own novels, the events of 9/11 sent Jay into a spiral of introspection, first leading to the start of his own engineering firm.  According to those who’d succeeded before him, his tiny startup was moving at a pace double the speed of their own beginnings, yet something was still missing, and Jay’s “spiral of introspection” eventually returned.

No one in engineering knew of Jay’s artistic renderings when he was a child and a teenager.  Perhaps drawing images deemed too mature for first-place awards at a Catholic elementary school may have slowed his pace, but he continued drawing for quite a while afterwards.  As a very good student in high school, an unceremonious A+ for a paranormal short story he created didn’t alarm him at all.  In fact, the only time he thought about it afterwards was whenever seeing a similar story on television or the big screen, leaving him wondering who else may have read it.  He was later asked why he’d decided to pursue engineering instead of the arts, and his response was typical Jay:  “I don’t know, man—that ‘starving artist’ sh*t sounds scary, dude.”  Regardless, thoughts of that paranormal short story reemerged more than 30 years later, at the tail-end of his second spiral, to send his engineering career into an early retirement.  He started writing.

Jay credits his diverse perspective and viewpoints in writing to the diversity of his upbringing, starting with his father, an independent contractor, and his mother, an educator and mathematician.  And as an inner-city youth, whenever Jay wasn’t working summers as part of his dad’s demolition crew, meticulously stripping buildings apart piece-by-piece for salvage, he was spending time on his grandmother’s mini-farm in Maringouin, Louisiana, helping her and a host of cousins tend to dogs, chickens and hogs.  

These days, when Jay isn’t writing, you might find him sightseeing, exploring new restaurants, reading in a coffeeshop, attending a nearby book film festival, or working diligently on a home renovation.    

Jay A. Harris is a bestselling author born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  A graduate of Louisiana State University, he also attended both Southern University (Baton Rouge) and Xavier University (New Orleans) in route to ultimately receiving a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.  His work career was even more varied with engineering and project management jobs spanning the entire southeastern United States, as well as territories overseas. But with work accomplishments mounting,  other endeavors were begging his attention.    As  imparted  on  a  character in one of his

ABOUT JAY

All rights reserved

Follow the Author's

News and thoughts gathered along the journey.

Page on Facebook!

Rights, Marketing, Ads, etc.

(Serious inquiries only)