Upon his discharge from the Marines in 1956, Robert Armstrong enrolled at Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. At graduation he accepted a commission in the Air Force Veterinary Corps. After completing his first assignment he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Rochester's School of Medicine where he received a masters degree in radiation biology. He also graduated from the Air War College. He served one tour in southeast Asia, along the Laotian border, and six years in Europe. After his retirement from the Air Force he spent nine years with Houston's Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to articles in medical journals he has published in Newsweek Magazine, the Houston Chronicle's Texas Magazine, and for a time was a guest column in a small suburban Texas newspaper. CANIS is his first full length novel.