Horse Girl Fever
Horse Girl Fever is a hilariously weird collection, part autofiction, part outlandish daydream, that celebrates the horse girl within all of us.
From cult author of The Red-Headed Pilgrim, Kevin Maloney delivers a vision of the world that is hysterical, terrifying, and true. A cuckolded husband finds a new identity as a ghost. A homeowner has a nervous breakdown while building a pergola. An angst-ridden teenager finds his spiritual equal in the mosh pit of an Alice in Chains concert.
In fourteen brutally funny stories, Horse Girl Fever plunges the reader into a world of misfits—inept drug smugglers, tattooed office workers, and philosophical strip club bouncers—who fumble toward the light but often end up flailing. Maloney’s writing conjures a dazzling spectrum of pain, joy, and humanity, peeking into the darkest corners of reality while high on Whippets.
“A seizing sexworker, gay Abe Lincoln, the titular ‘Horse Girl’—this cast of characters navigate the cruel realities of human experience with resilience, tenderness & humor. A collection that is a testament to Maloney’s voice and his ability to find beauty anywhere, even Portland.” —Madeline Cash, author of Earth Angel and Lost Lambs forthcoming from FSG
“There’s a line in one of the stories from Kevin Maloney’s absolutely fantastic collection Horse Girl Fever that perfectly encapsulates the experience of reading them. A character states, ‘I’ve never felt so good in my life even though I keep choking on my own blood.’ The stories are populated with characters who hold onto the insane joy and utter terror of being alive. Hysterical and honest, Maloney is a writer of unmatched energy, truly boundless in his abilities.” —Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here and Now Is Not the Time to Panic
“Kevin Maloney is a natural born fabulist of the highest order and a fierce champion of the American scumbag. Horse Girl Fever is an all-bangers no-skips, amps-to-eleven collection.” —Kyle Seibel, author of Hey You Assholes
“Kevin Maloney is iconic—one of the funniest, wittiest, and most tender authors working—and Horse Girl Fever is a delightful trip through his high-altitude mind. Each story is a brilliant journey, from cover to cover.” —Brian Allen Carr, author of Opioid, Indiana and Bad Foundations
“A good alternate title for this collection would be Fear and Loathing in Portland, Oregon. Through his stories, Maloney expertly weaves a drug rug of what dreams should be: love-soaked, high-velocity, and utterly deranged.” —Shy Watson, author of Horror Vacui and Cheap Yellow
“Every new literary generation needs its drug warrior priest, and Kevin Maloney takes up that mantle with a baffled grin and abundant charisma. These stories had me chuckling in slack-jawed awe at the misery and beauty of life. Maloney is a rare talent, and we are lucky to have him.” —Colin Winnette, author of Users
“Horse Girl Fever had me whiplashed between unfathomable lows and the most hilariously inane highs that both satirize and empathize with what it’s like being the worst person in the room at any Portland, Oregon house party. Sentence to sentence, I thought, ‘Maloney can’t be serious.’ But that’s the best part about these stories—he was, I was right there alongside each narrator, from coke-fueled binges to following pretty girls into the jungle. Self-deprecating and incisingly smart, this book burns like an improperly placed bottle rocket.” —Elle Nash, author of Deliver Me and Animals Eat Each Other