FLIGHT OF THE SPUMONIS

About the Book

What drives a 13-year-old trapeze artist to run away from the circus? Marco Spolini seeks freedom from an overbearing father, critical stepmother and smothering uncle. A journey of discovery takes him from New York to Los Angeles across a 1980 America beset by economic and political frustration.

Accompanied by a 15-year-old multiracial street kid named Jimmy Q and hunted by a relentless female private eye, Marco encounters a legless Vietnam veteran dealing drugs while writing country songs, a former porn star married to a televangelist, a widowed truck driver hauling a bizarre secret, a four-person softball team featuring three statuesque women, an Iranian refugee pursuing the American dream in New Mexico, an intellectual motorcycle gang and a California whose dark side matches its legendary sunshine.

A Huckleberry Finn for our time, Flight of the Spumonis offers a satiric, moving look at an America in transition and the timeless human quest for community.

About the Author

David Perlstein authored the novels The Boy Walker, San Café and Slick! (Kirkus Reviews selection, Top 25 Indie Books of 2012). He also wrote the non-fiction book God’s Others: Non-Israelites’ Encounters with God in the Hebrew Bible and Solo Success: 100 Tips for Becoming a $100,000-a-Year Freelancer. David lives in San Francisco.