Duane Simolke was born in New Orleans on May 28, 1965, and now lives in Lubbock, Texas. Majoring in English, Simolke studied at Belmont University (BA, 89), Hardin-Simmons University (MA, 91), and Texas Tech University (Ph.D., 96). He has always loved books and movies, especially science fiction and fantasy.

He previously wrote three non-genre books: The Acorn Stories; New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio; and Holding Me Together. Degranon was his first novel, and first work of science fiction. He plans to mostly write science fiction and fantasy novels the rest of his life.

While completing work on Degranon, Simolke edited and co-wrote The Acorn Gathering. That mainstream fiction anthology is a spin-off from The Acorn Stories, with all author and editor royalties going to fund cancer research!

Biography provided by the author, July 2002