About this item
This Sequel to the Acclaimed Cult Novel Is Now a Major Motion Picture Darryl Ponicsan's debut novel The Last Detail was named one of the best of the year and widely acclaimed, catapulting him to fame when it was first published. The story of two career sailors assigned to escort a young seaman from Norfolk to the naval prison in Portsmouth, New Hampshire - and of the mayhem that ensues - it was made into an award-winning movie starring Jack Nicholson. Last Flag Flying, set thirty-four years after the events of The Last Detail, brings together the same beloved characters - Billy Bad-Ass Buddusky, Mule Mulhall, and Meadows - to reprise the same journey but under very different circumstances. Now middle-aged, Meadows seeks out his former captors in their civilian lives to help him bury his son, a Marine killed in Iraq, in Arlington National Cemetery. When he learns that the authorities have told him a lie about the circumstances of his son's death, he decides, with the help of the two others, to transport him home to Portsmouth. And so begins the journey, centered around a solemn mission but, as in the first book, a protest against injustice and celebration of life too, at once irreverent, funny, profane, and deeply moving. Last Flag Flying is now a major movie, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne.
About the Author
Darryl Ponicsan was born in Shenandoah, PA, a coal mining town. He received his AB degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, and his MA from Cornell University. In between he served a hitch in the U.S. Navy, which is a whole other kind of degree, and which provided him the material for "The Last Detail" and "Cinderella Liberty." In addition to his novels, he has had a long career in screenwriting. He received an NAACP Image Award as "Screenwriter of the Year," and was nominated for two WGA Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Edgar Award. (The Edgar was for his first novel in a four-part mystery series written under the name Anne Argula. He has no explanation for that choice of pseudonym.) His motto is, "Caution always, fear never," though he often fears that if less is more, then nothing is everything. Visit Darryl at https://darrylponicsan.com and follow him on Twitter, @darpon. He occasionally throws up a picture on Instagram or posts something profound on Facebook, but he has yet to pin anything on Pinterest. He drives a Juke and is convinced that car is destined to become a classic.
