Lisa Kessler is an award-winning author of dark paranormal fiction and her latest book Moonlight is being released today.
Tell us a bit about your latest book, Moonlight.
Moonlight is a paranormal romance, but it’s written in alternating first person point of view, so the book has the voice and pacing of urban fantasy, but the passion of paranormal romance. Lana is a jaguar shifter, but she was abandoned as a baby so she has no idea that during the New Moon she’s been shifting into a jaguar. Without a family to guide her, she thought she’d been sleep walking. In her search fro a cure she catches the attention of the Nero Organization, a top secret government contractor who is intent on breeding elite jaguar shifter assassins.
When she stumbles in to Reno, NV, she finds herself on Adam’s territory. He catches the scent of a jaguar and goes in to neutralize the threat, but instead of killing her, he saves her from a group of trained Nero mercenaries. THe moment he touches her hand, the flesh to flesh contact awakens the wolf who recognizes her as its mate. The story takes off from there as Adam is pulled from all sides to protect Lana from Nero and his own Pack, while Lana rushes to unravel the mystery of her birth and why Nero is so intent on taking her.
When did you first start writing?
I actually wrote for fun every night for years. The thought of being published never really crossed my mind until I visited New Orleans for the first time. I had a palm reading and at the end as she walked me to the door, she smiled and asked, “Are you a writer?” I quickly replied, “No. But I do like to write for fun.” I swear her eyes twinkled and she told me, “You’re going to be a famous writer someday.”
I spent the rest of the trip in a daze and on cocktail napkins in the New Orleans airport I jotted down the plotline for my first novel, Night Walker. I also started submitting my short stories for anthologies and online magazines. As more stories were published my confidence grew. It’s been a LONG journey! 
How do you organize your writing?
I’m not a plotter, but for each series I do have a separate file for notes and research and pictures. I find keeping this “Notes” file really helps me when I write future books in the series and now that I have two concurrent series, it’s tricky to keep all the worlds and characters straight.
Where did the story idea come from?
Moonlight actually began as a short story. I met Ray Bradbury and he challenged me to write 52 stories in 52 weeks. But Lana and Adam wouldn’t leave me alone. I knew that short story was really only the beginning. Less than six months later Moonlight was the first novel in the Moon Series, and a few months after that Hunter’s Moon, Book 2 was complete as well.
Have you always been fascinated by werewolves and the supernatural?
I’ve definitely always been interested in the supernatural and almost all of my fiction has some element of paranormal to it. My short stories leaned toward horror and my novels are dark paranormal.
What kind of books do you read?
I still love to read horror, the last one I read that I really loved was Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Fabulous read! I also adore Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series and both of Patricia Briggs’ werewolf series. Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles have also been long time favorites for me.
What’s next?
I’m finishing up writing the final book in my Night Series, Night Child, and also working on edits for my October release of Hunter’s Moon. The first chapter of Hunter’s Moon is featured at the end of Moonlight and I’m really excited that readers won’t have to wait long for the next book in the series!
Thanks so much for the great questions!
