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Thursday, August 20, 2026

'What if?' - A Key to the Writing Door

 

“Whenever I start a novel, I'm always looking for two things: a bit of science that makes me go 'what if?' and a piece of history that ends in a question mark.” – James Rollins
 

Born in Chicago on this date in 1961, Rollins is a writer of action-adventure/thriller novels and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, practicing under his “real” name James Paul Czajkowski.   And he is an amateur spelunker and certified scuba diver, great background and settings for some of his tales. 

 

Rollins studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri and didn’t start writing until 1999. Since then he has penned more than 50 novels, including the wildly successful Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Witch Fire – written under his other pen name James Clemens.  That book was “discovered” as an entry in a contest sponsored by the Maui Writers' Conference. 

 

His most recent books are A Dragon of Black Glass and A Fist of Molten Fire, released in the past two years under his “MoonFall” series.   In his veterinarian career, Rollins stays busy caring for abandoned or abused animals.  But it’s books that remain at the heart of things for him.

  

“Books are keys that open many doors,” Rollins said. “Generally, if you preface a request with, 'I'm an author writing a book,' for some reason, that seems to open a lot of doors.”

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