Barry Clay

I live close to Harrisburg, PA and have been married since 1990 to a wonderful woman who puts up with me disappearing into my study more often than she would like. I have four children, one of whom is still at home, two very cute granddaughters, a happy grandson, and an infant grandson.

I am a graduate of Red Land High school in Lewisberry, PA; attended DIckinson College in Carlisle, PA for two years; and finished my degree by graduating summa cum laude from Shippensburg University, also in PA, with a BA in English. Shippensburg provided a good education at a reasonable price. For years before my marriage, I performed on stage in area community theaters, directed and music directed stage and musical shows, and otherwise kept myself occupied until, on a blind date, I met my wife. Unlike previous dates where either I or the lady I was a dating knew from the first we weren't a match, I was nearly certain this the woman for me. (She was less certain.) I am very, very glad I waited for the right woman. Who else would tolerate me?

I have held many jobs over the years. I've dug ditches, stocked grocery shelves, tutored for room and board, cleaned restrooms, mopped floors, taught cartooning, worked in a bank, asked if you'd like fries with that (and cooked the fries to boot), ordered carpet for cars, and worked commission sales at Sears. I recently retired with over 37 years from the Federal workforce. I consumed your tax dollars in a Computer Design and Supply Agency for the Department of Defense, saving you money that was shamelessly wasted somewhere else. My latest book "Close Enough for Government Work" relates anecdotes from those years and includes my cartoons! Coworkers came from all over to see those cartoons, and you can do that now just by purchasing the book.

Now retired, I still keep busy. I conduct the Home School Orchestra in our area. I have volunteered as conductor for over 25 years, and I'm told they'll keep me - if for no other reason than I'm willing to do the work for nothing.

I have been writing stories for decades in different genres. I've added spice to my writing life by switching from comedy ("Molded by Humor"), science fiction ("Armstrong City," "Speaking"), mystery (see the next paragraph), fantasy ("The Quest for the RavenDisc"), and horror ("Brushes with the Supernatural" and "If You Don't Watch Out") as the muse strikes me. I try to keep my stories mature, but not so mature your children couldn't read them. The exception would be "Collisions", which depicts some adult situations. While not graphic by today's standards, adults should use discretion in allowing their children to read it. The sequel to "Collisions," "Until He Meets an Agony," came out in 2025. A third and final book in the trilogy "The End of Agony," is due out in 2027. It may come out sooner if I make enough money in 2026 to pay for editing more books!

My big sellers are my Sherlock Holmes books, "The Darkened Village", "The Leveson-Gower Theft", and "The Medium of Death", the novelette, "The MelRoy Theatre Ghost," and the collections "A Mistake, Two Incidents, and a Murder," "A Disappearance and a Temptation," and "The Incidents of Sherlock Holmes." Hot on Sherlock Holmes' heels for sales is "Charlie Chan's Luxury Cruise," a tribute to both the books by Earl Derr Biggers and the old black and white movies. More of both Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chan are in the works and should appear in 2026.

My favorite book is "Marishka," a fictionalized account of the stories told by my maternal grandmother, who escaped the Armenian persecution as a child. Much of the story -- in fact the most unbelievable parts -- is true, and an afterward separates the fact from the fiction.

I also write non-fiction. I have been a Christian for over 50 years, and I decided to write a book on theology for the layman, "Solid Ground." While written primarily for believers (to provide the grounding in the faith I missed because I was not raised in a Christian home), it also should provide easy access to the unbeliever who wants to know more about how the everyday Christian approaches his faith. You can buy the complete tome, or you can by individual chapters at reduced prices in eBooks and (some) in printed book formats.

Another book, "UnReformed" assembles some of the most popular chapters from "Solid Ground" as well as additional material. This book explains why I evolved from what is called "Reformed Theology" and became "UnReformed." If you don't know what that means, read the book!

My book "Misadventures in Childrearing" describes true (and funny) wife-and-child-approved stories (and cartoons) of our family, and "Molded by Humor" is an anthology collecting stories that have been "inspired by actual events."

In addition to the books and stories you will see on Amazon, I've written four musicals (two of which were performed locally to good reviews), three piano sonatas, one etude, ten works for Christian choirs and ensembles, and over 40 works for young orchestra.

In my spare time, I play piano, am a chain reader, and do everything most of us do when we own a home.

And like almost everyone else, I have friends, too!

ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS FINDING MY BOOKS?

Well, you could simply look at the book list on my author's page to see everything I've written.

Most people, though, search for a book using Amazon's powerful search function. There is only one problem: Amazon routinely updates its search algorithm, and searches for a book or an author that used to work will suddenly return unexpected results. Here are some ways to find my books.

1) You should always select "Books" from the drop down.

2) Enter "Barry Clay" in the search box

[By the way, the quotation marks are important! If you don't enter the quotation marks,

you may get random books like "Modeling with Clay" and "Madame du Barry" and

(for some reason) Spider-man comic books.]

3) Hit enter or search

4) You should get all my books in Kindle, Paperback, Hardback, and audio book formats.

But sometimes, this will fail to find all my books. Here's a more complicated, alternate method that is working

as I write this, and hopefully will work in the future.

1) Do everything I said above

2) In addition to the list of books that will appear, a white bar will appear under the search bar.

3) Select "more" from the bar that appears under the search bar. (It's to the right of the middle.)

4) You will get a drop down list.

5) At the bottom of the list is "Advanced Search".

[Amazon has moved the advanced search in the past, but this is where it is as of December 29, 2025.]

6) Select "Advanced Search".

7) You will get a search box.

8) One of the search parameters is "author." Put "Barry Clay" in the author search parameter.

[Once again, the quotation marks are important to narrow the search]

9) Hit enter or search.

10) You will get all my books, interspersed with Sponsored Books by businesses and authors who are paying

Amazon to advertise their books. The book will have a banner that says "sponsored" to warn you that they

aren't really part of your search.

11) You will also get a couple of books by another "Barry Clay," (who knew it was such a popular name?)

but maybe you'll like his books, too!

Thanks for reading the biography of a complete nobody!