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Best Local Authors In Sacramento

Authors from Sacramento are diverse in their writing styles and career directions. One thing they share, though, is an ability to make significant impacts on everything from journalism to fiction writing. - Steven Hartsoe

James Rollins

James Rollins
James Rollins (credit: jamesrollins.com)

www.jamesrollins.com

Sacramento native James Rollins is known for building exciting adventures on a solid science foundation. He mixes the familiar with the exotic and then boosts his writings with suspense. His first book, "Subterranean," was published in 1999. James Rollins has also written several thrillers in the bestselling Sigma Force series, including "Sandstorm," "Map of Bones," "Black Order," "The Judas Strain," "The Last Oracle," and "The Doomsday Key." He also wrote the movie novelization "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and six individual adventure thrillers. In addition, Rollins writes the Jake Ransom series for kids and adults.

A central theme in his novels is the exploration of how the advance of technology can impact society, physically as well as by unchecked developments. His themes also touch on the spiritual and moral challenges that result. Rollins says the true terror of technology is not the cogs and the wheels, but rather how it can change people.

katscradle
Kat's Cradle (credit: Random House)

Karen Kijewski

Sacramento's Karen Kijewski writes mystery novels and is best known for her Kat Colorado series. She's a native of Berkeley, CA, where her father was a professor at UC Berkeley. Karen Kijewski earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley, too. She also taught high school English in Massachusetts for almost a decade before dedicating herself to writing. She tended bar while establishing her writing career. Her first novel, "Katwalk," was published in 1989. The book brought her instant accolades, receiving an Anthony Award for Best First Novel and a Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel.

SF Chronicle Announces Job Cuts In Response To Mounting Losses
Herb Caen (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Herb Caen

www.sfgate.com/columnists/caen

Herb Caen, father of "three-dot-journalism," is a Sacramento native who became a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist working in San Francisco. Caen worked for the San Francisco Chronicle from the late 1930s until his death in 1997, with an interruption from 1950 to 1958 during which he wrote for the San Francisco Examiner. His collection of essays, "Baghdad-by-the-Bay," was published in 1949. In 1953, he published the book "Don't Call It Frisco," which was named after a 1918 S.F. Examiner news item of the same name. As a columnist, he gained fame with his column "It's News to Me," first published in July 1938. Herb Caen filled his columns with dry wit and his intimate knowledge of the happenings in San Francisco. Caen famously coined the name "beatnik" in his April 2, 1958 column and popularized the word "hippie" during San Francisco's 1967 Summer of Love.

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