The Blue Stealer

Sally's People are characters I invented for books, short stories and poems. Their creation spans the last three decades of the 20th Century and (so far) the first of the 21st.
The Blue Stealer is a blue heeler dog who belongs to a dubious character named Freddy "Fingers" Wysell, a thief who settles briefly in Doggeroo. Blue is also a thief. He acts as lookout and accomplice for his master, but gets little attention and no affection for his loyalty. Jack Russell is angry with him initially, but soon he pities the Blue Stealer as a dog with no toys, no dog bed, no food bowl and no love. Blue's life of crime comes to an abrupt end when he falls out of Wysell's van. Jack fears this might be the end of the road for Blue, since he is manifestly unsuitable for a pet, but Blue ending is happier than that. He goes to live on a farm where kind training, occupation and good company will help him to become a nicer dog.

The Blue Stealer appears in "The Blue Stealer", Number 10 in the Jack Russell: Dog Detective series.

Auntie Tidge Russell

Sally's People are characters I invented for books, short stories and poems. Their creation spans the last three decades of the 20th Century and (so far) the first of the 21st.
Auntie Tidge is the salt of the earth. She is a big, generous lady with glasses and a smile as big as her heart. She loves her nephew, Sarge, and his dogs, Jack Russell and Preacher. Her affection easily stretches to Caterina Smith, Sarge's intended, and Caterina's harum-scarum dog, Red. Her kindness is also tinged with practicality, as when she adopts Foxie the street dog, and sets about teaching him to be an acceptable member of society. Auntie Tidge's real first name has never been revealed, but somehow she has remained single.

Since moving to Doggeroo in the wake of her nephew and Jack, Auntie Tidge has fully involved herself in the town. She cooks for stalls, knits for charity, minds houses and pets, does a little dressmaking and helps run the new Doggeroo Fowl Society. She could easily be a busybody, but her genuine kindness and shrewd intelligence keep her just this side of the line.

Auntie Tidge appears in all the Jack Russell: Dog Detective series. The illustration is by the wonderful Janine Dawson.

Eden Raven

Sally's People are characters I invented for books, short stories and poems. Their creation spans the last three decades of the 20th Century and (so far) the first of the 21st.
Eden Raven is one of three main protagonists in "Shadowdancers", published in 1994 by HarperCollins Australia. She is the younger and, she feels, the less valuable of the Raven sisters, overshadowed by the brilliant, beautiful and wilful Pirimba. Eden has wiry, uncontrollable hair, heavy glasses and a stocky build. She compares herself unfavourably to Pirimba at every turn. She is aware of this tendency, partly because of her analytical friend Tiv's comments. "She's the beauty, so you decided to become the buffoon". Because Pirimba is wilful, athletic and graceful, Eden has become obedient, reliable, and stolid. A natural observer, she doesn't particularly mind her life in the shadows, but when Pirimba is hurt, and finally slips into a coma, Eden feels survivors' guilt. It is a long climb back to normality as her family disintegrates around her, but she finds solace in an unexpected friendship with the graceless Craig Day.

Eden and Pirimba were both named for places in New South Wales; but though Eden kept HER name, Pirimba was originally called Merimbula. For some reason, the editor disliked this name, so she became Merimba and then, pinally, Pirimba.

Eden appears only in "Shadowdancers", but Craig is a character in "Amy Amaryllis".

Tess Toad Tummy

Sally's People are characters I invented for books, short stories and poems. Their creation spans the last three decades of the 20th Century and (so far) the first of the 21st.
Tess Toad Tummy is a sweet little dog with a penchant for stealing bath plugs... and eating them. She belong to Mrs Gamble, and trots merrily and larcenously through Baker's story in "Soggy Doggy Dot Com". Tess Toad Tummy is named after our own little dog Tess, who also used to eat bath plugs in her youth.
Soggy Doggy Dot Com was published in 2000 by Barrie Publishing in the Momentum series. I wrote it under the pseudonym of Patrick Farrell, and it is one of my favourites. A related title is Creature Cottage.

Preacher Russell

Sally's People are characters I invented for books, short stories and poems. Their creation spans the last three decades of the 20th Century and (so far) the first of the 21st.
Preacher is the son of Jack Russell: Dog Detective and his lady of choice, Jill Russell. Preacher's arrival is foreshadowed in Book 6, The Sausage Situation, in which Jack is off to spend some time with Jill. In the next book, The Buried Biscuits, Jill has a litter of four puppies, and in Book 8, The Kitnapped Creature, Preacher is living with Sarge Russell and Jack. It's a bachelor establishment, for the time being, and Jack takes on the training and bringing up of his son.

Preacher is happy, friendly and enthusiastic. He looks up to his dad and Sarge, and loves to go back to see his mum. He models himself on Jack, and occasionally shows shrewdness in his comments. He has a wilful streak, and makes friends with Fat Molly Cat, going against Jack's wishes. As the books continue, Preacher grows from a puppy to a young dog and by the time Book 11, Inspector Jacques, rolls around, he is slightly bigger (and a good deal heavier) than his father. He is, as Jack puts it, a "pawtly pup". A bad experience with children damages Preacher's confidence for a while. That's something he will have to work through.

Preacher is named for, and modelled on, our own dog. That's OUR Preacher's photo on the cover of The Kitnapped Creature. The Jack Russell stories are published by Scholastic, and by Kane Miller and Bolinda Audio, and beautifully illustrated by Janine Dawson.

Estelle "Tell" Clancy

Sally's People are characters I invented for books, short stories and poems. Their creation spans the last three decades of the 20th Century and (so far) the first of the 21st.
Tell Clancy is fifteen, an intense girl with kind but somewhat distant (and estranged) parents. Much of Tell's attention and affection is directed towards her best friend, the withdrawn genius Camena de Courcy. When Gerhardt Watchman, a new boy at St Boniface College, takes an interest in Camena, Tell is immediately on her guard. There is something not quite right about Gerhardt.

Because Tell has always acted as Camena's emotional support and filter, and because she compares herself to her friend, she underestimates her own appearance and intelligence. She has no idea of her own strength of character, nor that she is potentially telepathic. Tell is a survivor, and she needs every shred of her strength to survive the adventure that begins at Trinity Street and which will take her far away, with no hope of return.

Tell is one of my favourites among my characters; another of the strong-minded teenagers I created during the 1990s. She appears in "Trinity Street", published in 1997 by HarperCollins Australia.

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