Bestselling author Jessica Andersen is a two-time RITA nominee, a RT Reviewers’ Choice and Career Achievement Award nominee. A lifelong New Englander and double graduate of Tufts University, she holds a PhD in genetics, a patent agent’s certification, and a deep and abiding love for action-packed, sexy stories that guarantee a happily ever after. Her medical romantic suspense novels for Harlequin Intrigue have sold well over a million copies, and she’s eagerly awaiting the release of Dawnkeepers, the second among the Novels of the Final Prophecy, a series of paranormal thrillers about a group of powerful and very sexy modern-day magi who must reunite to save mankind in the final four years before December 21, 2012, when Maya prophecy- and a fair bit of modern science- predicts the world will end.

NovelTalk asks Jessica:  What prompted you to write this book?

Jessica responds:

One of my most vivid early memories is being on a family vacation and climbing up inside the big pyramid at Chichen Itza to see the jaguar throne. People were packed nose-to-butt, crouched down in the narrow stairway, with everyone on the right side going up and the ones on the left coming down. It was dark and cold, the stones were slippery, and I’m claustrophobic. But dude, seeing the jaguar up close and thinking about the people who’d carved and worshipped it… that’s something I’ll never forget.

Years later, I was working on a suspense proposal that involved poisonous snakes, and had a total “ooh, shiny!” moment when I pulled up a website on Mayan serpent rituals. From there, I found a reference to how the Mayan Long Count calendar is going to end on December 21, 2012, coinciding with an astrological event that scientists think could trigger sunspots and magnetic reversals, and maybe even knock the earth off its orbit. And I sat there thinking: Holy crap, this is it. This is what I have to write about.

This second book in the series, Dawnkeepers, evolved during the writing of Nightkeepers, when I kept having to tell these two very sexy, very strong-willed characters, Nate Blackhawk and Alexis Gray, to keep their arguments down to a dull roar and let me focus on the main storyline. Right after turning in Nightkeepers, I got to work on their story, because they were (and still are) incredibly vivid to me. I love reunion romances, and I love action-packed stories with lots of plot and character development. Basically, I wrote Dawnkeepers to be the story I would want to read if I picked it up at a bookstore. I’m very proud of the story, and hope the readers love Nate and Alexis as much as I do!

I’m actually finishing up final revisions on the third book in the Novels of the Final Prophecy. Skykeepers is the story of… well, I’m not telling, because their story evolves out of Dawnkeepers. But it’s a very, very cool book!