James Rollins

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Cover illustration for ‘Black Order’ by James Rollins - note cover features Wewelsburg castle and the Schwarze Sonne

James Rollins is the pen-name of American veterinarian Jim Czajkowski (born 1961), author of bestselling fantasy and action-packed adventure-thrillers such as Shadowfall (2005), Hinterland (2006), Subterranean (1999), Excavation (2000), Deep Fathom (2001), Amazonia (2002), Ice Hunt (2003), Sandstorm (2004), Map of Bones (2005) and Black Order (2006). He sold his veterinary practice in Sacramento, California, to concentrate full-time on writing.

Rollins is an amateur spelunker and a certified scuba diver. These pastimes provide much fodder for his novels, which are often set in underground or underwater locales.

Among those who have inspired him, Rollins cites the authors of the Doc Savage series. As a youth, Rollins had acquired an extensive collection of Doc Savage novels, but, he says, he remained oblivious to their influence on him as a novelist until one of his fans brought this matter to his attention.

Under the pen name James Clemens, Rollins also writes fantasy novels, including Wit'ch Fire, Wit'ch Storm, and Wit'ch War.

1 Biographical sketch
2 Influences
3 First novel
4 Action-adventure novels
5 External links

[edit] Biographical sketch

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Rollins graduated from the University of Missouri in 1985 with a Ph.D in veterinary medicine. His undergraduate work focused on evolutionary biology. Thereafter, he moved to Sacramento, CA, where he established his veterinary practice.

[edit] Influences

As a boy, Rollins was fascinated by stories of the exploits of Howard Carter and his discovery of the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, King Tutankhamun (King Tut). This true-life tale later inspired Rollins' novel, Excavation, in which the main character, archaeologist Henry Conklin, and his nephew Sam discover a lost Inca city in the mountains of the Andean jungle that contains a treasure--and a curse.

As a youth, Rollins also enjoyed Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels, L. Frank Baum's Oz series, and C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. In general, Rollins was also inspired by such authors as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, whose works he used as a springboard for creating similar contemporary novels filled with what he refers to as "the three M's of fiction: magic, mayhem, and monsters."

[edit] First novel

Rollins sold his first novel, Witch Fire (1999) through Terry Brooks' publisher. Brooks had been one of the judges of the Maui Writers Conference's contest, in which Rollins had entered a manuscript he'd recently completed.

[edit] Action-adventure novels

Subterranean recounts an expedition's exploration of a lost underground civilization that is inhabited by a strange race of what might be called subterrestrials. Rollins mentions that he'd failed to find an agent to represent this book the first 49 times he tried, but, persistence paid off, he says: within two months of finding an agent, two publishers bid for the rights to the manuscript and "film rights sold to NBC in another couple months."

In Excavation, another team of explorers visits the jungles of the Andean mountains in search of an unusual treasure of sorts.

In Deep Fathom, Jack Kirkland, a former Navy SEAL, returns from a submarine dive to discover that Air Force One apparently has been shot down, the world is on the brink of nuclear war, and he may have a chance to redeem himself from a past misdeed by helping a team of scientists and adventurers save the world from imminent doom.

Amazonia, like Rollins' other action-adventure novels, takes place in an exotic setting and involves military and paramilitary forces, natural marvels, scientific secrets, and a race against time, with the world's fate hanging in the balance. When a fatal disease appears, a team of scientists pin the world's hope on the discovery of a miraculous plant derivative that, among other things, has caused a soldier to regenrate a lost limb. However, others are also seeking the amazing plant, and they will stop at nothing to claim it--if they can get past the guardians of the ancient jungle compound in which the plant grows.

In Ice Hunt, an American submarine discovers an abandoned scientific experiment that the Russians once conducted in at the polar ice cap. Now, the Russians intend to keep the secret experiment secret, regardless of the death and destruction that may follow as a result.

Sandstorm starts with a bang, as a private museum is destroyed, leading its owners to seek answers as to what motivated the attack. Their quest takes them into the Arabian desert, through a nightmarish world of mysticism and legend, to a long-buried threat that may bring about the world's last night. Introduces Sigma Force and their opposing group The Guild, which appear in his following novels.

The magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child; their bones may bring destruction to the world, if they are allowed to remain in the hands of the thieves who stole them, for these bones may not be bones at all. They may be something much more terrible and deadly, as Map of Bones suggests.

In Black Order, which was released on 27 June 2006, Sigma Force team members risk their lives to get to the heart of one of humankind's greatest mysteries: the origins of life itself.

James Rollins' next novel is titled The Judas Strain, due for 1 July 2007.