How Horses Took Me From the Thai Jungle to the Patagonian Wilderness

This week Thai Die is on promo, and Don’t Die for Me, Argentina is heading towards its full launch on 2nd May. Two books set on opposite sides of the world, shaped by two very different chapters of my life — but tied together by one unexpected thread.

Horses.

Not the polished, pony‑club version. The “I will fly across the world because I want to ride somewhere wild” version. The kind of instinct that pulls you into places you’d never have gone otherwise — and ends up shaping entire novels.

A childhood full of horses - me with my horse, Sparkey

Thailand: The Detour That Became a Beginning

I didn’t go to Thailand to start a pony‑trekking business.

I went because a friend had a motorbike accident and needed help.

But Thailand has a way of rearranging your life when you’re not looking.

While I was there, the Thai family who owned the resort — people who would later become my friends — asked if I wanted to help them set up pony trekking into the jungle. It sounded wild and brilliant and exactly the kind of adventure I could get behind.

So I went home, resigned from my job and headed to Thailand for a year to do it.

Everything moves slower. Plans stretch. Days unfold differently. And in the long, unhurried spaces between meetings, trail scouting and waiting for things to happen, I started writing my first novel.

The pony‑trekking business never came to life — just as we were ready to bring in the horses, SARS hit and everything stopped. But the research we’d done stayed with me. The jungle paths we explored. The dense green that swallowed the world. The beaches. The backpacker chaos. The Full Moon Party energy.

All of it became the foundation of Thai Die.

Argentina: The Leap Into the Wild

Years later, 21 in fact, I did it again — different continent, same impulse.

I went to Argentina to be a cowgirl for a week.

A real estancia experience: long rides across open land, horses with opinions, skies so big they made you feel like a dot on the map. Patagonia is beautiful, but it’s also raw. You’re off‑grid, exposed and very aware that nature is in charge.

That trip became the seed of Don’t Die for Me, Argentina.

Not because anything dramatic happened (thankfully no killers hiding in the riding group), but because Patagonia strips you back to instinct. That feeling — isolation, danger humming under the surface, the sense that you’re one wrong decision away from trouble — is exactly what DC Penny Stock walks into in Book 5.

The Thread Between the Books

Both stories were born from the same truth: I chase horses into wild places and those places become stories.

Thai Die came from the jungle.

Don’t Die for Me, Argentina came from the mountains.

Both came from saddles, sweat and the kind of travel that changes you.

Why This Matters in Launch Season

Because this isn’t just a promo schedule — it’s a chance to show the real experiences behind the fiction. The moments that shaped the books. The places that left their mark.

And this week, with Thai Die on offer and Don’t Die for Me, Argentina approaching launch day, it feels right to acknowledge the strange, wonderful path that led to both.

If You’re Reading Along

Thai Die is on promo this week. Don’t Die for Me, Argentina launches 2nd May.

And somewhere between the Thai jungle and the Patagonian wilderness, there’s a trail of hoofprints that leads straight through both.

Have a great week and grab Thai Die for 99p/99c this weekend only.

Helen x