Funny story. I wasn’t able to write a medical romance series until just recently. It took me about ten years to reach that point. As a physician, the subject matter felt too close to home. So the idea for YUKON VALLEY, ALASKA hospital medical romance series percolated in the background while I wrote other fun stories and honed my writing craft.
Fast forward to the year 2025, and all three of my YUKON VALLEY, ALASKA hospital medical romance series are being released, thanks to Tule Publishing!
The series concept is: Gray’s Anatomy meets Northern Exposure, and so far readers seem to really enjoy the stories!
Given that this is a medical romance series, and given that I’m a rural doctor, questions have arisen. Understandably so. Without further ado, here are the top questions I’ve received from readers.
- Do you live in Alaska?
No! That seems to be a rumor going around. I heard it at the last two book signings I attended. It is a compliment that people believe so much in the reality of these books that they think I’m from Alaska. I’ve traveled to Alaska for vacation, but not for work. I do, however, have a colleague, Liz*, a locums FP/Ob (family doctor who does obstetrics – like me!) who kindly answered every Alaska question I threw at her for about two years when we worked together. Those answers, plus my own lived experience, provided a wellspring of ideas for the series! - Then where is The End Of the World?
If you follow me on social media, you’ll see mention of my location as The End Of the World. Nowadays, that represents a few places. Prior to this last year, I had only lived and worked in rural or frontier locations in the lower 48 states. The biggest town I practiced in was 8,000 people, and it was over two hours from the nearest big medical facility. Two hours, that is, when there wasn’t a blizzard or a flood making it impossible to transport patients. I still help out at a couple of facilities which are in very remote and/or very cold locations. It takes an entire day of travel (flights + driving long distances) to reach these sites. Then I stay there for 1-2 weeks and take over for the local doctor(s), delivering babies, caring for newborns, seeing patients in the office, admitting patients to the hospital, consulting in the ER – whatever is needed. - Are the patient stories real?
Yes and no, but mostly no. Some of the situations are loosely based on my experiences, though the outcomes or details are often different. If I ever reference a specific patient – in my books and on social media – I de-identify everything including timeframe. So, even though I might mention a patient situation online, it could have occurred a week, a month, or a year ago. - Is DR. ALASKA your life?
Yes and no, but mostly yes … but backwards! DR. ALASKA was for sure written as not my life. Yes, I’ve experienced a lot of what Dr. Tipton has from a professional sense – stopping to help car accidents and working in a rural hospital covering ER/medical floor/labor and delivery. But it wasn’t until about two years after I wrote the first draft of DR. ALASKA that I took my first locums hospital assignment. From there, my life became this bizarre merging of fiction and reality. Here I was, living my book! Such a surreal experience! At least I could personally verify that my fictional details were accurate as to the experience of a locums FP/Ob in the middle of nowhere… - Do your patients or colleagues know about your books?
Nope. I keep my Day Job and my Writing Job strictly separate. That’s my choice and I’m comfortable with it. I also have knowledge of a colleague who was fired by a hospital system when the system found out that the colleague had been writing steamy romance novels. (Like, who cares, right?) Hey, I know that firing someone for their non-work activities is not okay on several levels. But in an at-will firing environment the employer can do whatever they want. I’m not willing to push my luck. Yet. At some point, much like the great historical romance author and NYU tenured professor of English Eloisa James, maybe I’ll hand out copies of my bestselling book at a faculty meeting, as my way of revealing to my colleagues about my double life.
*Liz also does not know I write romance. She just thinks I am obnoxiously inquisitive about her life in Alaska…
About the Author.
Award-winning and bestselling author Jillian David quickly writes then slowly edits medical romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense books. She loves to use medical situations and characters to drive drama in her books. Her favorite cell is the platelet and her least-favorite organ is the pancreas. She fully believes that curse words, when appropriately deployed during surgery, are hemostatic. Which also explains why no book of hers will ever bleed out…
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