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Close to Spider Man
"Close to Spider Man" marks the debut of an exciting new literary a collection of connected stories whose female narrators seek out lives for themselves amidst the lonely, breathtaking landscape of the Yukon. The young women in Ivan Coyote's deeply personal stories are looking to make a break from their circumstances, but the North is in their so is their connections to family, friends, and other women. Like the protagonist in the title story, a waitress whose attempts to help a young co-worker saddled with a lunatic father finds her running across rooftops and climbing ladders; by getting close to Spider Man, she gets closer to freedom. Startling in their intimacy, the stories in "Close to Spider Man" make up a moving scrapbook of what it's like to be a young queer woman in the North, journeys imbued with the colours of a prescient sexuality and an honest heart. Runner-up, Danuta Gleed Award for Short-Fiction Now in its third printing.
93 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
9 people are currently reading
1139 people want to read
About the author
Ivan E. Coyote
14 books720 followersIvan Coyote was born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. An award-winning author of six collections of short stories, one novel, three CD’s, four short films and a renowned performer, Ivan’s first love is live storytelling, and over the last thirteen years they have become an audience favourite at music, poetry, spoken word and writer’s festivals from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
Ivan E. Coyote, die k.d. lang der kanadischen Literatur, stammt aus Whitehorse, Yukon, im äußersten Nordwesten Kanadas. Sie liebt Trucks, kleine Hunde, guten Kaffee, gescheite Frauen, Lederarbeiten, Tischlern, Geschichten erzählen, Angeln, Hockey, Knoten knüpfen, Kochen, auf Bäume klettern und ihren Mittagsschlaf. Heute lebt sie mit ihrer Partnerin in Vancouver. Ivan E. Coyote hat bereits fünf Erzählbände veröffentlicht und mit Als das Cello vom Himmel fiel ihren ersten Roman vorgelegt. Sie liebt es, Geschichten zu erzählen, und hat sich neben ihrem Schreiben auch als »Spoken Word«-Performerin einen Namen gemacht.
Ivan E. Coyote, die k.d. lang der kanadischen Literatur, stammt aus Whitehorse, Yukon, im äußersten Nordwesten Kanadas. Sie liebt Trucks, kleine Hunde, guten Kaffee, gescheite Frauen, Lederarbeiten, Tischlern, Geschichten erzählen, Angeln, Hockey, Knoten knüpfen, Kochen, auf Bäume klettern und ihren Mittagsschlaf. Heute lebt sie mit ihrer Partnerin in Vancouver. Ivan E. Coyote hat bereits fünf Erzählbände veröffentlicht und mit Als das Cello vom Himmel fiel ihren ersten Roman vorgelegt. Sie liebt es, Geschichten zu erzählen, und hat sich neben ihrem Schreiben auch als »Spoken Word«-Performerin einen Namen gemacht.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
August 6, 2020
Average star rating: 4.4/5
Final rating: 4.5/5
Updated full review 8/6/2020:
I absolutely loved this collection. It's a brilliant bit of work that hits all the right notes and retains its relevance as a work of queer fiction 2 decades down the line. If you want to know more about the individual stories and which ones stood out as favorites, here are the notes I took about each of the stories in the collection. I can't wait to read more of Ivan's work, I'm already sensing a new fave.
**STORIES**
She Comes Home a Moth - 4/5
I loved the use of 2nd person as the framing of this story about two kids who grew up in each other's pockets. It was about intimacy and a frightening moment, about the things you remember and what you don't. Very quick but overall stolid, and an excellent introduction to the collection.
Walks Like - 3.5/5
I feel like I'm already getting to know the style and ideas of this collection, which is nice. It's good to see those thematic elements early on. I think this didn't have quite enough page time to work fully, but it functioned well as a story about difference and those who accept it vs those who spurn it.
No Bikini - 4/5
Gender expression is what we make of it - and it does affect our children. From small things, like what we allow them to wear, to big things, like how what they're wearing impacts how the entire world views them. I loved this dreamworld of silence, of letting a group of people believe in your boyhood just to feel free enough to swim.
Three Left Turns - 4.5/5
There is a brilliant bit of capturing the early childhood fear of being queer to this story. It's a story about summer and about girls and boys and plans unlikely and un-achieved, but it's also the blinding terror of "I don't know what this was but I know it isn't right and I'm so, so scared of that".
Sticks and Stones - 2.5/5
I don't feel like I really got this one. It's a story about kids in the 70s secretly doing a dangerous activity and it felt sort of there and gone, trying to say something that it could never really put into words.
