Last One to Kansas City is a Hippie - Paperback

by Rick Hill (Author)

HIPPIES, HOBOES, OR HEP CATS? 1970: When their Southern California crash pad is condemned, teenage hippies Danny and Jack head for San Francisco. But Mac, an elderly zoot-suiter lately sentenced to a nursing home, convinces them to journey instead to Kansas City, MO, the Mecca of his hep generation. En route they hitchhike, hop freights, and encounter a plentitude of 1970 characters, from lowriders and Charlie Manson acolytes to train bums, cowboys, fun-loving Midwestern girls-and the girls' occasionally murderous parents. 1993: Danny, now 40, struggles in a post-counterculture era. His ex-hippie wife joins an evangelical church, his best friend dies, and the new president of the USA looks like Elvis. Using floppy disks and a boom box recorder, Danny attempts to turn his teen adventure memories into a youth exploitation film. In the process he begins another Kansas City odyssey, 1990s style As the tragicomic demons of Danny's past and present converge, the darkly hilarious and captivating story operates simultaneously in two decades and on several levels of consciousness.

Author Biography

Rick Hill, a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, has published poems, short stories, novel excerpts, essays, articles, and reviews. Books include We're All From Somewhere Else (memoir), No Hands (selected poetry), Mark Twain Among the Scholars and Teaching C.S. Lewis. His work has been anthologized in various collections; prizes and distinctions include a San Diego Book Award and a Pushcart nomination.