Picture this. I’m standing in front of an eager throng of reporters. I’m well dressed and looking far more metrosexual than usual. All eyes are on me, desperate for information…about someone else—Jeremy Bishop. Who is this dashing writer who appeared out of nowhere and became a #1 Amazon.com horror author overnight? His first novel, TORMENT, is loathed by an angry few and adored by many. But he’s a mystery. No one knows who he is, or where he came from and yet, I know him, I promote his books, and claim to be his “friend.” It’s reminiscent of how Peter Parker always happens to get the best pictures of Spiderman. So the questions come to the only potential source of information available to the world. Me. And the question everyone is asking is: Who is Jeremy Bishop?
I clear my throat into the microphone, ending the barrage of questions and with a cocky smile, tell the truth.
“I am Jeremy Bishop.”
Okay, not all of that is true. It’s more of an Iron Man fantasy. There are no reporters. I don’t have a cocky smile. And I’m about as far as you can get from a metrosexual without being mistaken for bigfoot. But I AM Jeremy Bishop. That part is true. I took on the pen name 1.5 years ago for a few reasons that no longer apply, so I’m revealing my secret identity. Here’s the scoop:
A year and a half ago, I realized that the Jeremy Robinson novels couldn’t support my family of five, plus my live-in father-in-law. I also realized that I was getting burned out on the “everything I write has to be explained scientifically” aspect of being a science-thriller author. So I decided to take on a pen name that could 1. Write stories with a supernatural explanation, or just leave things a mystery, and 2. Could be judged by publishers without them being biased by their preconceived notions of what Jeremy Robinson writes or how his books are selling. The goal was to get a separate book deal and double my chances of becoming a super-bestselling author.
A lot has changed since then. E-books have taken off and I’m now able to support my family without too much trouble, so the need for a second book deal is gone. But the other interesting fact is that TORMENT, the first Jeremy Bishop book, has outsold many of my past print books and has made more money than ANY of them, including the hard covers. So I’ve decided to not even take it out to publishers. I’m going it alone, which is nothing new for me, but I’m now free to reveal that I am Jeremy Bishop.
Now before you get upset at me for concealing this fact, know that I’ve tried to make it fairly obvious to my fans. The first name is the same and the last name is Bishop—as in Chess Team Bishop (if you see Jeremy Knight in the future, you know who it is!). I’ve also been mentioning the fact that I have a horror pen name, often around the same time I promote a Bishop book. AND, last but not least, the author photos are both me! I’m wearing glasses in the Bishop photo, but I’ve never believed Clark Kent was an adequate disguise for Superman.
Of course, if you didn’t figure it out, and this is news to you, then I hope you will check out the Bishop books, knowing that they are, in fact, Robinson books. The Bishop books are horror and as a result are more violent, and graphic (though only slightly more graphic than the Chess books) and have a few more curse words as is appropriate with the screwed up situations in which I put the Bishop characters. And while THE SENTINEL has a quasi-scientific explanation for things, I don’t even attempt it in TORMENT. The wonderful thing about the Bishop books is that they are experimental. TORMENT is highly original and elicits an emotional response from everyone who reads it, whether that is anger, fear or “that is so cool.” But the emotion most readers have upon finishing is powerful, and as a writer, that makes me happy. THE SENTINEL is experimental for me in that it is written in the first person from the perspective of a very sarcastic woman. Where TORMENT is serious, THE SENTINEL is fun.
Either way, if you enjoy the Robinson novels, you’re going to enjoy the Bishop books, too. So check them out. Show some love to my alter ego. And if you’re a Bishop fan who has come across this post, be sure to check out the Robinson books. You’ll enjoy the Jack Sigler books as well as THE LAST HUNTER.
Here’s some links to help you get to know Jeremy Bishop better:
Visit Jeremy Bishop’s website.
THE SENTINEL ( available print by September 23):
Buy THE SENTINEL from Amazon.com
Buy THE SENTINEL from B&N
TORMENT
Buy TORMENT from Amazon.com
Buy TORMENT from B&N
Jeremy, good on you for coming out of the closet. As a person who writers across several different genres, I can understand why you’d want to use a pen name.
On a side note, you TORMENT links for Amazon and B&N are wrong. Those are SENTINEL links.
Comment by Justin Macumber — September 12, 2011 @ 12:54 pm
Thanks, and thanks for the link error report. All fixed up!
Comment by Jeremy Robinson — September 12, 2011 @ 1:01 pm
Well, that solves my problem….always looking for more books to read by my fav authors and as I love JR I am sure I will love JB!
Comment by Trudi Gordon — September 12, 2011 @ 6:19 pm
Hope you DO enjoy both names!
Comment by Jeremy Robinson — September 12, 2011 @ 9:04 pm
Will you continue to write more horror books using the Bishop name? I hope so because there are not very many good horror authors out there right now and I really enjoyed Torment.
Thank You
Comment by Ian Mission — September 12, 2011 @ 9:04 pm
I’ve bought the Kindle copy of TORMENT. I’m sure I’ll love it.
Comment by Justin Macumber — September 12, 2011 @ 10:04 pm
Yup, I’ll be writing one Jeremy Bishop book per year. I just released THE SENTINEL a few days ago, so if you enjoyed TORMENT, be sure to check it out. The next one is already in the works, though it will be a while before I actually get to write it. Have three Robinson books to do first.
Comment by Jeremy Robinson — September 12, 2011 @ 10:28 pm
Hope you do. It’s kind of…messed up.
When you finish, be sure to get THE SENTINEL. TORMENT is like a heavy meal and SENTINEL is dessert!
Comment by Jeremy Robinson — September 12, 2011 @ 10:29 pm
Yep, on a blog post I figured it, but nice for confirmation… recommended robinson books to my sister after she read Torment and enjoyed it! Can’t wait to read sentinel… finished a book now, then onto it… love my kindle, can store soooo many. Good luck!
Comment by jennifer antle — September 12, 2011 @ 10:48 pm
Yeah, I suppose I knew about this a bit like Jokasta knew Oedipus was her son, but with the last post I looked at it and went, “ehhhuuuuuuuuuu…”.
Thanks,
Blake.
Comment by Blake — September 14, 2011 @ 6:39 pm
Jocasta*
Comment by Blake — September 14, 2011 @ 6:40 pm