30 Jul 2024 Author of the Month: J. Suthern Hicks

By Susan L. Peterson

This month’s author in the 501 is J. Suthern Hicks, who has indeed made the grade as a multifaceted writer. In addition to the recent completion of his Christian fantasy trilogy, he is an award-winning playwright, children’s book author and composer. Hicks has written a musical, songs for film and has had more than a million streams of his original songs.

He is proud of being born and raised in Arkansas and living his four earliest years in Thailand with his military family. His very first work was entitled “Fat Cat,” a stapled-together book he wrote while in first grade.

After graduating from McClellan High School, he attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in speech communication. He then received a Master of Arts in interpersonal communication from Arizona State University. It was while in graduate school in the early 1990s that he honed his writing skills, learning to present ideas succinctly. While in grad school, he wrote his first play, “Home, Hearth, and OREOs,” about an elderly woman in a convalescent center who has one last wish to see her grandchildren for the very first time. His graduate thesis and many of his graduate studies focused on how communication changes as people age.

He always wanted to pursue a career in entertainment, so after receiving his degree, he continued heading west to Los Angeles. There, he found an agent who helped him land roles in national commercials for Volkswagen, Time Warner and Coca-Cola, as well as TV series. The first of these was a speaking role on the daytime soap “Days of Our Lives”.

Although Hicks originally wanted to be in front of the camera, he found he had more fulfillment and success behind it. He wrote a play in two acts, “Turtle Tears,” about two cantankerous women maintaining peace and independence in their twilight years. It received the Critics’ Choice Award from LA Weekly and praise from the Los Angeles Times and the Burbank Leader.

Hicks says that writing dialogue always came naturally to him, which is why writing plays seemed easy—unlike his first novel, which took 10 years to write. He discovered it took a different set of skills to fill in the descriptive detail around that dialogue. Images he could see clearly in his imagination were hard to put on the page. But now he is “in love” with writing descriptive scenes with lots of specifics, even though he said it sometimes takes more effort.

Although he never intended to write a children’s book, in 2014 his cat, Chocolate, inspired him with her feline charm to write “Charlie and Chocolate’s Purrfect Prayer.” It was followed by “Charlie and Chocolate’s Furry Forgiveness” just a few years later. He turned to social media to find an illustrator and made a fortunate discovery in Tatiana Minina, a young artist originally from Russia who now lives in Massachusetts. Hicks has continued to employ her to illustrate his work, including book jackets and album covers. “I think she can read my mind,” he said.

His trilogy, Messengers and Thieves, has been his most recent passion. This Christian fantasy series, often likened to C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia,” is suitable for older adolescents and adults. The stories involve characters Seth, Melissa and their well-meaning but meddling grandmother, who enter a foreign world where they must battle forces of evil. The story intertwines scripture with uplifting and positive themes. Although the books can be read out of order and stand-alone, they are best read in order: “Where the Garden Begins,” “A Leaf of Faith” and “Roots and Branches: The Battle for Here.”

Reviewers comment positively on how Hicks writes about difficult emotions and integrates the power of prayer. Humor and strong female characters will continue to be emblematic of his work. He is currently working on a prequel to the trilogy. He also has a collection of 10 songs to be released by the end of the year. His music can be found on all the most popular music streaming services under the group known as Seven Years.

Hicks met his wife, Michele, who is a classically trained violinist, in 2013 while still in California. In 2022, they decided to trade the fast pace of California for the calmer environs of Hot Springs, where they live with their three cats, Gracie, Charlie and Chocolate. Hicks, whose family’s roots run for several generations in the area, enjoys gardening and admiring the natural landscape and flora that surround and inspire him.

More about Hicks may be found on his Facebook page, J. Suthern Hicks. His books may be found on Amazon and other online vendors.