Biography

Barry James Hickey has led a fascinating and diverse life. His stratified career has taken him to such exotic places as India, Greenland, Turkey, Greece, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. His travels have afforded him chance meetings with lepers, drug lords and world adventurers.

Hickey grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a large Irish Catholic family. As a young man he was known to disappear for weeks at a time, hitchhiking across the United States, Mexico or Canada. 

He worked his way through two high schools and four colleges as a gas station attendant, elevator operator, hotel desk clerk, bridge painter, steelworker, canoe guide, newspaper editor, disc jockey, lumberjack, theater actor and singer.

After graduating from the University of Colorado in the mid-eighties with a Bachelor’s degree in Diversified Studies, Barry literally flipped a quarter; heads for Nashville, tails for Hollywood. Hollywood won.

Barry starred in a handful of independent feature films, and directed or produced several more. He also appeared on episodic television. His last few years in Hollywood, Barry worked in the studio system for heads of production at Walt Disney Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and CBS Television. Barry returned to acting, starring in two more films.

He moved back to Colorado Springs in 1999 and taught high school English for three years. When he quit teaching, he started his career as a novelist.

His mystery stories resonate with average people trapped in extraordinary situations which change their lives forever. To compensate his writing, Barry works as an editor for other writers, freelances as a researcher for attorneys and sells cars.

His well-received novels include: The Five Pearls, Chasing God’s River, The Glass Fence, Waking Purgatory and The Water Lawyer (recently optioned as a feature film). Barry has just finished the first draft of The Pendragon Prophecy (working title) and has several more novels in various stages of production. Barry still sings and writes music in his limited spare time.