Author Spotlight: James Rollins

Internationally acclaimed bestselling thriller author James Rollins is truly a writers' writer. Since the 1999 publication of his first thriller, Subterranean, not a year has passed that Rollins hasn't enthralled eager readers worldwide with at least one highly-anticipated new novel. This year's publication, titled Bloodline and released just yesterday, is the eighth and latest installment in his lauded SIGMA Force series. In addition to the SIGMA Force stories, he has written six stand-alone thrillers, two books in his "Jake Ransom" Young Adult adventure series, and the novelization of the blockbuster movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As an author, if he's not touring to meet his readers, or mentoring, or writing, or studying breakthrough science and exploring exotic locales researching for his next project, then he's active in International Thriller Writers, an organization he helped launch in 2005 with fellow renown practitioners of the thriller-writing arts to celebrate and promote the genre. If you manage to run into Rollins (who is also a doctor of veterinary medicine, by the way) on those rare occasions when he hasn't donned his well-worn author's hat, don't be surprised to find him spelunking or scuba-diving in some remote venue that could be almost anywhere on the planet.

As he should be, Rollins is excited about Bloodline's release. We are too, and we're fortunate Rollins graciously carved out some time from his ongoing promotional tour to spend a few minutes with Gazalapalooza's readers. We're unsure what effect the Author Spotlight's white hot klieg lights will have on an accomplished thriller author and scuba-diving spelunker for whom four-legged perils and eerie crystal skulls are just another day at the office, but there's only way one to find out. So without further ado, let's get Rollins' Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight underway.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and why you choose them.

Rollins:    Hmm…that’s a tough (and mean) question. Really? Only two books? Okay, for the fiction book, I’d choose Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—for its apt wisdom of “Don’t Panic,” and its stress on the importance of towels. Both fitting reflections while stranded on an island. That, and the humor could come in handy.

As to the nonfiction book, I would pick the recent biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Because I keep meaning to read it, but I never seem to find the time.

Gazala:    Your latest novel is an excellent and gripping thriller titled Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Bloodline, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Rollins:    First, if you want to learn how to live forever, read Bloodline. It’s an exploration into the strange technologies at the cutting-edge of extending life. Second, it’s got dogs—specifically a military war dog named Kane, who is pivotal to the story. I’ve even written several scenes from the dog’s point-of-view. So if you want to experience what it’s like to be a dog on the hunt or on the battlefield, I hope you check out this adventure.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Rollins:    First and foremost, a book should entertain. It should have a reader turning those pages well into the night. But ideally, novels should also leave something for a reader to contemplate after turning that last page: some bit of history, some piece of science, some intriguing quirk of character. At the end of my books, I have a section where I reveal what’s true and what’s not in my stories. For me, one of the greatest compliments I get is when a reader tells me that some topic raised in a novel has piqued their interest enough to set them off on their own exploration. Then I know that book worked.

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Rollins:    I disagree. I believe the tools of writing can be taught to anyone. What they do with those tools is an entirely different matter. To be a writer, you need to be an innate storyteller, to enjoy spinning tales. With that drive and a handful of tools, anyone can become a writer.

Gazala:    I see out my window a sandstorm is hurtling my way, and I better seek some cover. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Rollins:    Q: So, Mr. Rollins, prove you know what you’re talking about in that answer above. Give us one of those three rules of writing that seemed to escape Mr. Maugham. A: Okay, I will since you so rudely doubt me. One of the best tools is simple. It’s one word:  READ. There’s the old adage that you should “write everyday” if you wish to get published, which is definitely true. You do need to practice and hone your craft. But I’d like to add a caveat to that old nugget: “Write every day, but read every night.” There is no better teacher on the craft than a good book. Whatever problem you struggle with during your writing day (dialog, opening a scene, etc.), you’ll discover a great example on how to address that in the book you read that night. If you write everyday and read every night, you’ll grow stronger and stronger as a writer. That, and don’t forget to floss.

Not a drop of sweat on the man's brow. Wow. Maybe we'll have to come up with more intense questions. While we're working on that, you can enjoy yourself immensely by getting your very own copy of Bloodline. No worries, there -- we've made it easy for you. All you have to do to get your copy from Amazon is click here.

An Excerpt from "Blood of the Moon: A Thriller"

CHAPTER 51

Challenger Seven Memorial Park, Houston, Texas, July 22, 2016

            Hope was most treacherous when it concealed itself behind a cloak of optimism. From beneath the softly undulating veils of its gentle disguise, hope beguiled the unwary, seduced weak minds, rendered them incapable of distinguishing between the remotely possible and the distinctly probable. Hope lured unwarranted sanguinity from men too foolish to separate true optimism’s solidly logical foundations from hope’s airy, empty promises.

