MWSA Interview with Bob Doerr

Date of interview: 23 August 2017

Award winning author Bob Doerr grew up in a military family, graduated from the Air Force Academy, and had a career of his own in the Air Force.  Bob specialized in criminal investigations and counterintelligence gaining significant insight to the worlds of crime, espionage, and terrorism. His work brought him into close coordination with the security agencies of many countries and filled his mind with the fascinating plots and characters found in his books today. His education credits include a Masters in International Relations from Creighton University.  A full time author with twelve published books and a co-author in another, Bob was selected by the Military Writers Society of America as its Author of the Year for 2013. The Eric Hoffer Awards awarded No One Else to Kill its 2013 first runner up to the grand prize for commercial fiction. Two of his other books were finalists for the Eric Hoffer Award in earlier contests. Loose Ends Kill won the 2011 Silver medal for Fiction/mystery by the Military Writers Society of America. Another Colorado Kill received the same Silver medal in 2012 and the silver medal for general fiction at the Branson Stars and Flags national book contest in 2012. Bob released an international thriller titled The Attack in May 2014, and more recently, The Group, his second book in the Clint Smith thriller series.  Bob has also written three novellas for middle grade readers in the Enchanted Coin series: The Enchanted Coin, The Rescue of Vincent, and The Magic of Vex. Bob lives in Garden Ridge, Texas, with Leigh, his wife of 44 years, and Cinco, their ornery cat.

MWSA: How long have you been associated with MWSA?

Bob Doerr: I've been an active member since 2010

MWSA: What writing projects are you working on now?

Bob Doerr: I'm close to finishing my third novel in my Clint Smith international thriller series.

MWSA: Who is Clint Smith?

Bob Doerr: Clint Smith is a former Army Ranger with some Special Ops background who was recruited out of the army into a small, ultra secret government agency that identifies and neutralizes, if necessary, imminent threats to the United States.

MWSA: What makes this series different from the dozens of other similar series out there?

Bob Doerr: This small agency operates so deeply in the black that only a couple people in the government are aware of it's existence.  There's no paper trail to their activities, no briefings, and oversight is almost non-existent.

MWSA: How do you get your plots for this series?

Bob Doerr: Current events give me millions of ideas.  This book is based in South Korea and is about a handful of American government officials plotting with the North Koreans to assassinate the President of the United States during a state visit there.

MWSA: Do you see another book in your future?

Bob Doerr: Yes.  I love to write, and I imagine next year I'll either do another Jim West mystery or another book in my Enchanted Coin series.

MWSA: I hear your books have done well in a variety of book contests?

Bob Doerr: Yes, I've been lucky.  No One Else to Kill came in second in the commercial fiction category in the Eric Hoffer Awards for 2013 and several of my other books have won medals in smaller contests.