FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME

I’m taking advantage of KDP Select’s five day free option and offering a FREE download of my psychological thriller SHEER PANIC from May 15th through May 19th only. 

This is a novella and is only 112 pages. Please feel free to hop over to Amazon and you’ll see it is priced at $0.00. (You’ll need an Amazon account, which is free.) Click on ‘Buy Now’ and if you don’t have a Kindle, Amazon will lead you through it. They have apps that will allow you to read Kindle files on your PC or tablet or phone.

It’s kind of a mix between dark and sweet, which is what I like to do. Just when things seem to be all bad, something uplifting takes place. And of course, I like to feature animals.

What would you do if someone came into your house and moved your stuff while you were sleeping? Breanna Benton’s denial morphs into terror when she finally has to accept the truth, but which one of the three men who harass her is the stalker? 

The maintenance man at college makes her edgy and uneasy when he accosts her with inappropriate comments; Dorky Dorian seems to be following her everywhere she goes, and it troubles her to think he may have tampered with her car; hunky Joaquim at the stables where she keeps her horse takes his flirting to a new level, awakening terrifying and exciting emotions all the way to her core, but did he copy her house keys? 

And then Lance, the boy she had a crush on at high school friends her on Facebook. He never noticed her before. She’s ecstatic, but a little scared. 

She draws comfort from the only stabilizing factors in her life—her niece, Shari, and the elderly neighbor Mrs. Stanley and her dog, Panda. 

Here’s the link:  Sheer Panic

  

Sometimes Karma’s a Dog

Karma’s a bitch–we’ve all heard that saying before, but this short story is a little different. 

   Romney Richlieu cursed. Bad luck followed her as usual.

   Her whole life had been one giant screw up, and now this.

   She mimicked Mrs. Breiton’s words. “We’re so sorry. It’s nothing to do with your leg, Romney. The company is in financial difficulty and we have to let a few people go.”

Sorry, my ass. I don’t know why they hired me in the first place. I didn’t hide my leg. It’s all skinny and ugly and it’s totally obvious my shoe is built-up. They could see that from the time  I  went for the first interview. I suppose it’s because of that silly woman with the Chihuahua in her purse. How was I supposed to know it was there? I like animals. I wouldn’t have put the file on top of the purse if she had told me it was there. And anyhow, the dog is fine.

   She dragged her personal items from her drawer and tossed them all in the trash can. Like her life, nothing in there was worth saving.

   She walked out of that place with her head held high. It wasn’t totally a normal walk, but she didn’t limp so much these days with the new orthotic shoe. So now what? She couldn’t even claim on unemployment because she hadn’t been there long enough. Maybe next time she should wear long pants to the interview and they wouldn’t see her leg. But these days with the recession, it seemed that the only way she could get a job was because of the sympathy factor. The poor crippled girl. We should be nice to her.

   Romney stopped in the park and flopped onto a bench. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about her circumstances, but now fear clutched at her stomach. How will I pay the rent? Will they kick me out? Oh God. I wish I could just die.” She held her head in her hands and cried quietly.

   “What the . . .?” She looked up sharply when something wet made contact with her arm. A dog—and he was licking her.

   “What are you doing?” She pushed him away. He stood there and wagged his tail—and his whole butt wagged with it. He showed her his teeth. But he wasn’t snarling. He was smiling. The mutt was smiling at her. She tried to keep the stern look on her face, but he looked so funny with his butt wiggling like that and the goofy grin, she laughed out loud. Then she noticed his leg. One of his back legs was all shriveled up, the muscles useless and wasted like hers, and he held it up off the ground.

It didn’t seem to bother him. He wasn’t pissed off with life. In fact, he looked epically happy to see her. His  matted, dirty white fur clung to a bony frame. He wasn’t wearing a collar. She reached out and patted him on his head and his butt wagged harder than before. He made a whining kind of noise.

   “I do believe you’re talking to me,” she said. “You must be a stray, and yet you look so frikkin’ happy despite your bad leg, and you probably haven’t had a square meal for a while.”

   She jerked and blinked. An old lady perched on the other end of the bench. Where had she come from? She smiled at Romney and petted the dog. “This is Andy,” she said. “He was mine, but I passed, and he was left to fend for himself. He’s yours now.” Before Romney could even open her mouth to reply, she was gone.

   Was she really ever there?

   Romney shrugged and smiled down at him. Smiling did something to her. It made her feel hopeful.    “Well, Andy, let’s go see what we can do to get back on our feet. The first thing I’m gonna do is get you a square meal. I feel like our luck has just changed.”

   Andy barked twice, and they limped out of the park together.

I grew up on a farm in Zimbabwe, Africa, and lived through some crazy adventures that sparked my imagination; including having to keep a loaded UZI by my side every night in case of an attack by armed insurgents. I love all animals and don’t seem to be able to keep them out of my stories, which usually take place in small, country towns.  Find out more at http://www.trishjackson.com .

Reviews for Virgo’s Vice

All authors know reviews are important because they help readers to decide whether to buy your books or not, and we are always thankful to people who take the time to write a review, or even a one line comment.

