About JP

I wasn’t always JP

The "J" is for Jo-Anne, a name I've answered to for years. So why the change? I'm not offended when my name is mispronounced Jo-Annie, or shortened to Jo, and I'm not put off when my name is spelled Joanne, JoAnn, or some other combination. But Internet search engines aren't quite as forgiving. That pesky hyphen and the variety of available spellings make finding me online a frustrating prospect, which isn't good for an author or her books. To simplify things, I decided to adopt my initials.

My love of reading started early. I have memories of sitting in my father's lap with a picture book from the library and dragging my finger along the page under words that Dad would help me sound out. I wonder if he remembers that? I'll have to ask him.

My love of writing started somewhat later but ignited when I began writing what I loved: supernatural thrillers. Some call it urban fantasy, paranormal, or magical realism. The definitions overlap somewhat but the thing they have in common is a fantastical element that forces you to suspend reality and ask the question, What if that were possible?

A bit of background

Toronto is the place I called home growing up. Our family had a cottage on the Manitouwabing River in the Muskokas, as did my paternal grandfather, my maternal grandmother and a great aunt. My family now live there, and I visit as often as I can.

When the opportunity arose to attend the University of British Columbia, I traded winter snow for winter rain and moved to Vancouver. I fell in love with the west coast. Where else can you ski world-class mountains in the morning, and while away the afternoon on a sailboat or a sunny beach?

Though I consider myself a homebody, I've had the great fortune to live in many interesting cities. Calgary, Alberta was home one particularly cold winter; La Colorada in Durango State, Mexico, was home for a year; the Mexican Baja was home for a season; and Tucson, Arizona was home for three years. I've visited too many cities to list, and still haven't seen much of this world, but where ever I go, eating local or traditional food is my favourite thing to do and grocery stores and markets are my go-to places.

I also enjoy scuba diving, snorkelling and swimming—pretty much anything in the water as long as the water is warm. Caribbean warm. Something else I've come to love are those padded beach loungers with the little flags on one corner that I can raise to garner the attention of a server. If that lounger is under a big umbrella, I can settle in for the day.

Where I call home today

My husband and I now make our home on Denman Island. It's one of the northern gulf islands nestled between the coast of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. When I'm not writing, you can find me in the garden, where I grow spectacular weeds, or in the kitchen, where I dirty a lot of pots and pans (or so I'm told).

I love to hear from readers. Please connect with me here or on any of my social media sites. Join my mailing list to receive a series of free short stories. And if you've read and enjoyed one of my books, I'd be grateful if you'd leave a review for it where you bought it or borrowed it, or even here.

Thanks for visiting.