Eclipse, at left, is the just-released third book in the series. In the middle is New Moon, the sequel to the first book, at right, Twilight.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

When we last spoke with Stephenie Meyer, the Arizona mom who hit paydirt with a lush teen novel of vampire love, she was puzzling over the irrational zeal she’d unleashed among adolescent girls.

No one could get over it, the way besotted girls would flock from as far away as Hawaii and New Brunswick, Canada, to attend signings or pay homage to Forks, Wash., where Twilight and its sequel, New Moon, unfold.

“They’re not the largest group of fans out there,” Meyer said last summer, “but they seem to be the most fanatical.”

Today, that’s only half-true. The fanaticism hasn’t died, it has gone global. And Meyer’s profile is expected to soar with the release of Eclipse (Little, Brown, $18.99), book three in the series about star-crossed lovers Bella and Edward.

Eclipse arrived with a first printing of 1 million copies — 10 times the initial run of New Moon — and a Good Morning America appearance by Meyer, who is learning to take the demands of success in stride.

“I’ve gotten a little more confident; I’m better able to handle events,” she said from her home in the desert of Cave Creek, Ariz.

“On that first tour, when I had to go to school events, I was throwing up before all of them. I was so scared — I was terrified of everything I had to do.”

Meyer, 33, may not have the name recognition of J.K. Rowling, but among teen girls — and their moms — she’s a literary star.

Still, Meyer’s everyday life remains largely unchanged, apart from the heavier demands of writing and travel. She schleps her sons — now ages 10, 7 and 5 — to lessons and play dates, and finds her success “hard to process.”

“In my everyday, normal life, it’s just something I don’t think about very much,” she said, “because it seems very unlikely.”

Meyer was deep into hands-on motherhood when Twilight had its genesis: an arresting dream about teen lovers in a rainy woods. The problem: He was a vampire, she was human.

Three months later, Meyer had turned her vision into a manuscript that landed her a $750,000 advance and a film option.

It chronicled the travails of Bella Swan and courtly Edward Cullen, a “vegetarian vampire” who hunts wildlife, not people. They’re in love but there’s a problem: He’s immortal and Bella isn’t — unless she decides to join his afflicted family. Throw in a blood feud with local werewolves and a few near-death experiences, and passions reach fever pitch.

Twilight, published in fall 2005, spent a year on The New York Times best-seller list, including four weeks in the top spot.

New Moon, released last August, was No. 1 for 29 weeks in the United States and hit No. 1 in Spain and Germany.

“People are realizing that this is becoming a very big phenomenon,” said Little, Brown publicist Elizabeth Eulberg, who was promoted to the newly created position of “director of global publicity for Stephenie Meyer.”

In May, Meyer’s visit to the remote Italian town of Voltarre — one of the settings for New Moon — drew more than 600 European fans. Some came by bus after learning of the event on the Web.

“The people of Voltarre were fantastic,” Meyer said. “Everybody in the town got involved. I went into the square, and they had an 8-foot poster of New Moon on the clock tower.”

The Italy tour followed a book-signing “prom” for Meyer at an Arizona State University gym. Tickets sold out in a day, so a second prom was added. Together they drew 1,000 fans, including one who flew in from London.

Meyer, a self-described “girlie girl” who was crushed to discover that no one dresses up in the publishing world, smoked into the prom in a sequined, burgundy wedding dress (after lopping off the nine-foot train) and hired models to portray Edward and his werewolf rival in prom pictures.

With her long, dark hair and pale good looks, Meyer looks the part of a vampire romance writer, but she has a wholesome, grounded quality that’s anything but ethereal.

Brimming with energy, she’s a fast talker whose rapid delivery makes it hard to tell where one sentence ends and the next begins.

Deeply fond of her fans, she’s nonetheless bemused at their devotion to Edward and Bella, who have their own fan-generated MySpace pages filled with wistful musings.

“They want them to be real,” Meyer said, “and I can’t blame them. So do I.”

Writing about teen passion poses a challenge for Meyer, a devout Mormon who disapproves of premarital sex. She said Bella and Edward will talk about consummating their love, but whatever happens — and she won’t reveal the outcome —will be tasteful.

Spoilers were a particular hazard for Eclipse, which was released, À la Harry Potter, with a stern embargo date. Meyer had her own J.K. Rowling moment when Barnes & Noble jumped the gun on 1,000 copies destined for home delivery. Ironically, it was a fan who sounded the alarm.

Meyer said the retail giant tracked down about 700 copies that had not yet been loaded onto UPS trucks, “so they worked really hard to clean up the mess.”

Meyer, meanwhile, is working hard on book four — the Bella-Edward finale — and growing increasingly fond of Forks, where she and her family hope to create a permanent hot-weather retreat.

“We have a little house we love to rent,” she said. “There’s bald eagles’ nests in the backyard. For us, that’s a big deal.”

She’s also preparing for next year’s release of her first adult novel — a science-fiction tale about an alien body snatcher who covets her host’s love interest.

“It’s sort of the first romantic triangle with only two bodies involved,” Meyer said.

Less than two years after Twilight plucked her from suburban obscurity, Meyer admits she’s enjoying the recognition, but said it hasn’t gone to her head.

“I’m still a mom above all else. I’m glad that I still get to have my normal life. I get to have it all.”