Unfortunately, some readers take great delight in dissing books, and earn themselves the title of ‘troll’. If you don’t like a book, it’s okay to say so and to explain why, but there is no need to be hateful and nasty like the review for Virgo’s Vice from a woman named Libby. If you go to her profile and check out her stats, you can see she is a committed troll.  She’s rated 1019 books and her average rating is 2.92 stars. It appears she was expecting a sweet little innocent romance. She probably doesn’t understand that romantic suspense or suspense thrillers with romantic elements can be dark and intense.

Thankfully, most readers who leave reviews are good people who want to express their honest opinions in a decent and respectful manner. I personally don’t publish reviews if I believe a book is worth less than three stars. I usually contact the author and explain why I feel the way I do and leave it at that.

Here are three great reviews Virgo’s Vice received this past week:

From Ron (4 Stars)

Virgo’s Vice asks, “What if Survivor were about actually surviving?” When a disparate group of contestants, with two camera operators, are parachuted into Africa with few supplies, they are confronted with just that question. Each has a reason to win the contest with a cool million as a prize and each has a reason to make sure no one else does. But how far will they go to win? Literally landing on her butt in the brush, Lexie King is right in the middle of it. When she took on the assignment to film the event, she had no idea what she was getting into. She is haunted by demons from her past and soon finds the present ones can be just as bad. She is confronted with the the possibility that one of the contestants feels that a million dollars worth killing for. Or are other evil forces at work?

Trish Jackson shows her familiarity with the African wilds in this book and uses it as a backdrop for her book. The characters are a varied lot, some good people and some not so good, but all are interesting. You find yourself rooting for some and not caring what happens to a few. It’s a lot like life. In the end, I’m reminded of a phrase from the old TV series, Maude, “God will get you for that.” I must admit that Jake was my favorite character, willing to give his life for Lexie, but I’m a dog person. Still, loyalty and self sacrifice are great qualities in any species. While part of the book is first person, in Lexie’s point of view, Trish also uses third person to let you know what other characters are thinking and seeing. It’s a fun read and keeps up a good pace throughout the book.

From Ken (4 Stars)

Trish Jackson’s fast-paced crime and romance novel “Virgo’s Vice” takes us into the wilderness of Africa. The contestants and two camera people have just been parachuted into the wilds where they are going to take part in a television reality show. Stranded by the failure of the show’s producer to get funding, the characters have to survive a menu of murder, love, and disaster. Using a combination of first and third person narration, Jackson creates the sense that we are watching a television show that has gone out of control. This is a page-turner with strong action and excellent romance.

From Todd (5 stars)

Reality TV…nope, not for me. But a book about a reality TV show in Africa that had a lot of things go wrong… I loved it! There was romance, there was suspense, and most importantly there was a great story behind it all, unlike reality TV. Lexie King the main character in the book is well thought out and described. Her past is the main story in this book to me and Trish does everything right in making this affect her life as a contestant for the $1,000,000.00 prize.

Thank you SO much. I really appreciate you.

Here’s a link to more info and the Amazon page where you can buy this book.

Bye Bye 2015

I can’t believe I haven’t updated my blog for so long. My excuse is that I went to South Africa to celebrate my amazing mother-in-law’s 96th birthday, and then when I got home the ‘silly season’ was in full swing. 

That’s all in the past now and 2016 looms on the horizon. I’m hoping it’ll be a great year for writers in general. My wish is that you all have something good to celebrate next year.

2015 was a good year for me as a writer. I had two books published and a short story. As always, they include delightful animal characters and romance, plus a message to educate people about the evils of our world.

Sheer Panic is a novella I published myself. It’s my first attempt at a psychological thriller. 

Breanna Barton has no love life until the guy she had a crush on at high school shows up unexpectedly on Facebook and wants to get together. After several strange and terrifying incidents, she comes to the realization that someone is stalking her. But it can’t be him. He lives in another state. 
Her eight-year-old niece, and Panda, the little black and white mutt who belongs to her elderly neighbor rescue Breanna in more ways than one.
Sheer Panic on Amazon

 Virgo’s Vice, the third in my Zodiac Series, was released by Soul Mate Publishing late in the year.

Camera operator Lexie King has a good reason to work out of her comfort zone in Allan Dockery’s new survival-style reality show in Africa. She is determined to overcome her PTSD and make something of herself, but she has no way of knowing he would be there. The monster who molested her repeatedly as a child.
Jake, the producer’s chocolate lab, and sexy cowboy contestant Billy Murphy are her only hope, but can they do enough to save her?  

Virgo’s Vice on Amazon

Lexie’s Story is the prologue to Virgo’s Vice. I self-published this on Smashwords and it can be downloaded totally free in any format.

   Lexie KIng’s childhood sucked. When she wasn’t lying in in her bed at night waiting for ‘the monster’, she was hiding from the bullies at school. It was like she had a sign on her forehead that said “Abuse Me.”
   Lexie’s parents died in a car crash when she was too young to remember, and Aunt Jess refuses to believe that her live-in lover, Phillip could be molesting Lexie. 
   An ugly mutt named Candy — a cross between a boxer and a standard poodle — is Lexie’s only friend in the world.

FREE Download of Lexie’s Story

See you all next year.