Book excerpt: Now a major motion picture, directed by five-time Oscar-nominee Richard Linklater and starring Oscar nominees Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne. When middle-aged veteran Meadows learns that the authorities have told him a lie about the circumstances of the death of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq, he reunites with aging companions Billy Bad-Ass Buddusky and Mule Mulhall to perform a sacred task: the proper burial of his boy. So begins the journey up the Eastern seaboard, both a solemn mission and a protest against injustice, a celebration of life that is at once irreverent, funny, profane and deeply moving. Darryl Ponicsán'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 and 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 for a striking meditation on the passage of time and the nature of truth. The Last Detail, which introduced the characters of Last Flag Flying, is also available in ebook now.