            Fafner was not hopeful.

            He was optimistic.

            To have the Hostmen’s fate puppeteered for decades by a responsible businessman, even one so avaricious and ruthless as Michael Rivers in his prime, was one thing. After all, greed was a predictable thing, something that could be controlled and even exploited with the right touch.

            But to have that same fate now in the decidedly unreliable hands of a doddering, drooling old man with a brain irreparably perforated by incurable dementia and delusion, that was something else altogether. No touch, now matter how delicate and precise, could wring predictable results from an enfeebled mind laden with a devastating secret. And Michael Rivers’ mind was growing more crippled by the day, his memories deserting him like stumbling drunks disappearing into a starless inky night after last call, as unsure of where they had been as where they were going.

            Fortunately, not all of his memories had completely abandoned Michael Rivers yet. Not the most important one. Not the one the Hostmen coveted above all other things for more than forty years.

            America.

            Fafner was not one to curse himself often. Even ending his own father’s life with a bullet caused him no anguish.  But he cursed himself now. America. How could he not have seen? He shook his bald, round head. Sometimes nothing was so imperceptible as the obvious.

            Fafner removed a handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbed sweat from his brow. The night air was thick and moist, and though it wasn’t raining, huge storm clouds lumbered across the sky overhead. He looked up to see the full moon slowly emerge from behind a massive obsidian cloud, like a winsome blond starlet uncoiling herself from inside a jet black limousine.

            “Nice choice of meeting place, Fafner. The irony is magnificent.”

            Fafner turned in the direction of the voice. As he regarded a pair of shadows quietly approaching him, he was framed in the moonlight by the three brick sides of the monument erected to memorialize the seven astronauts who died in 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated over the Atlantic just two minutes into its tenth mission.

            “I thought you particularly would appreciate it, Mr. Martinez.”

            Adela Watts and Rudy Martinez made no sounds as they traversed the brick walkway to join Fafner in front of the small granite monument. Both of their lithe athletic frames were clad in skintight black compression clothing, the smooth lines of their apparel disrupted only by the black holsters on their hips, and Martinez’ black backpack.

            “You’ve heard from Willie?” Watts asked.

            “Our long wait is almost over,” Fafner replied. “You remain confident the two of you alone can retrieve the object without assistance? I am concerned that perhaps I was hasty in so summarily dismissing the very capable Mr. Gish in Oklahoma before we attained our ultimate objective.”

            Martinez adjusted his backpack on his wide shoulders. “Where is it?”

            “It is located in a building three miles from where we stand. In a museum of sorts, that closed to the public for the night a few hours ago.” Fafner told Watts and Martinez what he had learned from Willie a night earlier.

            “There’ll only be private security, minimum wage rent-a-cops,” Watts said. “We can handle it by ourselves.”

            “In and out,” added Martinez, nodding. “A quickie.”

            “Very well,” Fafner said. “I remind you, you have never embarked on a mission as important as this one, and you never will again. There is absolutely no room for failure.” He gripped a meaty hand on each of their shoulders, tilting his head between theirs. His voice became a low, hissing whisper, seething with unmistakable malice. “And if you fail, I assure you I will waste no time apportioning blame between you. I will kill you both.” Fafner’s thick lips slid back to form a broad, toothy smile, gruesome in the yellow moonglow. “Personally. Without hesitation. Without reservation.” He felt each of his minions shudder under his grasp as he spoke.

            Fafner released his grip and straightened himself. “However,” he continued pleasantly, “I am confident it will not come to that. I esteem you both for your admirable competence in adverse and stressful situations. Now go. I will wait for you here.”

            Watts and Martinez nodded, and turned to leave the monument site as noiselessly as they had entered it. Fafner grinned to himself as he watched them melt into the shadows.

            He was optimistic.

You can get your copy of Blood of the Moon at Amazon by clicking here. If you prefer ordering from Barnes & Noble, click here. For readers outside the USA, Blood of the Moon is also available at online book retailers worldwide. Enjoy, and happy reading.

Author Spotlight: John Gilstrap

Though I know what I'm talking about, you don't have to take my word John Gilstrap is a gifted writer. That his books have earned him the coveted status of a repeat New York Times bestselling author tells you this. So too does the fact that Threat Warning, his novel published last year, was named 2011's best book by Suspense Magazine, and is a nominee for the 2012 Thriller Award by no less an authority in the field than International Thriller Writers. Not to mention his books have been translated into 20 languages, and are deservedly popular worldwide. And yet even with all that, we haven't touched on his success as a screenwriter.

