There are multitaskers, and then there is Robert Greer.
It’s not enough that the longtime Denver resident is a professor of pathology, medicine, dermatology and dentistry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
He has also authored more than a dozen books, the most popular being the nine CJ Floyd mysteries, whose titular hero, based in Five Points, shares some traits with Greer, 68.
Greer’s latest novel, “Astride a Pink Horse,” is a departure, although it still gets off to a quick launch, with a naked corpse suspended head-down in a nuclear-missile silo in the far reaches of Wyoming.
Q: Did you find any difficulty in moving between your two careers?
A: I did not. I was actually trained in both areas. I got a degree in journalism from Miami University in Ohio, then a masters in creative writing from Boston University. [He also has science and medical degrees from Howard University and Boston University.] I didn’t learn to write in the classic Hemingway or bohemian way of doing it. I learned by someone teaching me. And I was a very avid reader as a kid, although I didn’t start writing until college.
Q: Do any facets of your own personality make their way into your characters?
A: Some people say that, but whether it happens or not is debatable. I don’t intentionally build a character to have my traits, but CJ Floyd has some of my habits. He drinks too many Cokes and eats too many snacks. I don’t smoke but he smokes cheroots. He grew up in the ’60s when I grew up; he kind of thinks like I do. And he has a short fuse. People occasionally tell me I have that.
Q: What authors do you admire?
A: Mark Twain is my favorite. I’m a fan of George Orwell. And Eudora Welty, who is the grand dame of the short story, a form I really enjoy. And T.C. Boyle. Elmore Leonard, too. He can write everything: stories, novels, screenplays and in all kinds of genres.
Q: Any advice to mid-career people who wonder if they have a novel in them?
A: You can’t put a timetable on talent or creativity. I’d say you can write any time you sit down and put your mind to it. It takes concentrated effort. You have to treat it as a job. There are plenty of people who have come along and done significant work in their 70s and 80s.
Q: Tell me a bit about your writing process, or is it even describable?
A: When I start a novel, that means I’m going to work on it for about a year. That’s about 330 working days. It requires writing every day no matter how bad your day was in your regular job, or if you have a cold. And I have a space — a library at my home in Denver and one at my ranch in Wyoming. I write in longhand, and my secretary types it up.
Q: Do you revise much? Does the book sit and steep a bit before you return to it?
A: There’s constant revision. I don’t let it steep after I’ve written it. Most of that occurs when I do the legwork and research, the background reading and visiting of sites. I go through eight or nine drafts.
Q: Any feel for how many more novels you have in you?
A: I’m going to keep writing until I can’t write any more. I don’t have a number. But I’ll certainly write longer than I’ll be a pathologist.
Q: Your latest novel, “Astride a Pink Horse,” just came out. Are you taking a breather?
A: No, I just finished Chapter 3 of my next novel, which is about a CU astrophysicist who’s murdered. It’ll feature some of the characters from this newest novel. The guy is killed after he claims to have discovered a planet that is Earth’s analog. He’s about 100 percent sure it sustains life similar to ours.
Q: Do you think that other life-bearing planets are in the realm of possibility?
A: There’s some really interesting research happening now in the question of habitable planets. It’s only a matter of time before we find one. No doubt there’s probably a life-sustaining planet out there. Whether it’s similar to ours is the question.
Robert Greer will read from and sign his new book Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover Colfax, 2526 E. Colfax Ave.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
FICTION: MYSTERY
MYSTERY
Astride a Pink Horse
by Robert Greer (North Atlantic Books)
