A native of Baldwin, Kansas, James Houston Turner burst onto the writing scene at the age of ten with his Adventures of Cornelius Kadiddlehopper. Not exactly must-read material, the stories prompted his grade school English teacher to urge him to consider becoming a policeman. But a career in law enforcement was not to be and James went on to write his first masterpiece - a 31,000 word theme - as punishment for talking too much in high school biology class. Fired by the knowledge that his teacher then had to read the thing, he achieved even greater heights by weaseling out of university exams with the suggestion that he write research papers instead. He was so successful that University of Houston Clear Lake anthropologist, Dr. Michael Rees, wrote in the margin of one paper, "You can't have my job just yet."

James' writing career has been varied. His first professional writing assignment was for the Dr Pepper soft drink company in Dallas, Texas. He then self-published book of free verse poetry, The Earth of Your Soul (1979), about his formative years as a geek in eastern Kansas. Some of his melancholy poems can still be heard there on late-night radio. After earning his Master's Degree at the University of Houston - Clear Lake, he considered an academic career based on his love of research. "I remember one of my professors at UHCL asking me if that was really what I wanted to do. He saw my passion for history and the world, and said he thought I'd be happier writing fiction than treatises for other academics. He was right. I just didn't recognize it at the time."

James then explored another of his loves -- cooking -- and authored a potato cookbook, The Spud Book (St. Martins Press, New York), which saw him become "Spudman," one of American television's first cooking gurus on a coast-to-coast tour sponsored by French's Foods, where he cooked with like Regis Philbin, Pat Boone, and "The Skipper" from Gilligan's Island, Alan Hale, Jr.  He then worked for five years as a

James on AM Los Angeles television with Regis Philbin and Cindy Garvey.	James on The Pat Boone Show with "The Skipper," Alan Hale, Jr.	A cookbook with "Ap-peel," said Publishers Weekly.

photojournalist in Los Angeles, where he interviewed numerous inner-city residents of the famed Union Rescue Mission. Over 130 of his stories were published in their magazine, Lifeline. During this time, he also attended two National Prayer Breakfasts with the President of the United States and members of Congress, yet at other times found himself so poor he had to live on jars of peanut butter given to him by a church.

James finally began writing fiction as a result of his smuggling and courier activities behind the old Iron Curtain. "It was pretty high-octane stuff for a guy with an active imagination," he says. "I've organized transports of hundreds of thousands of pounds of medical supplies, driven vehicles with secret compartments, interviewed death camp and gulag survivors, been shadowed by the KGB, organized secret midnight meetings with informants, located hidden mountain bunkers, and investigated legends of forgotten tunnels buried beneath the cobblestones and bricks of some of Central Europe's most venerable cathedrals. But I lacked the discipline to convert those ideas and experiences into a completed manuscript. When the going got tough, I simply moved on to something else."

Tragedy then struck when James was diagnosed with cancer. "My Aussie wife, Wendy, and I were living in San Diego at the time," he explains, "and when the doctor found out we had neither health insurance nor the estimated $200,000 needed for an operation, he said, 'Sorry, buddy, can't help you,' and walked out of the room. We waited for a while to see if he was coming back, but he was gone. We cried all the way home, figuring I had been handed a death

sentence because the kind of cancer I had was aggressive and deadly. So Wendy called her sister in Australia to see if help was available there. There was although we would have to pay for my treatment, and so, with weeks to live, I stepped off a plane in Adelaide, where for $17,000, a team of surgeons opened my face up like a book, removed half of my mandible and a tumor the size of an orange, then fashioned a new jawbone out of hip bone and put me back together again. I found out years later that I was not expected to live eighteen months. But people had been praying for me, and I had made lifestyle changes, and I beat the odds, making 2011 my twentieth anniversary. The experience had a profound effect on me. It was a fight I couldn't run from, as I had done from the tough challenges in my past. Getting cancer was my proverbial 'line in the sand,' and with the second chance I had been given, I knew I needed to get on with what I felt I was called to do: write fiction." His first novel, The Search for the Sword of St Peter (1996) was a result of those experiences.

Next came his acclaimed espionage thriller, The Second Thirteen (published in Australia, 1999), which saw him tour the American Southwest in cooperation with Barnes & Noble, Qantas Airways, and Jacob's Creek wine. "I bought an old jalopy for $1000 and drove over three thousand miles to numerous signings and events," he says. "But my publisher, encountered financial difficulties with other projects, declared bankruptcy, and kept all of my royalties. It was a discouraging time."

In 2001, James completed The Identity Factor, an international thriller based on an ancient stone tablet with implications about the ownership of the Holy Land. "I was really proud of this book," he recalls, "and I had a major talent agency wanting to sign me and a film studio expressing interest in the manuscript as a film. Then came the attack on the Twin Towers, and virtually overnight no one wanted anything with those kinds of settings and themes. I was told to gut the story and reset it in Italy. But I wouldn't do that, and it cost me a possible film deal and representation in one of the largest talent agencies in the world."  James then wrote two full-length feature film screenplays: "Big John" (a 1920s sports biopic based on the thrilling true story of Native American fullback, Big John Levi); and "Crystal of Fire" (a rollicking modern-day action-adventure about the race to find Atlantis).

"But no one was buying and we were pretty hard up for money," he explains. "On the verge of quitting, I decided to apply for a customer service job with a large company in Adelaide. I was refused, not because I lacked skills, but because I was too ugly ("unpresentable" was the word used, referring to the facial scars I carry from my successful 1991 battle against cancer). So I kept pushing forward with my writing and self-published The Identity Factor in Australia (2008), where it went on to scoop finalist awards in four US book competitions, including the National Best Book Awards and the Eric Hoffer Award. I then spent the next year adapting the book for the screen with Los Angeles indie film producer and director of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Kristin Overn. I then began working on an Aleksandr Talanov sequel. But I knew if I wanted to write a sequel, I first needed to edit Talanov's debut story and bring it into the new millennium. I did, which landed me a multi-book publishing contract with Comfort Publishing, a mid-size American publisher in North Carolina, who decided to retitle the book Department Thirteen and back me on a major US promotional tour. The hard work paid off when Department Thirteen achieved bestseller status when I was in Texas, after which it was awarded the Best Thriller of 2011 by USA Book News. That's often the way it is: your darkest hour comes right before the dawn."

James is sometimes asked why he is so passionate about writing and why his writing communicates such passion. "I nearly lost my life in a battle with cancer," he says. "Coming that close to death had a profound effect on me...one that I cannot fully articulate other than to say it made me look at life and what's important much differently. It ignited emotions I didn't know I had, and these emotions continue to affect my writing. My characters have flaws, wrestle with fears, have passions and face challenges with the same emotions and fears that I felt." James holds a Bachelor's Degree in Religion from Baker University, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and a Master's Degree in History from the University of Houston - Clear Lake. Drawing on lessons learned from his stirring cancer survival story, his years behind the old Iron Curtain, and his journey through endless rejection and hardship to become a published author, James has spoken in schools, churches, civic groups, writer's workshops, international conventions and charities around the world with his inspirational message of not giving up and fighting for your dreams. He and his wife, Wendy, a former triathlon winner, live in Adelaide, South Australia.