Raiders of the Lost Heart(99)

So back to that tweet. It had been intended as a joke, but days later, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I thought, what if a badass adventurer, à la Lara Croft, teamed up with a This belongs in a museum-type stickler, à la Indiana Jones （yes, I know Indy is also a badass, but bear with me）？ Picture it—Harrison Ford, I mean, Indy with those wire-rimmed glasses flashing that sexy, almost bashful smile at the heroine? Sign me up! And what if this Lara Croft–type character was Latina and she was searching for remains of her Aztec ancestor? My Mexican heritage is extremely important to me, so I wanted to include Latinx/e representation—especially since in the list of movies above, not a single one has any （at least not with any of the leads）。 Once I settled on the premise, I immediately decided to name the heroine Socorro after my great aunt Corrie, who was a badass in her own right. Also, the name Socorro means “help,” which is so fitting of Dr. Mejía’s character. And so, Raiders of the Lost Heart was born.

While I spent hours researching the lives of the Aztecs, I took certain liberties with this book for the sake of storytelling. Tenochtitlán, Moctezuma II, and the downfall of the Aztecs following the arrival of the Spanish are all real. The Aztec warrior Chimalli and the Spaniard Mendoza mentioned in this book are not. I tried to be sensitive to Aztec culture by acknowledging their way of life and by not condemning practices, such as human sacrifice and castration, that might seem ruthless in modern times. These were religious rituals that we might not understand today but were very important and meaningful to the Aztecs to ensure their gods were satisfied and their lands were fertile. I have included details of Aztec life in this book with the utmost respect and hope that it comes through in my writing.

I’ve traveled to Mexico and parts of Central America on multiple occasions, but I have not visited the Lacandon Jungle, the primary location where most of the events in Raiders of the Lost Heart take place. The landmarks described in this book are generally fictional to allow Corrie and Ford flexibility on their adventures. In addition, while the Aztec Empire did not extend into the Lacandon, it was a perfect location for the type of flora, fauna, terrain, and climate I was seeking, while also not being too far outside the geographical range that Chimalli could realistically flee.

Finally, as much as I wish I were, I am not an archaeologist. I know being an archaeologist is not as easy as hiking through the jungle and stumbling upon a half-buried archaeological site. As Indy pointed out in The Last Crusade, X never marks the spot （though he thought otherwise later in the movie）。 The actual process of locating a site requires lots of education and tons of research, and it’s extremely methodical. But I didn’t think you would enjoy reading about hours upon hours of researching in a library or months of scouting in the jungle, so this book requires you to suspend disbelief and accept that Corrie is simply that good of an archaeologist.

In the end, Raiders of the Lost Heart is intended to capture all of the thrills and swoons of the aforementioned adventure movies, albeit with a little imagination along the way to allow Corrie and Ford to shine. Besides, what’s an archaeological adventure without a little fortune and glory anyway? Hope you enjoyed!

With love,

Jo

Acknowledgments

Publishing a book has been my dream since the first grade. While my first book, The Dog and the Dog in the Pet Shop, required no assistance from others since the story, pictures （I couldn’t spell “illustrations”）， and glued binding were all done by myself, Raiders of the Lost Heart wouldn’t have been possible without the support and hard work of so many people—and in particular, so many badass women.

First, thank you to my agent, Eva Scalzo, and the team at Speilburg Literary Agency. When we spoke on the phone a few days after you’d liked my PitMad tweet and you were already halfway through reading this book, I had that warm, fuzzy feeling. Only fate can explain the fact that we sold this book on the anniversary of my one-year commitment to pursuing this whole writing thing in earnest.

To my editor, Sarah Blumenstock: Thank you for allowing Raiders to interrupt your vacation （sorry, not sorry）。 I loved writing this book, but I truly cannot believe how much I love it even more after having worked with you and incorporating all your amazing feedback. Thank you to assistant editor Liz Sellers, production editor Alaina Christensen, and managing editor Christine Legon—your fine-tuning has really made this book sing! Also, I promise someday I’ll get lay/lie/laid/lain right. Hopefully. To the rest of the Berkley Romance team: Kristin Cipolla, Jessica Plummer, Hillary Tacuri, and the copyeditor, Abby Graves, you all rock! And, finally, to artist Camila Gray for the stunning cover—you really brought Corrie and Ford to life. Extra thanks for the bird.

I can’t imagine having made it this far without my writing group, the Ponies! I’ve laughed so much （and so hard） with this group of badass chicks. Special thanks to Jen Comfort, my agent-sister and critique-partner extraordinaire! Your feedback was invaluable （and hilarious）， as are you. I’ll be your writing dom/sub any day. To Melora Fran?ois—you’ve pretty much been （stuck） with me since Day One when we sat at the same table during our first ECWC pitchfest. Thank you for always being up for a brainstorming session and for reading all my nonsense. I will never eat （an entire bag of） honey mustard pretzels and not think of you. And to the rest of the Ponies who’ve been with me since the start of my journey: Elle Beauregard, Lin Lustig, Jasmine Silvera, Kelly Blake, Alexis De Girolami, and Kate Wallis. You are seriously not only amazingly talented writers, but you are also amazingly wonderful friends.