The Cat Came Back - 4/5
Oh fuck yeah, I loved this. I love stories about queerness and how it intersects with queer/potentially queer family. This is a cool cross dressing story, a little musing on a moment of being engaged with your body in a new way, and the silent acceptance of a family member. I just vibed with it, that's all I have to say.
Close to Spider Man - 5/5
BIG DUMBASS LESBIAN ENERGY. This felt like a screenplay for a short film, dramatic and silly in just the right ways and full to bursting of one person just thinking that other waitress is NEAT and taking that way too far. I loved this. It was farcical and emotional and super charming. Just. Yes.
Eggcup - 3/5
I liked the shortness of this one, it's a fun little reminiscing of a particular piece of motherly advice and the power those bits of advice have on you. I just felt like the end didn't have the same punch as the rest of the story.
Manifestation - 4/5
Oof, this was a queer force of nature. I love that there are so many possible interpretations of this super short story. It speaks to a questioning of gender and sexuality and presentation all at once. I can't believe how much force is packed into this story that is barely two pages long.
This, That, and The Other Thing - 5/5
This hit about ten times too close to home, I'll be upfront about that. I think there's such a power in ruminating on cooking and the part food has played in your own history of tragedy and joy. I love the combination of food and feelings, probably because they are intertwined for me and for so many others. There are so many gorgeous quotes that take up the story, musings on sadness and how it fades in the body. Like I said, this hit close to home and I think I'm just overwhelmed trying to write about all the things that worked here.
There Goes the Bride - 4.5/5
Fuck, this was so good. I can't get over these stories. This was an extended monologue, an ex-lover giving their best wishes to the new married couple. I think it reminded me a bit of a family I once thought I would be a part of, so it hit close to home. But ultimately I thought it was an inventive and heartfelt look at a strange emotional time. It was queer and relatable. I loved it a lot.
You're Not in Kansas Anymore - 4.5/5
This is, I think, the most clearly self-referential story in the collection. For those unaware, Ivan Coyote is nonbinary and this is a monologue about changing a name that doesn't suit you and never has. It's about the terror of changing a name, and the consistent certainty that at birth someone got it wrong, because that just can't be your name. It's an ill-fitting shoe that must be altered. I think there is a personal ring to this story that makes it work even better, and it was already a brilliant piece of work to begin with.
Red Sock Circle Dance - 4/5
This collection was released in the year 2000 and it is incredible to me how much it still reflects our world. This is a story about Ivan and a young queen, a person who will grow up with nothing but love in the face of strangeness. It's a reflection on how the world has changed, how queer family can be the only reality some kids will know. Ivan has created something truly amazing in this collection and I'm so glad I read it.
Final rating: 4.5/5
Updated full review 8/6/2020:
I absolutely loved this collection. It's a brilliant bit of work that hits all the right notes and retains its relevance as a work of queer fiction 2 decades down the line. If you want to know more about the individual stories and which ones stood out as favorites, here are the notes I took about each of the stories in the collection. I can't wait to read more of Ivan's work, I'm already sensing a new fave.
**STORIES**
She Comes Home a Moth - 4/5
I loved the use of 2nd person as the framing of this story about two kids who grew up in each other's pockets. It was about intimacy and a frightening moment, about the things you remember and what you don't. Very quick but overall stolid, and an excellent introduction to the collection.
Walks Like - 3.5/5
I feel like I'm already getting to know the style and ideas of this collection, which is nice. It's good to see those thematic elements early on. I think this didn't have quite enough page time to work fully, but it functioned well as a story about difference and those who accept it vs those who spurn it.
No Bikini - 4/5
Gender expression is what we make of it - and it does affect our children. From small things, like what we allow them to wear, to big things, like how what they're wearing impacts how the entire world views them. I loved this dreamworld of silence, of letting a group of people believe in your boyhood just to feel free enough to swim.
Three Left Turns - 4.5/5
There is a brilliant bit of capturing the early childhood fear of being queer to this story. It's a story about summer and about girls and boys and plans unlikely and un-achieved, but it's also the blinding terror of "I don't know what this was but I know it isn't right and I'm so, so scared of that".
Sticks and Stones - 2.5/5
I don't feel like I really got this one. It's a story about kids in the 70s secretly doing a dangerous activity and it felt sort of there and gone, trying to say something that it could never really put into words.
The Cat Came Back - 4/5
Oh fuck yeah, I loved this. I love stories about queerness and how it intersects with queer/potentially queer family. This is a cool cross dressing story, a little musing on a moment of being engaged with your body in a new way, and the silent acceptance of a family member. I just vibed with it, that's all I have to say.
