How long does it take a casual user to become a heroin addict? Not as long as you think. This fourth and final installment in the Psychotic Break Series sees Ethan struggling to rejoin society as drugs take center stage in his life. Home from Mexico with a shampoo bottle full of paregoric, Ethan drifts from job to job and house to house, unable to get his footing. The only thing that remains constant in his life is the relief heroin provides. The drug takes hold in tiny steps. He doesn't become a junkie overnight; he knows he is playing with fire. The novel showcases San Francisco at the end of the 1980's. It was a period of upheavals everywhere - the Berlin Wall fell; San Francisco shook, and Microsoft took over the world. It was the last days of analog, when phone booths were more common than cell phones, snail mail and typewriters were still favored over word processors. A Quarter describes a San Francisco that vanished. Praise for Duncan MacLeod "I immediately recognized in Duncan MacLeod something new and different. His writing simply sings off the page. It will make you think. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. And that might all be in the same paragraph! If Allen Ginsberg were still around, he would declare Duncan to be one of the best minds of our generation. Since I was mentored by Allen Ginsberg, I will say it for him. Duncan MacLeod is an important new literary voice. Just as importantly, he has something to say. I, for one, will follow him wherever he takes us on his writerly journey, whether it is into the Tibetan afterlife of the bardos, a gurney in a mental institution, or a seance in a shabby San Francisco kitchen. Why, you might ask? Because it will be transformative. Word of advice: never read Duncan MacLeod in the bathtub because you will laugh until you drop the book in the water, and it will start to compost" --Becca Anderson, bestselling author of Badass Affirmations and The Book of Awesome Women Writers "...An important new literary voice" Duncan MacLeod's biography intersects with those of other transgressive writers. Like Jack Kerouac, he dropped out of Columbia University to go to San Francisco. Like William Burroughs, he battled (and beat) an addiction to heroin. Like Sylvia Plath, he spent time in mental institutions recovering from depression. Like Allen Ginsberg, he is unapologetically gay. His creative experiences are diverse and include directing a feature documentary called La Lucha/The Struggle, performing lead Autoharp in the band "The Acres", and writing the semi-autobiographical series of novels called, The Psychotic Break Series. These fictionalized memoirs depict the raw and unforgettable tale of young Ethan Lloyd, set in the backdrop of 1980s San Francisco. The books depict a lost generation living in a city that has since disappeared. Duncan is now working on the sequel to Agnes in the Fifth Bardo. He is enjoying his life as an author and living in greater Los Angeles with his partner, Rafael.