From the Author: "The Duke" and the author's two unpublished historical novels projected for fall 2012 release were partly inspired by Isabel Allende's works capturing eras and social mileau not extensively treated in popular literature. My novels similarly concern the passage of time, how the protagonists do and do not change over the years and the spirit of times and places gradually being lost to history.  

"The Duke," specifically, is influenced by the songs and poetry of Jim Morrison, the humor of Joseph Heller, the dramatic physicality of Bertolt Breccht and the music and popular culture of the Silent Generation. The novel seeks to give authenticity to wholly fictional characters by placing them in situations that are accurate in fine detail, so that, for example, if you were actually present at the Beach Boys 1981 concert on the national mall you would think "my god, that episode could have happened just like that during the playing of 'Don't Worry Baby'." The hope is those little touches can transport a reader born in, say, 1990, back to that time; not just appeal to the nostalgia of af a fading generation.