Robert Greer is a native of Columbus, Ohio, who spent his formative years in the steel mill town of Gary, Indiana. He graduated from Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and subsequently earned degrees in dentistry, medicine and pathology from Howard University and Boston University. He is a professor of pathology, medicine, surgery, and dentistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center where he specializes in head and neck pathology and cancer research. He also holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Boston University and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Miami University, his alma mater.

Greer has lived in Denver for 30 years. In 1986 he founded The High Plains Literary Review and continues to serve as its editor-in-chief. He is the author or co-author of three medical textbooks and over 125 scientific articles. His short stories have appeared in dozens of national literary magazines and his short story collection, Isolation and Other Stories, published in 2000 by The Davies Group Publishers, sold out its hardback printings and is now in trade paperback.

His latest book, Blackbird, Farewell, is a “punch-packing whodunit that exposes the dark side of the pro-athlete good life.”

We interviewed Robert to find out more about his exciting new book, Blackbird, Farewell.

Thank you for this interview, Robert. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?

I am actually a pathologist and a professor of medicine and pathology at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. I have a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Boston University which I suppose qualifies me to be a writer. I have written ten novels including seven mysteries, two medical thrillers, and a short story collection over the course of the past ten years. I have been writing much longer than that but all my writing prior to publishing the novels and short story collection was in the area of newspaper writing because my college degrees are in journalism and chemistry. I do as much scientific writing as novel writing. I have published three medical textbooks and 135 scientific articles, largely dealing with cancer in the head and neck region. I’ve been a professor and cancer researcher at the University of Colorado for 35 years.