors apparently factored into the editor’s decision to terminate McManus, a top name in outdoor humor across the country. The top-selling writer has more than two million of his 18 books in print.

“The magazines are just running out of cash,” he said last week. “We parted on good terms.”

Our question is this; is this a signe the outdoor magazines are really feeling the pinch of a bad economy and an ongoing shift to Internet properties, or was McManus simply past his expiration date?

We’ll keep our eyes peeled for signs of the Outdoor Magazine Apocalypse, but in the meantime, I’ll say this: McManus’ humor has been labeled by some as hokey, but I got a kick out of it, and will probably never forget McManu’s gold-plated image of an unconscious deer waking up and pedaling his youthful character’s bicycle down a mountain.

That’s priceless shit.

The larger picture? Outdoor media and fly fishing are reaching a crossroads – many high-profile fly fishing “celebrities” and other leading names are aging towards some kind of retirement (ahem).

Because nature hates a vacuum, new faces will likely take their place, though it’s unclear who those new faces might be (though I have a few ideas, and not all of them make me happy).

Agree? Disagree?

See you in philosophical media discussions, Tom Chandler.

fly fishing, fishing, patrick mcmanus, fly fishing media

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His latest book — Kerplunk!– is more of the same, and McManus fans will no doubt be pleased by that.

His earlier essays chronicled his adventures as a young man, and while they were clearly fiction, they contained enough real world stuff that you knew he was writing from an autobiographical perspective.

McManus’ best humor is based on his mastery of the “unintended consequence” — where a simple, slightly skewed idea spirals out of control.

Disaster is the inevitable result, but this being humorous fiction, nobody gets hurt (too badly).

Some of his essays stay with me to this day; I remember reading his “The Deer on the Bicycle” story (about deer hunting as a kid, using a bicycle as transportation) and not being able to contain my laughter (in science class… yikes).

While his latest book — Kerplunk!– might not be his sharpest work, there is still plenty to smile about.

“Uh-Oh!” (and other things guides shouldn’t say) not only made me laugh, but made me think of the chilling phrases I’ve heard from guides along the way (“Uh, you seen the anchor?”).

Kerplunk delves into McManus’ modern-day exploits in the Pacific Northwest (mostly as an adult), focusing mainly on fishing and hunting trips that — trust me — you won’t want to duplicate.

Those who have never read his largely self-effacing outdoor humor essays might also want to read his earlier books, but Kerplunk!is a solid addition to his bibliography.

See you in the bookshelves, Tom Chandler.

Click to buy a copy of Kerplunk!

Technorati Tags: kerplunk,patrick mcmanus,book review,humor,outdoor humor

Because we’re all about high-tech here at the Underground, I found a Random Number Generator that uses atmospheric “noise” to generate truly random numbers.

This impressively scientific process (always nice to see the Internet fully employed in the service of mankind) resulted in the integer “9″ — a lucky number indeed for book winner “Ethan” (who should contact me to receive his book).

Let the revelry begin!

More wildly valuable giveaways coming soon. See you at the freebie counter, Tom Chandler.

It’s the latest book by outdoor humorist Patrick McManus, whose hilarious essays about his hunting and fishing misadventures killed me when I read them in high school.

The rules are simple: post a comment here about the outdoor writer who first made an impression on you. We pick the winner at random based on the comment number (your first comment counts). You win, and everyone weeps bitterly. (Life is hard.)

So get your entry in by Midnight Saturday.

See you giving away the free schwag, Tom Chandler.