Close to Spider Man - 5/5
BIG DUMBASS LESBIAN ENERGY. This felt like a screenplay for a short film, dramatic and silly in just the right ways and full to bursting of one person just thinking that other waitress is NEAT and taking that way too far. I loved this. It was farcical and emotional and super charming. Just. Yes.
Eggcup - 3/5
I liked the shortness of this one, it's a fun little reminiscing of a particular piece of motherly advice and the power those bits of advice have on you. I just felt like the end didn't have the same punch as the rest of the story.
Manifestation - 4/5
Oof, this was a queer force of nature. I love that there are so many possible interpretations of this super short story. It speaks to a questioning of gender and sexuality and presentation all at once. I can't believe how much force is packed into this story that is barely two pages long.
This, That, and The Other Thing - 5/5
This hit about ten times too close to home, I'll be upfront about that. I think there's such a power in ruminating on cooking and the part food has played in your own history of tragedy and joy. I love the combination of food and feelings, probably because they are intertwined for me and for so many others. There are so many gorgeous quotes that take up the story, musings on sadness and how it fades in the body. Like I said, this hit close to home and I think I'm just overwhelmed trying to write about all the things that worked here.
There Goes the Bride - 4.5/5
Fuck, this was so good. I can't get over these stories. This was an extended monologue, an ex-lover giving their best wishes to the new married couple. I think it reminded me a bit of a family I once thought I would be a part of, so it hit close to home. But ultimately I thought it was an inventive and heartfelt look at a strange emotional time. It was queer and relatable. I loved it a lot.
You're Not in Kansas Anymore - 4.5/5
This is, I think, the most clearly self-referential story in the collection. For those unaware, Ivan Coyote is nonbinary and this is a monologue about changing a name that doesn't suit you and never has. It's about the terror of changing a name, and the consistent certainty that at birth someone got it wrong, because that just can't be your name. It's an ill-fitting shoe that must be altered. I think there is a personal ring to this story that makes it work even better, and it was already a brilliant piece of work to begin with.
Red Sock Circle Dance - 4/5
This collection was released in the year 2000 and it is incredible to me how much it still reflects our world. This is a story about Ivan and a young queen, a person who will grow up with nothing but love in the face of strangeness. It's a reflection on how the world has changed, how queer family can be the only reality some kids will know. Ivan has created something truly amazing in this collection and I'm so glad I read it.
March 10, 2016
Ivan E. Coyote is a Canadian author and activist born and raised in the town of Whitehorse, in the northern Canadian territory of Yukon. Close to Spider Man is Coyote's first collection of stories, but those who experience stories of remote hardship, logging and fishing are in for a big surprise, as all of them feature characters who are experimenting with sexuality and trying to find their own, which is not always easy when you're living at the ends of the earth.
The stories themselves are very, very short (often just a few pages long), and play on the traditional ideas of gender and feature female protagonists who refuse to bow down to social expectations of sexuality for various reasons. In No Bikini, for example, a girl refuses to put on a bikini top when going to the pool for swimming lessons, and joins other boys in the pool; she feels exhilarated by not being expected to be afraid of the water, and experiences "six weeks of boyhood, six weeks of bliss" which leave her changed forever. Manifestation is a quick short featuring an accidental dirt mustache, which is a sign of further manifestations to come; in The Cat came Back an uncle catches his niece dressing up in his clothes, and reacts in a way which surprises and empowers her. Also worth mentioning is a two-page long non-story titled Eggcups, which features important information about the proper way to keep eggs in the fridge.
The eponymous story is probably the best one; a young waitress has a secret crush on her coworker, an attractive French Canadian named Sylvia; she does not understand her feelings and does not know how to act on them, but when Sylvia does not show up for work and she hears terrible news regarding her family, she suspects the worst and runs off to help her friend, jumping across rooftops and balconies. It's both amusing and touching and for it alone the collection is worth reading, especially since it will not take more than one afternoon.
The stories themselves are very, very short (often just a few pages long), and play on the traditional ideas of gender and feature female protagonists who refuse to bow down to social expectations of sexuality for various reasons. In No Bikini, for example, a girl refuses to put on a bikini top when going to the pool for swimming lessons, and joins other boys in the pool; she feels exhilarated by not being expected to be afraid of the water, and experiences "six weeks of boyhood, six weeks of bliss" which leave her changed forever. Manifestation is a quick short featuring an accidental dirt mustache, which is a sign of further manifestations to come; in The Cat came Back an uncle catches his niece dressing up in his clothes, and reacts in a way which surprises and empowers her. Also worth mentioning is a two-page long non-story titled Eggcups, which features important information about the proper way to keep eggs in the fridge.
