The Man Who Would Be Woman

Q: I agree with the "Foreword Magazine" reviewer who described your book as "scary" good. All or Nothing is a rare book in that the reader is not urged on by a plot twist but by a perverse desire to see what happens to the book's protagonist next. I agree with the blogger who says the book "reminds of John Rechy's City of Night." Now John Rechy was a sometimes gay hustler writing about gay hustling, and you are an admitted gambler writing about gambling. Do you think your book is scary good because you are a gambler writing as a gambler, or because you are simply a good writer?

A: This sounds like a trick question, but I will take the bait, if that is what it is, because I am a big fan of anyone who calls my work "Scary" good.

When I write, I promise my reader that I will put 100% of myself into the piece. Yes, writing as P was easy for me because I am familiar with that environment. I never wanted for material; in fact, my editor and I had to cut a large portion of the book to get it to work the way we wanted. Yes, I am (was) a male, black gambler. I know that life. I know that voice. I know P. In many ways I am P.

But I am not a short, sexy Dominican woman abused and stalked by her dangerous ex-husband, as is Cindique the protagonist in my novel BOUNCE--another convincing, "scary" good novel, I am told by its readers. No one ever confused me with that book's protagonist--instead, I heard, "You write so well from the point of view of a woman. Are you gay?" which I found to be both weird and offensive, though I think they were trying to pay me a compliment [[only a woman or a gay man can write well from the point of view of a woman--which is a very strange and illogical presumption if you think about it--because the writer KNOWS every character in his/her novel, even those of the opposite sex]].

Which leads me to one of my most popular ("Scary" good) short stories, "Is Randy Roberts There?", which can be found in my collection CHURCHBOYS AND OTHER SINNERS--again, I am not a tall, sexy African American woman as Monique the troubled protagonist in that one is. But see, I AM Monique and Cindique, too, because they were born in my head and I am the writer who pens their stories. I am not a woman, but I know my female protagonists and know them well.

In fact, long before the novel ALL OR NOTHING, I was developing quite a reputation as the man who would be woman. My stories in Carol Taylor's BROWN SUGAR anthologies were all convincing "scary" good tales according to the readers of that bestselling series, and each of my stories was written from the point of view of a female protagonist. Were these stories good because I was a woman writing as a woman, or because I was simply a good writer? Well, first of all, I am not a woman . . .

If you look at the collection CHURCHBOYS AND OTHER SINNERS, you will find that among my dozen or so protagonists we have a female in her 30s, a precocious, sexually active 13-year-old, an over-the-hill football player, and a forty-something jazzman who defies the gods like a modern Oedipus and finds himself duly punished when he unknowingly sleeps with his long lost daughter--these characters are nothing like me. Gosh, I hope not.

Yes, P is like me and there is no getting around that. However, I think you will find my work convincing no matter which protagonist's story flows from my pen across the page. And that, perhaps, is because I know a little something about that craft that we call writing.

Thanks,

Preston