Gilstrap's new release, Damage Control, is his twelfth book, and the most recent installment in his continuing Jonathan Grave series. If past is only distantly related to prologue, Gazalapalooza is supremely confident Damage Control will soon ride high on international bestseller lists, thrilling and pleasing fans of Gilstrap and his Jonathan Grave adventures all across the globe.

Frankly, we're not only happy, but completely unsurprised Gilstrap readily agreed to undergo the Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight's glare. On the off chance his expertise in explosives safety and handling hazardous waste hasn't sufficiently prepared him, surely his long stint with the Burke Volunteer Fire Department in northern Virginia has positioned him well to withstand the Spotlight. Without further ado, let's get Gilstrap lodged beneath the Spotlight's blistering blaze, and see how he fares.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and why you choose them.

Gilstrap:    Let’s do nonfiction first: Army Manual FM 21-76-1, Survival, Evasion and Recovery.  Just because you put me there doesn’t mean I’m going to stay.  Meanwhile, I’ll learn a lot about which plants make me healthy and which will kill me. 

As for fiction, I’d be tempted to bring Melville’s Moby Dick.  With that being my only option for entertainment, I’d never lose my motivation to escape.

Gazala:    Your new novel is an excellent and gripping thriller titled Damage Control. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Damage Control, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Gilstrap:    Damage Control is the fourth novel in the Jonathan Grave thriller series.  (The third novel, Threat Warning, was named Best book of 2011 by Suspense Magazine, and it is nominated for the prestigious Thriller Award by International Thriller Writers.)  Jonathan Grave is a freelance hostage rescue specialist.  In Damage Control, he and his team travel to Mexico to handle what is supposed to be a routine ransom exchange: $3 million for the release of teenage missionaries and their chaperones.  It turns out that Jonathan has been betrayed by power brokers in Washington, and the result is a bloodbath.  As Jonathan moves heaven and earth to bring the one surviving hostage home, a Mexican drug lord and his allies inside the Beltway pull out all the stops to kill them all before they reach the border.

Gazala:    What are books for?

Gilstrap:    Books are intellectual nutrition.  Some are good for you, some are just comfort food, but all of them together provide essential elements of life.

Plus, if my copy of Moby Dick is the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, I’ll have toilet paper for my first 672 days on the island.  (Oooh, I’m going to be in trouble for that one.)

Gazala:    W. Somerset Maugham said, "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?

Gilstrap:    Well, I agree that there are no rules to writing a novel, which I think was really his point.  At its essence, a novel is nothing more than a good story well-told.  Good stories, in turn, are tales of characters doing interesting things in interesting ways, and telling them well requires a strong mastery of language, pacing and characterization.  To pull all of that off simultaneously, a writer needs to trust his own instincts and abilities.  It’s part art and part craft, and only the craft half comes close to having rules.  Art is all about imagination, and you can’t put a leash on that.

Gazala:    Wisdom dictates I go check out the black helicopter now hovering ominously low over my rooftop. Ask yourself a question, and answer it.

Gilstrap:    Q: So, John, how can people learn more about you? A: Well, they can always visit my website, www.johngilstrap.com.  There, they’ll find not just information on my books and on where I’ll be promoting Damage Control, but they’ll also find what I think are some pretty cool essays on writing and other topics that interest me.  Every Friday, I blog on The Killzone (http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com), and they can always write to me at john@johngilstrap.com.  I make it a point to personally answer all of my email.  It might take some time, and I’m sure I occasionally drop one, but I work hard to get them all.

We're confident you'll agree Gilstrap fared very well indeed under the Spotlight. We learned many worthwhile things, including Gilstrap is a man who really, really doesn't like Moby Dick. And we know your appetite is now whetted to get your very own copy of Damage Control. Not only don't we blame you, we made it easy for you to satiate your appetite for Damage Control by merely clicking here. You're welcome.

Author Spotlight: Salma Abdelnour

Little known fact: I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. My father's employer transferred us from the States to Beirut in the middle of the 1960's. I grew up there, attending the American Community School until we left the country in 1975 when the Lebanese civil war first exploded. I've lived on three continents and been blessed with the opportunity to travel all over the world, and yet my blissful Beirut memories are in my thoughts every day of my life. Decades later and even though separated in some instances by seas and oceans, the friends I made in Beirut remain among the most priceless treasures I have.

There's something about that city that never leaves you, even years after you leave it.

