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KELLY RYAN HARRIGER was born in western Pennsylvania, but spent the bulk of his childhood in Hawaii, Texas and Florida, living around Air Force bases and military compounds. His father was an Air Force base commander, and his mother a former Marine and wartime journalist.
Kelly's interest in writing came at an early age, when he began writing short adventure books and stories as a child. After leaving Texas Tech University, where he'd been an Anthropology Major, he moved back to the Florida Keys, where his father had been stationed for several years during his childhood. It was in the Keys that he renewed his love of the ocean and the boating life, working on fishing boats and crewing on a tall ship.
After leaving his Keys to begin a "real" career, he entered the field of advertising and marketing, working as a graphic artist for a brief period before becoming a full-time advertising and marketing copywriter. He was employed by a "dot com" during the late 1990s, and after the tech crash of 2000, decided to return home to Pennsylvania, where he began writing in earnest.
In addition to several books, Kelly has also written three screenplays, and is working on two other book projects.
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PIRATES OF KEY WEST is the true story recounting the events that unfolded during two years in the early 1980s when the author, an avid sailor living in Key West, Florida, found himself accepting an offer to run marijuana from Mexico back to the US. He originally planned to do it just once for fun, and for the experience, but soon found himself agreeing to become more involved, and go on more trips. After a successful run to Mexico, he was introduced to the Colombian cartel member who funded his trip, and was welcomed to the organization. He then agreed to get his own crew together for another trip to Jamaica, and soon found himself pulled deeper into the addictive smuggling lifestyle.
After an uneventful but successful trip to Jamaica, he quickly agreed to do a quick turnaround trip right back to Jamaica, using the same boat and returning to the same ports, which led to he and his crew being tracked by the DEA. Once back in the States, the DEA put the boat and crew under surveillance and attempted to bust the entire crew and capture the whole load. What unfolded on the evening when they attempted to unload was pure mayhem, and set off a chain of events that eventually led to the author to transporting and dealing cocaine for over a year. His out-of-control lifestyle eventually caught up to him, and he was forced to put it behind him, leave the Keys, and start a new life.
Books from Kelly Ryan Harriger
(click on image to order from Amazon)
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John Rivers, Jack Daniels & God
A curated collection of seven short stories, written over a 30 year span of time.
HIROSHIMA AND OTHER POEMS
A collection of poems dealing with love, loss, realization, acceptance, redemption and the need to understand our place within the Universe at large.
Pirates of key west
COMING IN LATE 2025 FROM SUNBURY PRESS
High Times on the High Seas in the Roaring 1980s
A true adventure tale about being the captain of a a sailboat smuggling marijuana in the Caribbean.