Duncan was born in Batesburg, South Carolina and graduated from high school from W.W. Wyman King Academy. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and worked for seven years at the Greensboro News & Record. His novelette "Close Encounters" won the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.^[1][2]

Duncan earned an M.A. in creative writing (fiction) from North Carolina State University and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from the University of Alabama. He also attended Clarion West Writers Workshop in 1994.^[3]

In Fall 2008, he was hired as an Assistant Professor of English at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, MD.^[4]

His fiction has appeared in a number of venues, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, SciFiction, and Escape Pod. He has also published poetry, essays, and reviews.