Looking Good

Difficulty at the Beginning Book 4

by Keith Maillard

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Description

The Summer of Love is already like a distant memory; the psychedelic underground has turned in on itself. John Dupre has deserted a perfectly satisfying life as a student in Toronto, drawn back to the US by the need to make a difference in the Revolution. He's living in Boston—under an assumed name because he's on the FBI's wanted list for draft evasion.

His best friend is Tom Parker, an ex—GI turned righteous drug dealer. When John, Tom, and the militant feminist and Situationist Pam Zalman seize control of an underground newspaper and are put on the Weatherman hit list, there's really no place to hide—they're wanted on all sides.

It's the year of the Harvard Square riot, the invasion of Cambodia, and Kent State. Campuses across America are host to demonstrations and riots. Burning ROTC buildings has become an everyday pastime. Pam and John forge a relationship where they're struggling against sex roles. The Left is splintering into ever smaller and crazier micro—factions. And that's when things begin to get really weird . . .

Looking Good is a masterfully crafted, meticulously reconstructed social history of the '60s counterculture and a searching examination of gender identity—the magnificent, explosive climax to Difficulty at the Beginning.

About the Author

Keith Maillard is the author of thirteen novels, including Two Strand River, Alex Driving South, Motet, Hazard Zones, Gloria, The Clarinet Polka, and Difficulty at the Beginning, his four-volume Bildungsroman. He has won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (Motet) and was shortlisted for both the Commonwealth Literary Prize (Hazard Zones) and the Governor General's Literary Awards (Gloria). The Clarinet Polka was awarded the Creative Arts Prize by the Polish American Historical Association. His poetry collection, Dementia Americana, won the Gerald Lampert Award in 1995 for the Best First Book of Poetry Published in Canada.

Keith was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia, the inspiration for the fictional town of Raysburg, which serves as the setting for many of his novels. He has been a musician, a contributor for CBC Radio, a freelance photographer and journalist, and a designer of distance education courses. His reviews, essays, and poems have appeared in many journals, ranging from Event to Flare. He is currently chair of the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia. He lives in West Vancouver with his wife and two daughters.

The Globe and Mail called Difficulty at the Beginning "a work of terrible beauty and grace, a masterpiece fit to contend with the best novels of the last century." Be sure to check out all four volumes—Running, Morgantown, Lyndon Johnson and the Majorettes, and Looking Good—now available as e-books!

Please visit Keith online at keithmaillard.com. You can also find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter at @keithmaillard.

Editorial Reviews

"A cast of soulful characters, a heartfelt examination of gender identity, and a meticulously detailed portrait of the 1960s."

"[Maillard] has an extremely tight grip on his subject matter (I know, I was there), recounting the growing sectarianism of the New Left and its intensifying drug-fuelled paranoia, some of it quite justified. Anyone with memories of the political radicalism of the 60s will connect with this material."

"The final volume of the quartet is at least twice as long as any of the previous three books, and it packs a punch that is likewise heftier."

"Readers who immerse themselves in the drug-hazed, paranoid world of the American underground that Maillard protrays in 'Looking Good' will be struck by a muscular, powerhouse narrative and rich characterization that's evocative of fiction giants like Robert Stone."

"A masterpiece fit to contend with the best novels of the last century."

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Looking Good

Difficulty at the Beginning Book 4

by Keith Maillard

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