The Real Story With Maria Elena Salinas Gives Taste Of "SAVING ANNIE" As with most true crime television documentaries, especially involving a case with as many moving pieces and storylines as are involved in my new book, SAVING ANNIE, the creators of "Fall of Innocence" made some mistakes, got some things wrong, and barely touched on many of the facts. Prior to airing, the producer acknowledged that even at an hour, the show could only … [Read more...]
A “Smooth-Talking” Serial Killer Keeps On Lying, Stays In Prison
Subject of New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Jackson's True Crime Book SMOOTH TALKER, Murderer Roy Melanson, Denied Parole He's 80 years old, in poor health, confined to a wheelchair, and twice-convicted serial killer Roy Melanson believes he should be paroled to a nursing home to live out his remaining days on Medicaid. Besides, as he told a Colorado parole board on September 6, he didn't commit the murder that got him sentenced to … [Read more...]
True Crime Author Steve Jackson Discusses Death Penalty From Epilogue Of A CLOCKWORK MURDER
New York Times Bestselling Author Weighs Pros and Cons In Book About "The Night A Twisted Fantasy Became Demented Reality" An Excerpt From The Epilogue of A CLOCKWORK MURDER: I personally am not a fan of the death penalty in its present form. I have several reasons for that: --Prosecutors who file death penalty papers in order to coerce a defendant into accepting a lesser plea. As noted in my colleague John Ferak’s wonderful book, … [Read more...]
Did The Attorneys Cross The Line Defending The Killers In A CLOCKWORK MURDER?
New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Jackson Discusses The Hidden Impact Of 'The Night A Twisted Fantasy Became Demented Reality' The brutal murder of Jacine Gielinski is one of those that stays with even an author as exposed to horrific crimes as I have been. Part of that is it was so random. She pulled up to a red light one evening at just the wrong moment and that sealed her fate. Part of it is the way this 'fantasy' took on a life of … [Read more...]
New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Jackson Explores An Unthinkable Crime In A CLOCKWORK MURDER
The Night A Twisted Fantasy Became Demented Reality They thought about their evil fantasy for months. Then, wound up like clockwork toys ... they acted. In April 1997, pretty, 22-year-old Jacine Gielinski stopped her car at a red light in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She had no idea that the two young men looking at her from the car next to hers would in that moment decide she would be their target for unspeakable horrors. George … [Read more...]
A Note From The Publishers Of RAW DEAL: The Untold Story of NYPD’s “Cannibal Cop”
At what point do we want law enforcement to spy on us and at what point do we want them to act? When Gil Valle and Brian Whitney approached us about publishing RAW DEAL, we were told that Gil wanted to tell his story “his way.” Our concern was that “his way” included graphic descriptions of the sexual fantasies that landed Gil in hot water in the first place and included the abduction, torture and murder of women, as well as cannibalism. As … [Read more...]
New York Times Bestselling Author Anthony Flacco Praises Steve Jackson’s True Crime Classic ROUGH TRADE
"This taut and well-told crime tale ..." "... take does a fine job of getting into the heads of the principal players. JoJo Cordova is a perfect representation of a good person subjected to a dangerous drug addiction can go from being a working police officer to a working prostitute desperate for her next hit of crack. ' "Jackson writes with clarity and precision, and never strays into schmaltzy emotion when describing the horrors of … [Read more...]
ROUGH TRADE By New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Jackson Explores Tale of Prostitution, Murder and Redemption
From Jackson's Classic True Crime Library ROUGH TRADE NOW AVAILABLE IN eBOOK, PRINT, AND AUDIO BOOK! Early one morning in May 1997, a young couple on their way to work in the mountains of Colorado spotted what looked like a man dragging a body up a secluded trail. The beautiful, densely wooded area off a dirt road seemed such an incongruous place for a violent crime that at first the couple had a hard time believing what they were seeing. But … [Read more...]
Unlikely Heroine Caused Bestselling Author Steve Jackson To Write ROUGH TRADE
Some true crime stories are like onions. I don't really know what I've got until I've peeled back the layers. Such was the case with my true crime book ROUGH TRADE: A Shocking True Story of Prostitution, Murder and Redemption, which I wrote in 1999 and published in 2000 following the murder trial of Robert Riggan in Jefferson County, Colorado. ROUGH TRADE NOW AVAILABLE FOR eBOOK PRE-ORDER AND COMING SOON IN REPRINT AND AUDIO BOOK! At … [Read more...]
New York Times Bestselling Author Steve Jackson Reflects On An Unexpected Reward From Writing SMOOTH TALKER
Writing true crime books has it's ups and downs. It can be a dark road through hell researching and writing about the terrible things human beings--if some killers can be classified as such--do to other human beings. It also has its rewards, some of them quite unexpected, as I was recently reminded. Anyone who reads my books knows that I'm not big on going into the gory details, or including the more "shocking" photographs included in … [Read more...]
