DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI, the biggest name (literally) in American crime writing, is the author of six non-fiction books, including This Here’s A Stick-Up: The Big Bad Book Of American Bank Robbery (Alpha, 2002) and The Big Book O’ Beer (Quirk, 2004). He’s worked as an editor at Men’s Health, Details and Philadelphia magazines, and now teaches journalism at La Salle University. God help those kids.

Some strange—yet true—facts about the author’s vowel-challenged name:

* “Swierczynski” loosely translates into “dweller near a fir tree.”

* Duane and his brother Gregg were named after the Allman Brothers

* Duane’s mother actually got a shorter name by marrying his father. (Her maiden name was “Wojciechowski.”)

* Duane named his first-born son “Parker” in honor of the Richard Stark character.

* In Poland, “Swierczynski” is pronounced “Smith.”

SECRET DEAD MEN, Duane’s easy-to-pronounce crime fiction debut, will be published later this year by PointBlank.