Duane Simolke
Author, Novelist
United StatesBiography
Duane Simolke wrote The Acorn Stories, Degranon, Holding Me Together, Sons of Taldra, and New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio. He also co-wrote The Return of Innocence and The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer. Three of his books received StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Awards, and one received an AllBooks Reviewers Choice Award. His writing appeared in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Midwest Poetry Review, International Journal on World Peace, and many other publications.
Books by Duane Simolke
A newlywed struggles with mental health and job insecurity, but finds joy in her artwork and marriage. A teacher faces bigotry in the small town he grew to love. Swimming laps in a pool makes a young man reflect on his odd encounters. Faustian legend receives a satirical update. Those situations just hint at what readers can find in Duane Simolke’s collection of West Texas tales, set at the end of the end of the twentieth century.
The Taldra novels focus on gay relationships, people of color, and powerful women. In an alternate reality, Earth is Valchondria. The one-world government consists of Leader, the Supreme Science Council, and a police force called “the Maintainers.” Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure introduces the Iroquois scientist Taldra. One of her twin gay sons becomes trapped on the other side of a time portal while the other loses himself to the religious cult Degranon.