Home

Howdy folks!

I'm Kit Mackenzie, the author of Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 1 - Go West, Girl!, and Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return, the first two novels of my epic western trilogy, self-published on Amazon. I'm currently working on Book 3, which I hope will be just as gripping as the first two, which have been an enormous success.

Browse this website for up to date news about my publishing journey and the story of my fascination for the wild west and how the trilogy came into being.

Thank so much for visiting.

Kit Mackenzie

The idea for the story of Alias Jeannie Delaney entered my multi- coloured consciousness during my teens. The story began as day dreams before going to sleep. I'd watched enough 1960s westerns to know that strong female protagonists didn't exist, much less the fastest gun, and were desperately needed. My story developed and became engraved in my mind. It became the novel I wanted to read because no-one else had written it.

Cowgirl Jeannie Morgan was well ahead of her time when I first envisioned her, in her own time and even mine and at the time when I was encouraged by hubby to actually write the story.

Writing a novel was also among the zillion things I wanted to do, and it was clear that it had to be a western. I started typing one-handed while feeding my baby over thirty years ago, and, sporadically, kept going. The words poured out because I knew what I wanted to say. I typed 'The End' over many drafts, then discovered that I had written a three-book series. I was, to put it mildly, gobsmacked!

ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - BOOK 1 - GO WEST, GIRL!

Book 1 of this crack shot western trilogy introduces devastating and charismatic cowgirl Jeannie Morgan, the fastest gun in the west and a great lover to both men and women. She's as tough as a miner's boots and her gaze kills just by looking at you. Many men and women desire her and she's an incredible lover. But can she be herself in a land she loves but where men fear her and want to kill her? In this first book she's killed twice in self-defence and she's desperate to kill again for revenge. On the other hand will her lethal gun, her sexuality and powerful persona be the death of her?

A GRIPPING, KICKASS 19th CENTURY COWGIRL STORY

'Oh wow, what a story! How on earth did you manage to come up with it? I'm lost in admiration for your ability to create such a vivid narrative. Your witing is 24 carat gold!'

This was the comment made by my editor after she received Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return. I was massively relieved and grateful! Alias Jeannie Delaney is singularly different from other western stories, but, when readers do come across it, organically or otherwise, they often steam through it like a railroad train without putting it down. Or so Kindle Unlimited, a library system which tracks a reader's progress, tells me. I've had a number of readers discover my novel there. Long may this continue!

Kitty Le Roy's

Wild West

I'm Jo, alias Kitty Le Roy, western enthusiast, alias Kit Mackenzie, Western Author. I'm an artist and writer from Hampshire in the UK and I've been fascinated by the wild west since my teens.

I'm even more fascinated by the rough n'tough, sharp shootin' western gals, which was spurred on - pardon the pun - by the various westerns I watched during the sixties - The Virginian, Alias Smith & Jones, The High Chaparral, and, at the cinema, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (my westerns had to have humour).

It's a mystery where that passion
comes from, but as I'm equally drawn to the paranormal, I wonder if I'm re-incarnated from Annie Oakley or Calamity Jane! Who knows?! Early on I couldn't decide whether to go for cavalier and join the UK Sealed Knot Society, who hold re-enactment battles and living history displays during the summer months, or become a pirate! I love the idea of all of it. In the end the wild west won out, but because hubby and I also enjoy steampunk, the options of being wild west or pirate within that genre are fully embraced. I'll talk about that later on.

Back to the wild west, however...

Those notorious and adventurous wild west women - cowgirls, ranchers, stagecoach drivers, prospectors, adventurers - captivated me to such a degree that I wanted to emulate them and don fringed buckskins and guns with other westerners.

As a teenager, I'd borrow my Dad's air rifle and shoot at empty plastic washing up liquid bottles and cat food tines from an (open) window. I wasn't a bad shot and Dad called me Annie Oakley (I loved that!).