The eponymous story is probably the best one; a young waitress has a secret crush on her coworker, an attractive French Canadian named Sylvia; she does not understand her feelings and does not know how to act on them, but when Sylvia does not show up for work and she hears terrible news regarding her family, she suspects the worst and runs off to help her friend, jumping across rooftops and balconies. It's both amusing and touching and for it alone the collection is worth reading, especially since it will not take more than one afternoon.
June 28, 2014
Brilliant! Teeny-tiny stories with a loose coming-of-age theme, set in the Yukon Territory. These short short stories (most are only a few pages) are clearly and bluntly written. The bleak setting of the Yukon is a wonderful backdrop to these stories of girls and gender and love and childhood and adolescence.
Standouts for me were "No Bikini" in which the small girl narrator joins the boys in swimming class, leaving her bikini top behind, and "Red Sock Circle Dance" in which the narrator pledges her ex-lover's little boy that she will be there for him to celebrate his queerness.
These are short stories in a slim book. I just wish there were more of them.
Standouts for me were "No Bikini" in which the small girl narrator joins the boys in swimming class, leaving her bikini top behind, and "Red Sock Circle Dance" in which the narrator pledges her ex-lover's little boy that she will be there for him to celebrate his queerness.
These are short stories in a slim book. I just wish there were more of them.
November 4, 2016
Great writer
February 1, 2021
Really enjoyed this semi-autobiographical collection. Couldn’t put it down. Love how Ivan captures coming into queerness overtime & the awkwardness of growing up
November 29, 2025
Reading Project: This was the fifth stop in a series of writers who I haven't read before!
General Review: I was very moved by this collection. This is one of those books that I wish I had read in high school. That being said, there was one spooky moment in the last story of this collection. Coyote reminisces about meeting the queer son of one of her old flames. In this encounter, Coyote realizes that this young queer person, Frances, will be in Kindergarten in 2000; perhaps things will be better for them than they were for Coyote when they were a kid. As a queer person who began Kindergarten in 2000, and as a high school teacher who calls out his last wave Gen Z students for picking on their queer classmates, I won't say that things are "as bad" as they were for my queer elders, but I can't say that they're much easier either.
Further Reading (?): I think there's a fair chance that I'll dip into other prose works from Coyote. I hadn't realized how large their body of work is until writing this review! I'll likely check out their novel "Bow Grip" and their collection "One in Every Crowd."
General Review: I was very moved by this collection. This is one of those books that I wish I had read in high school. That being said, there was one spooky moment in the last story of this collection. Coyote reminisces about meeting the queer son of one of her old flames. In this encounter, Coyote realizes that this young queer person, Frances, will be in Kindergarten in 2000; perhaps things will be better for them than they were for Coyote when they were a kid. As a queer person who began Kindergarten in 2000, and as a high school teacher who calls out his last wave Gen Z students for picking on their queer classmates, I won't say that things are "as bad" as they were for my queer elders, but I can't say that they're much easier either.
Further Reading (?): I think there's a fair chance that I'll dip into other prose works from Coyote. I hadn't realized how large their body of work is until writing this review! I'll likely check out their novel "Bow Grip" and their collection "One in Every Crowd."
August 21, 2023
I gave this book a two stars NOT because I found my thoughts towards this book to be negative but instead to be that I didn't feel any connection to this book. As in this book didn't capture my attention very well.
This book didn't make me want to keep reading which is a shame as the back cover sounds interesting.
I will admit, Ivan E. Coyote has a really awesome name though!
And seems like a cool person (:
I don't have much to say about this book as again, it didn't capture my attention.
This book didn't make me want to keep reading which is a shame as the back cover sounds interesting.
I will admit, Ivan E. Coyote has a really awesome name though!
And seems like a cool person (:
I don't have much to say about this book as again, it didn't capture my attention.
August 19, 2019
"Everyone I'd ever known was still alive"
March 27, 2024
Big day for butches y’all
October 5, 2022
ivan coyote i love you
November 20, 2013
An excellent collection of short stories, rendered with feeling and a lovely writing style.
July 27, 2023
Oh my gosh, I love these short stories. It's one of the best collections of short stories I've read! They embody everything about being a girl questioning her sexually and adolescence queerness
Favorite short stories - The cat that came back and She came home a moth
Favorite qoutes- I used to hate when my mother was right, but I've matured
There would be chips, pop, and sometimes a video. There would be bathtimes and bedtimes and numerous glasses of water, and eventually finally all my cousins would be asleep
Leaving me blissfully alone. To do whatever I liked.
