Although he grew up in the United States, Preston L. Allen was born in Honduras, on one of its Caribbean possessions, the island of Roaton, which is populated by a thriving community of English-speaking members of the African diaspora. "Preston Allen's writing is in the tradition of writers such as James Baldwin...His work is especially important because he reveals within the consciousness of young Black men, who have too often been the targets of vilification and shame, a tortured beauty. Every generation needs writers to interpret and re-interpret the canon and contemporary events in a novel way. Preston Allen is such a writer"— Geoffrey Philp, author of Benjamin My Son.