I married my soulmate hubby who loved my passion and together we donned western kit and camped at wild west living history events. He adopted his persona of quack Doc Jack Coltrane (JC) - John Clutton was his grandad and Robbie Coltrane his hero. I was his partner, prospector and adventurer Kitty Le Roy. My brilliant hubby really encouraged my passion, suggesting I create my western persona, Kitty Le Roy. Kitty was a sharp shooting gambler I came upon in the now defunct Titbits magazine. She was wild and 'bristled like a cactus' with guns and knives, and was shot dead by husband number five in a shootout 'on the dusty streets of Dallas', Texas. Kitty was my granny's name so I adopted it and I've been Kitty ever since.

I've come across many old west wild women since who've aligned more with my western desires, but more on them later.

By my early twenties I wanted to find like-minded folk, especially women, who were at least interested in the west, but I knew no-one. This was an unusual hobby, particularly for a girl, and I've always been rather proud of the fact. Also by the fact that I'm a renaissance soul - someone with many disparate interests.

No internet back then, so finding western clubs and like-minded folk was very hard. I found two local western clubs through newspapers, and the boss of one of them spoke to my bemused mother when she answered the phone. What happened after that is lost in the mists of time.

Years later I discovered a number of wild west groups in the UK, including The British Westerners Association, and groups here in southeast England.

We joined the Whiskey Creek Western Club in West Sussex and for several years we attended living history camps with them. Everyone knew Kitty and I loved that!

I researched wild west women I could incorporate into my persona and discovered Sally Skull and Captain Ellen Jack, two amazing characters who really captured my imagination! There are many other women who inspired me, proving that Les Wild West Gals were certainly not thin on the old west ground.

The Kitty I portray is a pipe smokin', pistol packin' , saloon lovin', prospectin' gal in pants/ fringed calf length skirt either in 1880s Colorado or the 1890s Yukon gold rush. Colorado appeals greatly, and the Yukon is inspired by a prospectin' ancestor by marriage. (more of that later). Kitty has a mule called Jenny. Mules suit her better than hosses, 'cuz mules are daft n' ornery. If Jenny had been a Jack, she'd have been a jackass - a male donkey/mule/burro.

At the top was my cabin as it was originally - it's gone through many a metamorphosis since then! The story of my owning a cabin stems from a very different background.

When I was a kid, my dad's cousin offered his New Forest cabin for us to use for a day. I have vague memories of the cabin being in the depths of the woods surrounded by the sound of dripping water - stream/rain - and the rustic interior with its pots and pans and other domesticalia (my own word). Thereafter, I wanted a cabin of my own. So I was delighted when we acquired this one.

We built it from garden shed parts many years ago because it seemed the best fit. It originally came with window boxes for flowers. Very Wendy house! I turned those into shelves on which bottles of booze now sit.

It's become more authentic now. It went through various names including Calamity Creek Trading Post, which we used as our postal address at one point (our postie loved that!). It's now Kitty's Cabin.

It's weathered now - the lower picture - and distressed (a bit like me). I shouted at it and scraped the somewhat pristine wall planking. It's also filled with western artifacts - goat skull, steer horns, canned grub, whiskey bottles and my own western artwork. At one point we decided that it was far too small, so, using JC's amazing talents, we doubled its size and added a covered boardwalk with railings.

I've yet to shingle the roof, but we've enjoyed many a coffee, lunch and alcoholic drink on the boardwalk during the summer months. It came into its own during the pandemic when our son Tom slept in it while he was working. Very cosy, he said. :D!

I'm rather proud of my collection of wild west weapons - and me a UK granny, too. (That fact gives me kicks! It's not just big, hairy blokes who're heavily into it :-D!). I'm interested in swords as well, and almost went for cavaliers and pirates

The Winchester '73 rifle, Colt .45 and my Bowie knife, all quintessential images of the west, are my favourites and owned by my protagonist Jeannie, in my novel Alias Jeannie Delaney.

I have a .177 caliber pellet firing air rifle, given to me by Husband as a romantic anniversary pressie. I'd always wanted one after firing my dad's rifle! I've got archery kit, too. I'm armed and ready!

I shall be talking more about my wild west fascination, and that includes family history connections. I've researched that in the past and will continue doing so. So check back when you can and I'll continue updating this website. Thank you so much!