Guest Post: Eric Bishop on Inspiration

Please welcome my friend and fellow Jolly Fish Press Author, Eric Bishop, to the blog! His novel, The Samaritan's Pistol is available now for purchase. Eric is here to talk to us today about what inspires him in his writing. 

He's also got a giveaway going for his tour. Be sure to check it out below!

Welcome Eric!

What inspires me to write? Where do my ideas come from?  Since childhood, my daily ideas for a novel happen like Yellowstone’s Old Faithful, or missionaries quoting scripture. The ideas just come. I wake up and yawn, and I’m thinking about what construction workers would do if body parts slid down a cement mixer’s chute. By the time I’m brushing my teeth someone is using homing pigeons to fly diamonds out of Africa.

Within minutes, I’m adding characters that are variations of people I meet or already know. Anyone from the service station attendant to my dentist can start populating my story.

One place this happens is during the winter at our local ski area.

My wife and I, along with about a hundred others from our community, volunteer as Ski Patrollers. Between businessmen, blue-collar types, attorneys and medical professionals, I can’t think of a profession that isn’t represented on the Beaver Mountain Ski Patrol. There’s even a judge who shows up to carve a few turns and help the skiing public one day a week.  On any given shift, I might splint someone’s leg or immobilize a skier’s spine with a fellow patroller who could be anything from a welder to a professor.

The diversity creates some good humor. A gun dealer might help a snowboarder with an anti-hunting, Sierra Club member. A school teacher might be assigned to lift tower pads with a former student. I sit back and smile. As a writer, it’s an environment loaded with ideas.I go to bed thinking—the judge hires the welder through the attorney, who also trains pigeons. They contact the professor, who is on sabbatical in Zimbabwe. Together they smuggle diamonds via the pigeons to an island five miles from the coast, where the Sierra Club member keeps the gun dealer from shooting the worn out birds.
It’s goofy and a little sick. Not all the ideas are worth writing. Some are better than others. For me it’s about choosing; because, like the sunrise, I’ll have a new idea tomorrow.

My debut novel, The Samaritan’s Pistol, happened like this. Each year I take several horse trips to wilderness areas in Wyoming. Cowboys call a pistol a “horse first aid kit” in case of a broken leg in the back country. Luckily, I’ve never come close needing it or gotten a horse seriously hurt even though I ride into some rugged country. On one trip, with my pistol on my hip, I was near the trailhead and wondered what might happen if I ran into some bad people.

The idea percolated and now I’m a published author! Thanks for reading.

 Click on the following links to see the You Tube trailer for my story, and my author interview.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFG_Scdt4gohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWcC7WzHipA

Find Eric here:

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Even among his small town neighbors, Jim is a content man. Despite the emotional baggage from his time serving in Desert Storm, he successfully runs a ranch, owns several beautiful horses, and makes extra cash as a wilderness guide for wealthy tourists. He's a modern-day cowboy.

That is, until he runs into an ongoing mob-hit while riding in the mountains. Now, his most beloved horse is bleeding to death, three mobsters are dead from his smoking gun, and a wounded criminal is begging for his help. Jim has to make a decision. He can either high-tail it out of there, or accept a tempting offer made by the criminal—a promise of millions in stolen mafia cash for any help he gives.

Of course, only an idiot would turn down such an appealing offer when they’re marked for death anyway. Besides, Jim’s good nature cannot allow him to leave someone for dead, even a criminal. 

Soon, Jim finds himself on a trip to retrieve a truckload of stolen money near the Las Vegas strip, right under the Mafia’s nose. But even if they escape with the cash, will Jim’s conservative neighbors provide sanctuary for their local Samaritan, and how far will the mafia go for revenge?

Purchase on:

Amazon      Barnes and Noble      Visit Goodreads

And don't forget to enter the Giveaway below:  a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Thanks Eric! Intriguing idea! Can't wait to read your story. I haven't gotten around to reading The Samaritan's Pistol yet, but I'll probably read it this week, so look for a review next week. Can't wait to start it! It sounds like my kind of book! :D 

What do you think about how Eric gets his inspiration? Will you read The Samaritan's Pistol? 

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