Gary Byrdell Amdahl was born on August 4, 1956 in Jackson, MN. He participated
in Midwest Playlabs in 1985 and the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis awarded
him two Jerome Fellowships. He is the author of six books, more than ten plays,
and numerous short-stories and articles.
The Daredevils was published in 2016. It tells the story of Charles Minoit, who
survives the earthquake in San Francisco when he was twelve to go on in later life
to run a theater in Minnesota. The story brings in the entertainment industry, union
politics, working poor, and even existential philosophy. Barry Hannah writes on
Amazon that "Amdahl is one whose gifts are staggering and hard-won. The stories
relate, by the way of guts through grace, the wholeness of a novel too good for mere
philosophy. Gary Amdahl knows sports, men, women, and dogs, thank God, so
thoroughly as to make them myth. Camus comes to mind: thought with extreme muscle."