Ghostly is a gritty story, but you have no profanity in the book. Was that intentional?

We have an ample supply of descriptors at our command to use to paint pictures. Using profanity is just not what I wanted to do or to be remembered for. I wanted to write a book that I would not be ashamed for my Mother or my English teacher to see if they were still with us. Ghostly is a book that might have been written forty or fifty years ago. It is written as literature to endure in a throw away world.

Do you think others who use four letter words are wrong?

No, each writer has to decide what they want to write. I do caution fellow writers. The words we we write today are like epitaphs on our tombstones. I don't want someone to stroll through the graveyard of my novels thirty years from now and attach certain words to me. I hope the words I use are beautiful and poetic, and even in a gritty story, I hope they paint vivid scenes and inspire readers.

What about crime writers who say they write about subcultures that are not so nice, and the words are needed?

Some tell me that the words are necessary to be authentic. I just disagree. The bombardment of readers with profanity has so desensitized readers that the use of those words have lost all of their power. One writer told me that he had just edited a tough crime story and it had to be done to be real. I told him that I had just written a big crime story and the folks at Criminal Minds loved it and endorsed it as "beautifully sinister."

What do you mean about your book being enduring?

I wrote it as literature and resisted all suggestions that it be "dumbed down." I think that I may have more respect for readers than some in the publishing world. Ghostly is not a story you've read many times before. It was written to inspire and to encourage the reader to join the central character in his struggles as he finds his way in a murky world. From what we hear, each copy of Ghostly is read by an average of six readers. People read it, like it, and want to pass it on to loved ones, to keep it in the family.

Is that related to the lack of offensive language?

Partly, I think. People are just hungry for good books that contain none of the usual language used to titillate and they are eager to find a book that is not a formula book with the same old patterns repackaged to sell books.

Ghostly is written to the senses, and people respond to that, especially women who give us our best reviews. The reviews have just been great. That would make my Grandmother Pearl happy. I use her real name in the book and keep a promise I made to her over fifty years ago to never forget her.