And Baby Makes 3 for Hank and Chloe

In “Hank & Chloe,” her 1993 debut novel, Jo-Ann Mapson introduced a pair of unlikely lovers.

Hank Oliver is a conservative and cautious untenured 43-year-old professor of folklore and mythology at an Orange County community college; Chloe Morgan is an earthy, impetuous 33-year-old part-time horse trainer and waitress with a troubled past and a hot temper.

Praised by Publishers Weekly as “an engrossing, sensuous, resonant read,” the novel ends with Hank and Chloe splitting up after her fear of commitment drives them apart. Hank moves to a remote cabin in the mountains of northern Arizona.

Now, in “Loving Chloe” (HarperCollins; $24), the Costa Mesa writer picks up where she left off, with Chloe driving up the dirt road to Hank’s cabin in her battered pickup truck and a hopeful Hank wondering why she’s there.

He finds out as soon as Chloe stands in the glow of her truck’s headlights and strikes a side-view pose: She’s pregnant.

Chloe moves in with Hank, but the pending birth and Chloe’s resistance to getting married aren’t the novel’s only complications. Enter handsome Junior Whitebear, who has returned from the East, where he has gained fame and fortune making Navajo jewelry.

Back home to dispose of his father’s ashes, Junior discovers an 8-year-old son he never knew he had, and he discovers Chloe. And after being called upon to deliver her premature baby when Chloe goes into labor, he falls in love with her and develops a fatherly bond with Hank and Chloe’s infant daughter.

Publishers Weekly says Mapson “has written an even more touching and provocative story, one that captures the complexities of human relationships in a situation where decent but flawed people attempt to behave honorably and yet acknowledge a triangle of passionate love.”

Back home for a break in her book tour, Mapson said that she had wanted to write a sequel to “Hank & Chloe” as soon as she finished it but that her agent suggested she wait and build up a body of work first.

Two more love stories set in the Southwest--”Blue Rodeo” and “Shadow Ranch”--followed, earning Mapson, 45, a reputation as a gifted writer of the contemporary West.

The time to finally write the sequel to “Hank & Chloe” came when, Mapson said, “the character of Junior started to take form in my mind and demand page space.”

Mapson said Junior was inspired by a combination of a quirky Indian jeweler she bought items from in Santa Fe, a famous Navajo jeweler she describes as movie-star handsome, and an argument she had with her friend--author Sherman Alexie, a Coeur d’Alene Indian who lives in Seattle--over what it means to belong to a tribe.

“It just seemed like those two [Junior and Chloe] would be unable to resist each other,” she said. “I’m always interested in exploring alternatives.”

In this case, it was “the way all three of them deal with the attraction [between Chloe and Junior] and the way they pour their hope and their love into those children. It seems to me we could all take a lesson there.”

Mapson spent several weeks in northern Arizona doing research for “Loving Chloe,” spending time in Cameron, Tuba City and Canyon de Chelly.

“I wandered around and stayed in various fleabags,” she said, describing northern Arizona as “a land of contrasts. There’s extreme beauty and ugliness and poverty and art and diverse culture. And, to me, the landscape of a book is as important as the characters.”

Mapson, who labels the women in her novels as “tough and determined” and the men as “damaged but decent,” believes people never tire of love stories.

“I think we, as readers, look at love stories as a way to elevate our ordinary relationships, to make us feel special. We have romance crammed down our throats in literature, movies, the media, in perfume ads, and that’s really not what our lives are. Our lives are about working, picking the kids up, doing the laundry--just survival. So I think the appeal of romances will never go away, and what I try to do with my writing is explore all the facets of love without flinching. Which is sometimes pretty hard to do.”

This Week:

* Joyce Spizer, author of “The Cop Was White as Snow,” will speak and sign at 1 p.m. today at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster. Spizer will also sign at 1 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 348 S. Tustin Ave., Orange, and at 3 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Fashion Island, 953 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach.

* Gary P. Macha, author of “Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of California,” will speak and sign at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders Books and Music, 25222 El Paseo, Mission Viejo.

* Catherine and Maureen Maloof, authors of “Healthy Eating . . . One Bite at a Time” and “Renew Your Heart . . . One Beat at a Time,” will sign at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Mother’s Market and Kitchen, 225 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa.

* Patricia Medina Cotten, author of “Laid Back in Hollywood,” Mimi Latt, author of “Pursuit of Justice,” and Prince Franz Hohenlohe, author of “The G.I. Prince,” will discuss their books at the Round Table West luncheon at noon Thursday at the Balboa Bay Club, 1221 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach. Cost: $35. For reservations, call (213) 256-7977.

* Magda Gerber and Allison Johnson, authors of “Your Self-Confident Baby,” will speak and sign at 7 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble, 26751 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo.

* Former MGM flight attendant Diana Benson, author of “Mile High Club,” will speak and sign at 7 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble in the Huntington Beach Mall, 7777 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach.

* KABC radio commentator and author Michael Jackson will speak at 7 p.m. Friday at the Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Admission: $20. For reservations, call (714) 717-3890.

* Poet Daniel McGinn will kick off the seventh season of “Steel and Ivy: Poetry at Chapman” with a reading at 8 p.m. Saturday in Room 208 of the Argyros Forum on campus, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Admission: $4.

* Mark Mazza, author of “Wannabes,” will sign at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 13712 Jamboree Road, Irvine.

* Mimi Latt, author of “Pursuit of Justice,” will speak and sign at 11 a.m. Saturday at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster. Latt will also sign at 1 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 348 S. Tustin Ave., Orange.

Send information about book-related events at least 10 days before event to: Dennis McLellan, O.C. Books & Authors, Life & Style, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.