Inspiration for The Last Ride : A Paranormal Love Story.

The Last Ride is a book I've wanted to write for the last ten years, but didn't have the skill or stamina to do it.

Initially, the idea arrived as a story of a dying man riding across the country in hopes of finding meaning in his last days. I sketched the idea out a bit and even rode my Indian Springfield motorcycle to Maine as research, but writing a main character without motivation is a story with nowhere to go.

Why was he riding across the country? What would he encounter along the way? How could I make riding across the Great Plains interesting? There were technical difficulties as well; how might I write his memories stepping backward in time as the character traveled across the country? So, the idea got trunked (writer's parlance for set aside and probably forgotten).

I then went on to write my Outlaw series, then the five books of Extinction, and the separate novels, Redemption, and Inception. Throughout that time, The Last Ride remained at the back of my mind, while I gained skills as a writer.

Then, as I wrapped up Inception, the idea of using a paranormal experience in The Last Ride occurred to me. As it is with many things, the spooky plot device was inspired by real-life.

When I was seventeen years old, I was in a very bad car accident. I was unbuckled in the passenger seat as the driver hit some ice and lost control of his vehicle. The car slammed into a tree, then flew off the road and landed in a gully some forty feet below. The driver dragged my body up the slope, waved, and finally flagged down a car. I was given CPR because my heart had stopped. That went on long enough for the EMTs to arrive.

Throughout this hullabaloo, my experience was of seeing the tree coming and then suffering intense violence. And then, I was somewhere else. It was warm, and I was with my friends (I don't know who they were), and incredibly happy.

My first memory back in my body was of an EMT yelling and punching me in the chest. It was cold, and I wanted to go back to where it was warm. Unbidden, my first words were, Oh no, not again.

Returning to this world felt like punishment. In the decades since the accident, I've wondered about the meaning of my first words after being brought back.

Oh no, not again?

What if I'm stuck in a loop? What if we all are? What if we're destined to live this life over and over until every possible choice and circumstance is made and experienced?

The question of 'what if?' is the inspiration of every work of fiction writing, and The Last Ride is no exception.

Purchase The Last Ride now.