I'm a dude.
A guy.
A boy.
I have a pee-pee and I like football games, weight lifting, beer, wings, black coffee and toasted hard-rolls, shooting guns, facial hair, scratching my ass in public, spitting, swearing, Clint Eastwood, Hemingway, Levis, cowboy boots, cut-off T-shirts, drums, violence of all sorts and varieties, sexy girls, and no, I don't eat quiche and tough guys don't dance (unless it's with the devil).

So how is it that I've just written my third novel from a female point of view, and somehow gotten away with it? Last summer, when THE REMAINS was first released, I was asked that very question a lot by both interviewers and fans. And now that my newest novel in a series, CONCRETE PEARL has been released by StoneGate Ink, I will almost surely get asked the question again and again.

So, in order to cut to the chase, here's my answer.

Truth is, I don't freakin' know how I'm able to pull off the female POV.

But I can tell you this: I grew up entirely surrounded by women. My mom, and my two sisters. My dad worked a lot, like lots of dads back in the 60's and 70's, and he couldn't be around all the time. Plus I was a bit of a loner so, when I was home, I was home with girls. And man, could they fight!

Then my parents moved me to a new neighborhood when I was 7 years old, and much to their chagrin, but my pleasant surprise, the kids in the hood were almost entirely female. And yah, they were real cute. How I figured this out at 7 years old I'll never know, but I should have known back then I'd be in for a life-time of heartache.

But, I digress...

Later on in my teens, I would become one of those dudes who always had to have a girlfriend. You know, the type who can't be alone with himself for too long. Which might seem strange since you all know me as a bachelor who works alone and often travels alone. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. I'm just getting off a breakup now with a girl I was seeing on and off for almost two years and yah, it hurts. I might be a boy, but I'm also sensitive (wiping a tear from my right eye...)

In my 20s and 30s, I would become the guy who always had to be married. Luckily however, after two failed marriages, I've learned not to jump into the a third one so quickly. What else have I learned? That just because a woman smiles at you doesn't mean she wants to bear your children. But I digress once again...

So, what's my point?

Ah yes, the female POV.

Well, as far as CONCRETE PEARL goes, Ava "Spike" Harrison was easy. She's a construction business owner and a tough but sexy broad who also likes to solve a good mystery now and again. Especially when her size 8 ass and even her life is on the line, as it is in "Pearl." I too grew up in the construction business and had I chosen to, could have been a construction business owner.

Don't confuse Spike for a guy with boobs, she's a real woman who enjoys men, but who can hold her own with the toughest guys. And she doesn't carry a gun. For an "equalizer" she likes to carry around a framing hammer, and she's not afraid to use it should some dude take a swipe at her or try and place his paws someplace where they don't belong.

Think "Tomb Raider" meets "The Woman's Murder Club" and you'll begin to have an idea of what Spike and her new series will be all about.

Ok, that's it for now, I have to go get my nails done, and I'm feeling bloated and I have a headache. I've been crying a lot lately too ... at the littlest things.....

Concrete Pearl