The Pink Bus

A month before Election Day, the Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Texas - a gay reality television star named Patrick Francis Monaghan- takes to the stage to deliver a speech. Before the candidate can begin, he is shot twice in the stomach. As doctors work to save him, the reader is taken on a touching journey through the preceding forty years of Patrick's life. Through a tight and appealing cast of characters, we see Patrick navigate what it is to be a gay man- and a public figure - in our rapidly changing world.

"The wickedly smart plot of The Pink Bus takes off like a shot with the assassination attempt of a popular gay reality star in Texas running for United States Senate. While his hero fights for breath, Christopher Kelly deftly turns a mirror on the decisions, relationships, ambition and heartbreak that shape a life. Will Patrick Monaghan live or die? Is he a good man or a bad one? Elegant, timely and utterly original, Kelly keeps us hanging about the fateful path of two bullets — and leaves us asking questions about modern culture long after we turn the last page." - Julia Heaberlin, author of Black-Eyed Susans