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Provocative, poignant, and resoundingly hilarious, The Red-Headed Pilgrim is the tragicomic tale of an anxious red-head and his sordid pursuit of enlightenment and pleasure (not necessarily in that order).
On a sunny day in a business park near Portland, Oregon, 42-year-old web developer Kevin Maloney is in the throes of an existential crisis that finds him shoeless in a field of Queen Anne's lace, reflecting on the tumultuous events that brought him to this moment. Growing up in the suburbs, young Kevin suffered "a psychological break that ripped me from my humdrum existence" mainlining high fructose corn syrup and episodes of The Golden Girls. Thus begins a journey of hard-earned insights and sexual awakening that takes Kevin from angst-ridden Beaverton to the beaches of San Diego, a frontier-themed roadside attraction in Helena, Montana, and a hermetic shack on an organic lettuce farm.
Everything changes when Kevin falls in love with Wendy. After a chance tarot reading lands them on the frigid coast of Maine, their lives are unsettled by the birth of their daughter, Zoë, whose sudden presence is oftentimes terrifying, frequently disturbing, and yet-miraculously-always wondrous.
The Red-Headed Pilgrim is an irresistible novel of misadventure and new beginnings, of wanderlust and bad decisions, of parenthood and divorce, and of the heartfelt truths we unearth when we least expect it. "It's hard to write an honest book. It's even harder to write an honest book that is charming, hilarious and doesn't make the author sound like a crusty, tower-dwelling sage."
-Mila Jaroniec, Southwest Review
"In the throes of an existential crisis, a middle-aged web developer renounces his humdrum life in Portland, Ore., and embarks on a cross-country trip, finding love, meaning and a new life on the coast of Maine."
-New York Times
"Like his indie lit peer Scott McClanahan, Maloney's writing is deeply indebted to Vonnegut's mix of heartbreak and humor, but The Red-Headed Pilgrim's emulation of Slaughterhouse-Five's opening chapter isn't just for show; its placement points to the central question of the book: Is it possible to separate your own narrative from the ones you discovered in your formative years?"
-Kevin M. Kearney, The Millions
"Despite how often he screws up, you just can't help pulling for him. The Red Headed Pilgrim is one of the funniest and fastest flying books you could ever read and may just appeal to the repressed Jack Kerouac living secretly inside of you."
-Tony Alcantara, The Colorado Sun
"Maloney's revisionist treatment of Western themes make The Red-Headed Pilgrim the offspring (dare I say red-headed step-child?) of the Acid Western genre. And I don't believe it's overly generous to say that The Red-Headed Pilgrim is the next iteration of the Western, one with enough music and heart to propel the genre into the twenty-first century and beyond."
-Nick Gardner, Cleveland Review of Books
"Somewhere between the hysterical realism of Zadie Smith and the sexy, witty misfits of a Tom Robbins novel."
-Brock Kingsley, Chicago Review of Books
"Tender and uproarious... Maloney writes in a casual, self-deprecating style, befitting the swapping of stories across a bar top or kitchen table. Possessing a keen eye for detail, his prose is jam-packed with memorable characters who pop off the page and can't help but make the wrong choice, time and time again."
-Sheldon Birnie, Winnipeg Free Press
"The Red-Headed Pilgrim is a revelation that achieves starry dynamo-level energy from the jump. Maloney's prose is sharp and vivid, full of trippy precision, and his story is funny, wild, painful and wise. When the road of On the Road runs into shattered middle age, this book is waiting for you."
-Sam Lipsyte, author of Hark and The Ask Kevin Maloney is the author of Cult of Loretta and the story collection Horse Girl Fever. At
On a sunny day in a business park near Portland, Oregon, 42-year-old web developer Kevin Maloney is in the throes of an existential crisis that finds him shoeless in a field of Queen Anne's lace, reflecting on the tumultuous events that brought him to this moment. Growing up in the suburbs, young Kevin suffered "a psychological break that ripped me from my humdrum existence" mainlining high fructose corn syrup and episodes of The Golden Girls. Thus begins a journey of hard-earned insights and sexual awakening that takes Kevin from angst-ridden Beaverton to the beaches of San Diego, a frontier-themed roadside attraction in Helena, Montana, and a hermetic shack on an organic lettuce farm.
Everything changes when Kevin falls in love with Wendy. After a chance tarot reading lands them on the frigid coast of Maine, their lives are unsettled by the birth of their daughter, Zoë, whose sudden presence is oftentimes terrifying, frequently disturbing, and yet-miraculously-always wondrous.
The Red-Headed Pilgrim is an irresistible novel of misadventure and new beginnings, of wanderlust and bad decisions, of parenthood and divorce, and of the heartfelt truths we unearth when we least expect it. "It's hard to write an honest book. It's even harder to write an honest book that is charming, hilarious and doesn't make the author sound like a crusty, tower-dwelling sage."
-Mila Jaroniec, Southwest Review
"In the throes of an existential crisis, a middle-aged web developer renounces his humdrum life in Portland, Ore., and embarks on a cross-country trip, finding love, meaning and a new life on the coast of Maine."
-New York Times
"Like his indie lit peer Scott McClanahan, Maloney's writing is deeply indebted to Vonnegut's mix of heartbreak and humor, but The Red-Headed Pilgrim's emulation of Slaughterhouse-Five's opening chapter isn't just for show; its placement points to the central question of the book: Is it possible to separate your own narrative from the ones you discovered in your formative years?"
-Kevin M. Kearney, The Millions
"Despite how often he screws up, you just can't help pulling for him. The Red Headed Pilgrim is one of the funniest and fastest flying books you could ever read and may just appeal to the repressed Jack Kerouac living secretly inside of you."
-Tony Alcantara, The Colorado Sun
"Maloney's revisionist treatment of Western themes make The Red-Headed Pilgrim the offspring (dare I say red-headed step-child?) of the Acid Western genre. And I don't believe it's overly generous to say that The Red-Headed Pilgrim is the next iteration of the Western, one with enough music and heart to propel the genre into the twenty-first century and beyond."
-Nick Gardner, Cleveland Review of Books
"Somewhere between the hysterical realism of Zadie Smith and the sexy, witty misfits of a Tom Robbins novel."
-Brock Kingsley, Chicago Review of Books
"Tender and uproarious... Maloney writes in a casual, self-deprecating style, befitting the swapping of stories across a bar top or kitchen table. Possessing a keen eye for detail, his prose is jam-packed with memorable characters who pop off the page and can't help but make the wrong choice, time and time again."
-Sheldon Birnie, Winnipeg Free Press
"The Red-Headed Pilgrim is a revelation that achieves starry dynamo-level energy from the jump. Maloney's prose is sharp and vivid, full of trippy precision, and his story is funny, wild, painful and wise. When the road of On the Road runs into shattered middle age, this book is waiting for you."
-Sam Lipsyte, author of Hark and The Ask Kevin Maloney is the author of Cult of Loretta and the story collection Horse Girl Fever. At