The Virgin Missile Crisis (Paperback)

It's October, 1962. Soviet missiles in Cuba are poised to launch at the US. President Kennedy announces a blockade on TV. Fear grips America. Sixteen-year old Duncan Ambrose wants to lose his virginity before the world ends. Which could be in about 36 hours. He'd also like to figure out the meaning of life. Which could also be a challenge. Duncan's family won't be much help. His father, head of Intelligence for the State Department and famous for his very bad haircut, is away in a secret location briefing the President on the crisis. His mother is too busy crying over the kitchen sink to sympathize with Duncan's plight. And his little sister Rachel, destined to become a feminist lawyer, is in her stupid phase, listening to the Beatles and chatting on her Princess phone. His teachers can't give him much advice. Mrs. Matters, his history teacher, is divorced, and therefore either a nymphomaniac or crazy, or both. His Latin teacher, Miss Rosebrook, is a refugee from a Tennessee Williams play, complete with a tawdry past. His friends just think he's weird. Despite the threat of nuclear annihilation and the craziness of his quirky family, Duncan (almost) manages to lose his virginity. And, along the way, he begins to figure out the meaning of life. An original television pilot based on the play received an award at the Slamdance Film Festival's television competition. HOYT HILSMAN is an award-winning writer, journalist and critic, and a former candidate for Congress. He has written screenplays for studios and television networks, including Disney, Sony, New Line, ABC, NBC and CBS, and his stage plays and musicals have been produced in theaters around the country and abroad, and have won numerous awards. Mr. Hilsman has been a regular critic for Daily Variety, former President of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and chair of the PEN West drama awards. He has been an active participant in the national political scene, as a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and later as a candidate for Congress in California. Mr. Hilsman has written hundreds of articles and op-eds for national newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Magazine, and is currently a regular columnist for the Huffington Post. His novel, 19 Angels, a political thriller set in the Middle East, is currently in development as a feature film.