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William “Duke” Smither, author of Passage(s) to Saint-Domingue: Jakobe’s Journey, Overture to the Gathering of Vultures, is a U.S. Navy Veteran (E-5 Radarman, Viet Nam Era, Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuban Blockade), native of Frankfort, KY, resident of Richmond, VA, and retired nuclear site worker, security administrator, and Sr. Security Investigator for Dominion Energy (Virginia Power). A graduate of St. Paul's College (BS - Organizational Management), most undergraduate studies were performed, while married, working, and an evening college student at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he later returned for postgraduate studies in Criminal Justice Administration. Side interests in African-American History and independent studies and research in Ancient African History led to Backstreet Djeli’s Blog, the history-related journal he created at www.backstreetdjeli.com, and several assignments as contributing writer for “BlackPast.Org,” the international web-based reference center for African-American History, at www.blackpast.org. His current website is: https://authorwilliamsmither.com/. During retirement, this grandfather of six remained active in faith-based and community-oriented drama productions as an actor, playwright, and director, within the scope of Afrocentric perspectives, while performing various monologues about the Underground Railroad and other narratives he calls ‘The Missing Pages’ from America’s classroom history books. His debut novel, Backroads to ‘Bethlehem': Odysseys of the Maroon Warrior, in the Shadows of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (2018), was the first installment of a historical-fiction trilogy on Western Hemispheric marronage. Passage(s) to Saint-Domingue… is the sequel. Book #3 is underway, pending completion.