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Neal Bailey

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.nealbailey.com

Genre

Mystery, Crime, Paranormal

Member Since

July 2007

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/nealbailey

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Neal was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. He attended college at Western Washington University, pursuing a course in secondary education before being drummed out of the program and forced back to his one true love, the written word. It’s a long story. An administrator went bonkers and he wasn’t much interested in teaching anyway.

Don’t worry about it.

By this time he had written three novels, but hadn’t yet learned his lesson, and proceeded to continue writing novels for the next twenty years. The more recent ones are worth damns.

As he did this, he wrote a number of comic books, ultimately settling on about the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth for proper publication. There were times, many times, when his work was accepted by publishers, a Neal was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. He attended college at Western Washington University, pursuing a course in secondary education before being drummed out of the program and forced back to his one true love, the written word. It’s a long story. An administrator went bonkers and he wasn’t much interested in teaching anyway.

Don’t worry about it.

By this time he had written three novels, but hadn’t yet learned his lesson, and proceeded to continue writing novels for the next twenty years. The more recent ones are worth damns.

As he did this, he wrote a number of comic books, ultimately settling on about the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth for proper publication. There were times, many times, when his work was accepted by publishers, and then those publishers closed, so most of the time, he works for himself. This is good. It keeps him hungry. It makes the work better. That’s what he tells himself, anyway. It would be nice to have some scratch, though, he often thinks.

In the middle of all of that, to pay the bills, he delivered papers, bussed tables, hosted, waited tables, cooked, worked construction, did day labor, was a caregiver, and took work as a handyman. When he was a construction worker he built houses, which is kind of cool, but unfortunately most of his clients when he was a caregiver have since died. It wasn’t his fault. Honest.

Most recently he was a personal assistant. Now he just writes. And after he wrote that last sentence, he wondered casually how one could reduce all the time, faith, effort, work, and life that goes into writing into a “just,” but by the time the next sentence had come to pass, he’d moved on. Produce or die.

He was represented by a reputable agent for a good long time, but that agent forgot that he existed and unceremoniously dumped him randomly. It was a bummer. Are you an agent? Do you want a crazy, dedicated, hard-working and hungry writer with a whole bunch of experience and some good books that need to get noticed? Let’s kick some ass. Neal Bailey is a closer. He gets coffee. No, that’s not what I mean. I won’t get you coffee. It’s a reference. I have to explain that? Oh, Jesus Christ. ...more

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Neal Bailey’s books

Average rating: 3.95 · 2,680 ratings · 188 reviews · 42 distinct works • Similar authors

	Muscle and Blood 4.45 avg rating — 22 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Glory (The Glory Cycle #1) 4.29 avg rating — 21 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Owe My Soul (The Hal Taylor Mysteries Book 2) 4.67 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wilder 4.63 avg rating — 8 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cura Te Ipsum: Year One 4.25 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cura Te Ipsum Volume 1 by Neal Bailey (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Dexter Wee (Artist) 4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blue Monday 3.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Erlking's Court (The Eleanor Donnelly Mysteries Book 1) 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cura Te Ipsum: Year Two by Neal Bailey (Goodreads Author) (writer), Dexter Wee (Illustrator) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cura Te Ipsum: Year Three by Neal Bailey (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Dexter Wee (Illustrator) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Neal Bailey…

Series by Neal Bailey

The Glory Cycle (2 books)
by

Neal Bailey (Goodreads Author)

4.36 avg rating — 25 ratings

The Domain (1 book)
by

Neal Bailey (Goodreads Author),

Dexter Wee (Illustrator)

liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating

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Neal Bailey has read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 15, 2026 11:44AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Neal Bailey has read Noir Burlesque 2 (Noir Burlesque, #2) by Enrico Marini	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 14, 2026 06:46PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Noir Burlesque 2 by Enrico Marini. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Noir Burlesque 2 by Enrico Marini <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Neal Bailey has read A Matter for Men (War Against the Chtorr #1) by David Gerrold (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 19, 2025 01:46PM · like
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Nov 27, 2025 08:27PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder by Lawrence Block. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder by Lawrence Block <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Neal’s Quotes

“down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.

“He will take no man’s money dishonestly and no man’s insolence without a due and dispassionate revenge. He is a lonely man and his pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very sorry you ever saw him.

“The story is this man’s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.”
― Raymond Chandler

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Neal’s Year In Books

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Neal Bailey

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