Who are Peter Francis and R.Chip DeGlinkta?

The unlikely and colorful vanguards of Promethean Books' new publishing venture are not your everyday writers. In fact, some say that they have been obliged to don the cruel yoke of literacy out of the sheer originality and social relevance of their mutual experiences. Years of travel and freewheeling adventures have seasoned the duo with an air of worldliness and wisdom that can only be achieved after many successes and many more failures. Readers will find an earthy camaraderie in their tone and a welcome absence of sanctimony or condescension. Despite their recent critical success these two "street-toughened working boys" have not forgotten their humble roots.

Ironically, they met on stage in the early nineties as the Dauphin and the Duke of Bridgewater in a rare performance of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; roles that closely paralleled their own hurly-burly existance and rambunctious but lovable personalities. The two have always shared a fascination with the chicanery and confabulation that is so characteristic of the enigmatic human animal. For years now, they have navigated the uncharted nether regions of American society where these antics are commonplace, seeking out the elusive Scam Masters and imploring their invaluable tutelage. The quest, while ongoing, has been an unquestionable success, and at last their carefully tended tree of taboo knowledge has borne its first delicious fruit. How to Burn Down the House: The Infamous Waiter and Bartender's Scam Bible is the result of tireless research: bartending, waiting tables, and relentlessly shearing the unwitting, drunken folds of New Orleans' notorious Bourbon Street.

The Scam Bible is merely the first installment of Promethean Books' In the Know Series, the ongoing documentation of the eye-opening discoveries of Francis and DeGlinkta, America's most controversial and self-educated anthropologists. Beginning May 1st, 2004, be sure to check out scambible.com, a well-spring of scam insight hosted by the authors, where inquiring minds can query the two scam masters via Ask the Scam Oracle, or share an original scam that they may have witnessed or participated in themselves. Either way, check in regularly for the newest angles on this greatest of American pastimes...Enterprising Freely!