This is how I discovered playboy magazines, vibrators and dirty videos. Condoms and feminine douches, hemorrhoid creams, and vaginal suppositories
Favorite short stories - The cat that came back and She came home a moth
Favorite qoutes- I used to hate when my mother was right, but I've matured
There would be chips, pop, and sometimes a video. There would be bathtimes and bedtimes and numerous glasses of water, and eventually finally all my cousins would be asleep
Leaving me blissfully alone. To do whatever I liked.
This is how I discovered playboy magazines, vibrators and dirty videos. Condoms and feminine douches, hemorrhoid creams, and vaginal suppositories
June 1, 2021
3.5
she comes home a moth
no bikini
the cat cameback
this that and the other thing
you're not in kansas anymore
red sock circle dance
(in order of their order in the book)
I definitely enjoyed all the stories, and took something from most of them. the ones I listed above were just my favourite favourites for many reasons
on a reread ill take notes, and maybe write a review
really like how the title of the book tied in in its story
this was genuinely so well written and wasn't a drudge
it's so hard for me to get into short story collections usually but this had the huge advantages of simple, fantastic, personal writing, interesting stories and perspectives told so wonderfully, it is inclusive and refuses to put any of its characters within any closed walls
etc etc
she comes home a moth
no bikini
the cat cameback
this that and the other thing
you're not in kansas anymore
red sock circle dance
(in order of their order in the book)
I definitely enjoyed all the stories, and took something from most of them. the ones I listed above were just my favourite favourites for many reasons
on a reread ill take notes, and maybe write a review
really like how the title of the book tied in in its story
this was genuinely so well written and wasn't a drudge
it's so hard for me to get into short story collections usually but this had the huge advantages of simple, fantastic, personal writing, interesting stories and perspectives told so wonderfully, it is inclusive and refuses to put any of its characters within any closed walls
etc etc
December 19, 2019
I appreciate these working class memories. I'm reading it alongside Coyote's newer memoir, Tomboy Survival Guide, and it's interesting to see similar moments appearing in each, like melting a new hole in the back of a baseball cap, as well as different gender contexts. In some ways, the Survival Guide has more polished writing, but these stories stand well alone and each of them is a gem.
January 1, 2022
Life in Whitehorse, Yukon as a girl who's questioning her sexuality makes for some very intimate and moving stories. Starting in childhood through early adulthood, each story is progressively more emotive, more wacky and joyous. The final story squeezed a cup full of tears of joy and exuberance. I'll be hunting down every single book this great Canuck author (musician and performer) has penned.
May 28, 2024
a bruisingly tender entry into the queer coming of age canon, one of the first into that of the canadian butch, unfortunately hindered instead of bolstered by the scarcity that is innate to its vignette style and a tendency to linger too long on the banal, which dragged momentum instead of embellishing the atmosphere
August 16, 2025
I thought this book was very interesting, at first I thought it was different peoples stories then I realized its the same person and short stories from their life in a linear time frame. It was like a memoir but the short story aspect of it made my ADHD brain very happy.
I felt the stories very relatable and occasionally hilarious in a “me too” way.
I felt the stories very relatable and occasionally hilarious in a “me too” way.
December 30, 2022
I loved this. Short but it says so much. As someone who also grew up in the "middle of nowhere" that is north of Prince George and a fellow afab gnc trans individual, I can relate, even if our stories are different.
August 13, 2023
Beautiful as always. I think I shed tears after every book Ivan has written.
“I will tell him that I will always love that little flower of him, that perfect unknowing differentness that blossomed and danced in a frozen field in spite of everything.”
“I will tell him that I will always love that little flower of him, that perfect unknowing differentness that blossomed and danced in a frozen field in spite of everything.”
February 11, 2018
A very nice batch of short stories, good for nitetime reading!
September 14, 2018
Well-written short stories set in the Yukon.
January 1, 2020
Beautifully queer
February 9, 2020
Stories about queer family and name changes and watching your ex get married, and cold empty country
April 13, 2021
queer! good shit! fav story: there goes the bride
June 7, 2023
4.5/5
June 15, 2023
Stunning!
August 6, 2023
this healed my trans soul
August 20, 2023
I don’t remember how I came across this book or what I was expecting from it but it was short and sweet and very beautiful and queer and I recommend it.
March 31, 2024
"i will tell him then that he was born a special kind of creature, one that god never meant for everyone to understand, but that i understand."
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews