INow Is the Hour/I is the first major novel by Tom Spanbauer since IThe Man Who Fell in/I ILove with the Moon/I in 1991. That novel became a cult classic; this one is destined to do the same. The year is 1967 and Rigby John Klusener, seventeen years old and finally leaving his home and family in Pocatello, Idaho, is on the highway with his thumb out and a flower behind his ear, headed for San Francisco. INow Is the Hour/I is the story of how Rigby John got to this point. It traces his gradual emancipation from the repressions of a strictly religious farming family and from the small-minded, bigoted community in which he has grown up in a time of explosive cultural change. Transforming this familiar journey from IAmerican Graffiti/I to IOn the Road/I into something rich and strange and hilarious is the persona of Rigby John himself. Intimately in touch with his fears, hesitantly awaking to his own sexuality, and palpably open to lifes mysteries, Rigby John is utterly real and totally unforgettable. INow Is the Hour/I is a triumphant return by one of Americas finest novelists.