Jack Bartley – Books and Music – Information about Jack's writing and music projects

Jack Bartley

     I spent nearly five years on Oʻahu serving as a U.S. Navy officer in the 1970s, including a WestPac/Vietnam deployment aboard a Knox-class destroyer escort. After completing my naval service, I returned to the East Coast and earned a Ph.D. in ecology, followed by several years as a high school educator. I later became an associate professor at the University of Delaware. Now retired, I focus my time on writing and music.

     I wrote the monthly column “Educational Perspectives” for the Newark Post for ten years. My novels include the romantic comedy Public Ed – A Novel (2005), based on my public high school teaching experience; the adult Navy novel Smoke on the Water, published by Koehler Books in April 2025; and Hilo Dome, the first book in a Hawaiian young adult series released by Histria Books (Simon & Schuster) in May 2025. Additional works include the forthcoming titles The Seekers, The World Awakens, the children’s chapter book Dinsdale, and the completed adult novel Incoming. missile attack on Oahu in 2018 while I was there with my students during a domestic study abroad program.

    I have released two CDs of Celtic folk music with my former band, So’s Your Mom, and recently completed a double CD of Americana music with my duo, Whiskey Creek.

I am also a docent at the James Farm Ecological Preserve in Ocean View, Delaware, where I live with my wife, Susan, and our pets, Jesse the dog and Clementine the cat.