For one summer, Rod Russell-Ides and his older brother were a perfect synergy of high jinks and well-intentioned mayhem to themselves, their dysfunctional family and the Great Bend, Kan., population.

From building a go-kart to adventures with dynamite, Sparky and the Dipshit will take you on a wild ride you won’t want to end. How they survived the summer of 1961 is a darkly funny, harrowing journey recounted by a master storyteller.

Laugh-out-loud funny and shockingly poignant, Russell-Ides captures the exuberance of youth’s innocence when anything is possible. A shining example of teenaged boys’ love for speed and horsepower, they naively join the racing circuit. With little effort, the brothers’ escapades are hidden from their perfectly coiffed, cocktail-soaked mother to admirably disastrous effect. Throughout, the author’s love for his flawed family keeps us turning pages.

Born in Oklahoma City, Rod Russell-Ides currently resides in Dallas, Texas, with his poet/playwright wife, Isabella Russell-Ides; his homeschooling daughter, Rachel; and her three sons in a 1914 Craftsman house. He is a landscape designer who built the biggest manmade waterfall in Alaska. He has written one country western musical and recorded two CDs. He plays the guitar, performed as the Geisha Cowboy and has invented an electric drum tree ~ the only one of its kind. He has been a go-cart racer, a horseback rider, a painter and a sculptor.

Find Sparky and the Dipshit at amazon.com.