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Author / Journalist Bob Reiss: Living on the Border of Order & Anarchy

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Author / Journalist Bob Reiss: Living on the Border of Order & Anarchy



Introduction to Bob Reiss. 1:18 min. Interview: Raymond Elman.  Post-Production: Lee Skye. Music:  Jahzzar.  Recorded via ZOOM  3/3/2022, Miami.

 

 

BOB REISS is a bestselling author of 23 books, as well as a journalist, a former Chicago Tribune reporter and former correspondent for Outside Magazine. His work has been published in The Washington Post Magazine, Smithsonian, Parade, Rolling Stone and other national publications, and has been featured in collections of the best of the Washington Post Magazine, and the best of Outside. He has appeared on Good Morning America, Morning Joe, CNN, Charlie Rose, Al Jazeera and Dan Rather Reports. In 2019 he was a recipient of a Redford Center grant as co-producer of a documentary film project on the importance of the Bering Strait as the Arctic opens. In 2018 he received a New York Press Club best magazine reporting Award for his coverage of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, in Fortune magazine. In 2015 he was a consultant on an NBC Nightly News series on the Arctic. In 2012-2013 he worked as a consultant on Arctic issues for CBS “60 Minutes.” In 2010 he co-produced his first investigative segment for national television, for PBS’s “Need to Know.”

Writing as James Abel, Bob’s launched a new series of science-based bio-thriller novels in 2015, with the publication of “White Plague,” about a US submarine trapped in the Arctic. “Protocol Zero” followed in August, 2015. “Cold Silence” was published in summer 2016, and “Vector” in summer 2017. The novels draw on the author’s journalistic experiences in the Arctic, East Africa and the Amazon, and link emerging biological threats in these places to terrorism and international security. To distinguish the fiction from the Arctic journalism, the novels are being published under the James Abel pseudonym.

Reiss has published 19 novels in all, including the Washington Post best-seller, “The Last Spy” and the European best seller, “Black Monday.” He was the author of the acclaimed Conrad Voort series, five novels about a New York City detective whose ancestors have worked law enforcement in the city since colonial times.

Reiss’s non-fiction books include “The Eskimo and The Oil Man,” about the opening Arctic and battle over offshore oil there; “The Coming Storm”, about climate change and extreme weather, and “The Road to Extrema”, about the state and fate of the Amazon rainforest.

Reiss grew up in New York City and graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, and from the University of Oregon with an MFA. He says he knew he wanted to be a writer since age 13, when he finished his first novel.

Reiss has traveled around the world since then and his experiences in places including Antarctica, Sudan, Somalia, South Africa, Alaska, the Amazon rainforest and numerous other remote locations inform both his fiction and non-fiction. He lives in New York City with television producer Wendy Roth.

Reiss’s new collection of short stories, titled “Still Hungry,” will be published in October 2022.

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 9 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 0:36 sec.  




Where did you grow up, and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION: 1:01 min.




How are you related to the owners of The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach?

 

RESILIENCE: 0:32 sec.




What about your father’s side of the family?

 

DEVELOP A VOICE: 1:24 min.




When did you first start thinking about being a writer?

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS: 1:17 min.




Where did you go to school, and what did you learn that still informs you today?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:   5:11 min.




Give us an example of a piece you wrote that is a source of great pride and/or satisfaction.

 

 

Here is a link to the story that Bob Reiss wrote for Parade magazine — “Collateral Damage: How The Iraq War Effects Your Town.”  The story was supposed to be the cover story for Parade, which was read by 30 million people at the time.  As the story was coming off the printing presses, the publisher killed the story for political reasons.

 

 

CRITICAL THINKING:  2:38 min.




I am a reasonably aware person. I read and watch a lot of news. But I have never seen a piece that addressed the impact of the Iraq War on the American people.

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:   5:37 min.




What are your thoughts when you opt to do an assignment in a dangerous location?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:  1:21 min.




I assume that the non-fiction stories you write in your journalism career inspire the fiction and non-fiction books that you create.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  1:55 min




How often do you find that life imitates art?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART:  1:41 min




Your books and articles seem like naturals for the movies. What has been your experience with the film industry?

 

UNDERSTANDS THE BUSINESS OF ART:  2:03 min. 




Your novel “Black Monday” seems like an expensive movie to make. Would any of your work translate into a low budget film that might be easier to get made?

 

UNDERSTANDS ARTISTS’ NEEDS:  4:04 min.




Have you taken any film courses that might help you convert your books into films?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:  2:38 min




Are you interested in writing about the current war in Ukraine?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:  1:31 min.




You are interested in writing about US/Russia relations in the Bering Strait.. Why is there resistance to funding that project?

 

CRITICAL THINKING: 1:26 min. 




Many people stick their heads in the sand when it comes to issues like Climate Change because they don’t think it will affect them in their lifetimes.

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:  4:50 min




Describe your work routine.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:   5:39 min.




My friends who write fiction have all said that their characters come to life and tell them what to do. Does the same thing happen with non-fiction characters?

 

EMPATHY:   2:18 min.




How do you get students to believe in the little people on their shoulders?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:   4:10 min.




Sebastian Junger told me he had problems beginning “The Perfect Storm” until he envisioned the opening scene as a movie. Have you used a similar approach?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:   8:34 min




What are the differences in your research for fiction vs. non-fiction projects?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:   1:56 min




For our readers who haven’t read any of your books yet, please recommend one of your novels and one non-fiction book.

 

CRITICAL THINKING:   0:30 sec. 




What’s your favorite movie?