So the Gazalapalooza brain trust was duly thrilled when we got the chance to shine the Author Spotlight on Salma Abdelnour. Born in the States to Lebanese parents, then raised while young in Beirut before the resurgent civil war forced her family to return to America, Abdelnour always felt slightly out of place as a child in Houston, a student in Berkeley, and an adult in New York. Nonetheless, she forged an admirable career as a writer and editor in New York, including stints as travel editor of Food & Wine magazine, food editor of O, The Oprah Magazine, and restaurant editor of Time Out New York. Her writing has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, and ForbesLife, and she has appeared on travel and food segments for CNN, CNBC, and the Fine Living Network. And yet all the while, a piece of her heart always tugged at her from Lebanon. The end result of that tug is Abdelnour's new book. It's an eloquent, sharp and passionate memoir about the year she recently spent living in Lebanon after the better part of a lifetime away from it. It's titled Jasmine and Fire: A Bittersweet Year in Beirut, and this is a book well worth savoring.

We see Abdelnour has already seated herself comfortably in the hot blaze of the Gazalapalooza Author Spotlight, bright-eyed and eager to proceed. She looks calm, cool and collected -- not a drop of perspiration to be seen. Perhaps all that spicy food immunizes one against the klieg lights' burning glare. We'll see. Without further ado, let's get this Spotlight underway.

Gazala:    In my omnipotence, I've sentenced you to be stranded alone on a desert island for offenses best left unnamed. In my beneficence, I've decided to allow you a limited amount of reading material to make your stay a little less bleak than it would otherwise be. I'll spot you your religious text of preference, and the collected works of William Shakespeare. In addition to those, name the one fiction book, and the one nonfiction book, you'd choose to take with you, and why you choose them.

Abdelnour:    Fiction: Middlemarch, because it's long enough to keep me company on a desert island, and because I still haven't read it. Also, I have a feeling that once I do I'll want to read it again, and maybe again. Non-fiction: The Tao Te Ching. Possibly the opposite of Middlemarch. Or the very same. 


Gazala:    Your new book, Jasmine and Fire, is a delightful and engaging nonfiction story chronicling the year you recently spent living in Beirut, Lebanon. I've read it. I enjoyed it immensely, and recommend it highly. Shockingly enough, however, from time to time my bare recommendation doesn't always motivate a book's potential reader to become a book's actual reader. Tell us something about Jasmine and Fire, and why its potential reader should make the leap and become its actual reader.

Abdelnour:    Any potential readers who might wonder if life is elsewhere, if a city or country they're longing for might be a better home for them than where they are now, can live vicariously through me with Jasmine and Fire. After wondering for years if I had the guts to follow that fantasy and see where it would lead, I finally did it. I picked up and left my New York life behind, put it on a shelf for the time being, and moved to the place I'd been daydreaming about. In my case that place happened to be Beirut, my former hometown, and one of the most challenging cities in the world. But it's also one of the most incredibly vibrant and dramatic places on earth. Following my journey back to Lebanon in Jasmine and Fire might convince readers to do what I did -- live out their own fantasy of moving away somewhere, or going home again -- or they might take my story as a cautionary tale. Either way, I hope anyone who'd like a more nuanced feel for life in the Middle East nowadays will come away with a deeper and more vivid sense of it. And I hope all the scenes of Lebanese food in the book will make readers hungry.

Gazala:    What are books for?


Abdelnour:    Going somewhere else, by sitting still. 


Gazala:    Anais Nin said of writing, "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." Do you agree, or disagree, and why?


Abdelnour:    Nin's quote reminds me of a recent trip to Florence, where I noticed so many travelers just standing around taking pictures of everything. They'd take a few snaps, move on to the next site, then take some shots there, and move on. I couldn't help sensing that all those cameras were keeping people from actually experiencing those moments, tasting life, as Nin might put it. Writing is harder to abuse in that way, I think. You might stop and jot a few notes in your notebook, then go back and fill in the details you'd left out later on. It seems like a less reflexive, and less frequent, interruption. I have no argument with photography -- in fact I love it -- but if the camera is just there to experience the moment for you as a traveler, something seems to be lost. 


Gazala:    My cup runneth over, and I'm the only one here right now to clean up the mess. Ask yourself a question, and answer it. 


Abdelnour:    Q: What is travel for? A: Partly, it's about finding out if you need a tune-up of some kind. The answer is nearly always yes -- for me, anyway.


Clearly, I'm not the only author in the room continually enchanted by Beirut's magic, much less by the joys and challenges of exploring intriguing places and exotic foods. If you'd like a taste of Abdelnour's adventures, you'll find your very own copy of Jasmine and Fire here. Enjoy.