Biography

Bob Reiss is a bestselling New York based author and journalist, a former Chicago Tribune reporter and former correspondent for Outside Magazine. His work has also appeared in The Washington Post Magazine, Smithsonian, Parade, Rolling Stone and other national publications. His most recent novel, (March 2007) "Black Monday," chronicles the collapse of the world as we know it when a genetically engineered microbe destroys the world's oil supply system. The book has been optioned by Paramount, and is being developed for a major motion picture.

Bob has published 13 additional novels including the Washington Post best-seller, "The Last Spy" and "The Side Effect." His three non-fiction books include "The Coming Storm", about global warming, and "The Road To Extrema", about the state and fate of the Amazon rainforest. Writing as Ethan Black, he is 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, under Dutch rule. Reiss travels widely around the world to research his books, and draws on his experience as a journalist for fiction material. His novels tend to be political or police thrillers, and his non-fiction work covers environmental issues.

Bob Reiss grew up in New York City and graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelors 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. “It stank.” Over the next 13 years he papered his bedroom walls with rejection slips from publishers and magazines. His first successful novel, Summer Fires, was published by Simon & Schuster, in 1980. Called a "smashing first novel" by the New York Times, it was about the discovery of a gigantic oil field under the South Bronx.

Reiss lives in New York City with television producer Wendy Roth. His books, TV and film projects are represented by the International Creative Management agency in New York and Beverly Hills, California. His lecture agent is Jodi Solomon of Boston. He speaks regularly at colleges on global warming, subject of his recent non-fiction book, "The Coming Storm."

Reiss hopes that his work will make readers think about issues and choices they face in everyday life.

Bob Reiss taught fiction writing at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference for seven years. He has also been a writer in residence at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington four times, most recently in 2009.

Bob can be reached at bobreiss@​hotmail.com

Selected Works

Fiction
Black Monday
A genetically engineered microbe has stopped the world's petroleum supply. If an antidote isn't found within 50 days, the collapse will reach the point of no return.
The Side Effect
The side effect of a new drug heightens human intuition to an astounding degree. Who will control the drug?
At Hell's Gate
Could the dead body that Conrad Voort finds in the East River be related to a sunken treasure ship in New York Harbor? Or something more deadly, modern and international in scope?
2. Novel
All The Dead Were Strangers
The novel examines how far a free society can and should go in combating terrorism.
3. Non-Fiction
The Coming Storm Extreme Weather and our Terrifying Future
“The most readable and intelligent summary of global warming science and politics I have read.” Bill McKibben,
--New York Observer