JO. B. CREATIVE!: NOT EVERYONE'S MUG OF SARSAPARILLA ...

(The illustrations are courtesy of AI. When I post other promotional material, I shall be creating my own artwork).

ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY

SHE'S NOT EVERYONE'S

MUG OF SARSAPARILLA ...

... nor would I expect my protagonist Jeannie Morgan to be. She's outrageously OTT. Ever since I began creating her all those years ago when I was a teenager during the 1970s, I've been intent on building and honing her persona and physical look to my satisfaction. Anything less than how I envisaged her wouldn't do.

I'd watch TV and films and characters would pop up and inspiration would spark my mind. The person's appearance, their mannerisms, would evolve an idea. It took a very long time but it had to be done. I had to create Jeannie. She made me do it! Eventually, years later, I'd written half her life story up to the age of forty-five, which concluded as a trilogy, much to my surprise! (I may have other ideas later - I don't want to be finished with her).

The narrative unfolds in her early years in New Orleans, in a townhouse in the French Quarter. She wilfully and strongly rebels against female restraints, cutting her long, wavy hair short, adopting boy's clothes and becoming a tomboy and natural leader. Some kids adore her and others loathe her. Parents despair of their off- springs' association with her. Pa adores his little tomboy, whilst attempting to tone her down a bit while Mama gives up in despair.

The family migrate west when Jeannie is nine years old. Pa becomes a rancher in Wyoming and Jeannie learns to be a cowpoke alongside her brothers and loves it. It's with sheer delight when she's older that she discovers her instinctive handling of a gun, and ultimately her extraordinary ability at drawing and shooting with accuracy and the speed of a snake strike.

Meantime, quite apart from her breathtaking, devastating tomboy beauty, her personality evolves into something many folk find hard to handle. Her charismatic magnetism can be overwhelming, but her irreverent humour counterbalances that. Soon enough her power over people will become evident. I wondered if she was OTT and perhaps she is, but this is one of the points of the story and I loved the idea, introducing people's jealousies of her.

This is no romance, although she falls in love. Nor is it erotica perse, although juicy adult portions are part of the narrative. Those form backdrops to the shocking discovery of her sexuality.

I've said that Jeannie ain't everyone's mug of sarsaparilla and she ain't. I'm not unduly surprised, although I've muttered to myself in the past: She's my heroine - can't others see her like that? But since publication I've become a little more understanding of others' opinions. I hope so.

I've grown up with her and she's become my constant companion, scary, sometimes terrifying, but the funny individual that she is. If I met her in the high street I'd be terrified and would run a mile! But I do love reading her story and I get shivers up my spine, so I think I've done something right. Again, I hope so.

THE AUTHOR & HER PA

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Alias Jeannie Delaney follows the life of devastating and charismatic pants-wearing cowgirl Jeannie Morgan, who's the fastest gun in the west and a magnificent lover to both men and women. This is her journey to find her true self on the wild frontier throughout deadly confrontations and personal tragedies. Will Jeannie find happiness or will her tomboy beauty, powerful persona and lethal gun ultimately be the death of her? Read the story and find out!

Available in E-book & paperback on Amazon.