At a glance

■ Dan Koboldt will appear at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Book Loft, 631 S. 3rd St.

Magrini — who has known Koboldt for 10 years, since the two began working together at Washington University — quickly points out that a military contractor named “Hank the Tank” Magrini is killed in the early pages of book one.

He has vowed not to read another page, he said, until Koboldt resurrects the character.

“It’s not that I’m really boycotting him,” said Magrini, who began working at Children’s at the same time as Koboldt, “but I’m boycotting him.”

Joking aside, Magrini praised his colleague’s ability to embrace a creative side that many people don’t associate with scientists.

“It helps really diversify somebody,” he said. “It centers them; it gives them balance.”

Peter White, senior director of the computational genomics group, recognized that same trait in Koboldt.

“It doesn’t fit the stereotype of having this computer science/ math/genetics background and to have that creative, artistic side to be able to write a novel,” said White, adding that Koboldt’s books are “on my list to read because I do enjoy fantasy.”

Christina Koboldt, who met her husband of 11 years when both were undergraduates at the University of Missouri, said he often carries a notepad in which to jot down ideas that occur to him.

And, soon after they put their children to bed, he retreats to his home office to write.

“He’s got the creative juice and the imagination and the skill to do it,” Mrs. Koboldt said. “I just think it’s incredible that he can do that while still managing his job and his family and his marriage.”

Once “Gateways” concludes, Mr. Koboldt said, he envisions more fantasy adventures.

He hinted at a series set in the future that draws more on the experiences of his day job in which a company designs genetically engineered dragons for households to own.