 The name "Jack Frusciante" is a deliberate modification of John Frusciante, the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.The novel, first published by independent Ancona-based Transeuropa, went out of print 15 times before the rights to it were sold to more solid publishers.As of 1999, the novel had sold over one million copies in Italy and had been published in 23 countries throughout Europe, in the US, Japan, Korea and South America.