Sideways Trilogy

The follow-up novel to the blockbuster Sideways, the inspiration for the award-winning film of the same name, starring Paul Giamatti, “Sideways”, Oregon tracks the continuing story of Miles Raymond and his buddy Jack. Seven years have passed since Miles and Jack took their infamous bachelor trip to the Santa Ynez Valley. Miles has written a novel that was made into a wildly successful movie, which changed his life. Jack, contrarily, is divorced, has a kid, and is on the skids. Phyllis, Miles's mom, suffered a stroke that left her wheelchair-bound and wasting away in assisted living, and she desperately wants to live with her sister in Wisconsin. When Miles gets invited to be master of ceremonies at the International Pinot Festival in Oregon, he hatches a harebrained scheme. With Jack as his copilot, he leases a handicapped-equipped van, hires a pot-smoking Filipina caretaker, and, with his mother's rascally Yorkie in tow, they take off for Wisconsin via Oregon's fabled Willamette Valley. This is one road trip that is anything but predictable...

The follow-up novel to the blockbuster Sideways, the basis of a major motion picture, tracks the continuing story of Miles Raymond and his buddy Jack. It's seven years later. Miles has written a novel that has been made into a wildly successful movie, and the movie has changed his life. Jack, contrarily, is divorced, has a kid, and is on the skids. Phyllis, Miles' mom, has suffered a stroke that's left her wheelchair-bound and wasting away in assisted living. She desperately wants to live with her sister in Wisconsin. When Miles gets invited to be master of ceremonies at the International Pinot Festival in Oregon, he hatches a harebrained road trip. With Jack as his copilot, he leases a handicapped-equipped van, hires a pot-smoking Filipina caretaker, and, with his mother's rascally Yorkie in tow, they take off for Wisconsin via Oregon's fabled Willamette Valley. This is a road novel for the smart set and wine lover, and it is anything but predictable.

Sideways 3 Chile follows the further adventures of Miles Raymond (played by Paul Giamatti in the now cult movie Sideways) and, to a lesser extent, his friend Jack. It's now ten years later, and Miles is a successful author, but he's still searching for something; depression has him, once again, in its taloned grip. Offered a chance to travel to the antipodean country of Chile and visit their wine regions for a magazine assignment, Miles, his world turned upside down by bad financial investments and even worse luck with relationships, happily agrees. A somewhat cynical Miles finds Chile, its people, and its spectacular and vastly diverse wine regions to be a life-transforming journey. The Sideways trilogy is now complete.

From bestselling author Rex Pickett comes “Sideways New Zealand”, the next delightfully dark and funny novel. Miles Raymond thought things were going relatively well. Miles, the now iconic alter ego of author Rex Pickett, who was first introduced in the critically acclaimed book Sideways and its award-winning movie adaptation, resurfaces on the South Island of New Zealand. All he has in life is a half hectare of Pinot Noir, a guest cottage where his days are numbered, a special needs cat named Max, and a winemaker partner pressing him for a more committed relationship. These modest assets are balanced by the impending publication of Miles's new novel, “A Year of Pure Feeling”. His fledgling publicist has arranged for a book tour that will take Miles along the east coast of New Zealand, from Oamaru to Auckland, to a series of increasingly interesting Kiwi book clubs. In a six-ton camper van! In the winter! Jack Manse, after a divorce and a financial disaster, has reinvented himself and gleefully volunteers to copilot, too delighted at the prospect of a road trip and a reunion with Miles to heed his friend's objections. Alternately blackly comical and poignantly heartbreaking, what started as a book tour through New Zealand becomes a journey through Miles's soul.