Brian was born in Englewood, New Jersey to Charles and Myra Daley. He has an older brother, David, and younger sister, Myra. He graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School of Old Tappan, NJ, in 1965. He then joined the army and served a year-long tour of duty in Vietnam.

After the army, he attended Jersey City State College, now New Jersey City University, majoring in media. During this time, he wrote his first novel, The Doomfarers of Coramonde. He went on to write the first Star Wars spin-off novels, The Han Solo Adventures. Han Solo at Stars' End, the first book of the trilogy, was a New York Times bestseller. Daley also adapted the original Star Wars film trilogy as a series of radio dramas for National Public Radio.

Daley also wrote under the pseudonym Jack McKinney with his good friend of 20 years, James Luceno. Together, they wrote over 20 Robotech novels and collaborated on the Black Hole Travel Agency series. Luceno is responsible for editing the 1,600-page manuscript of Daley's Gamma L.A.W. quartet, which was published posthumously. Daley and Luceno were also amongst a team of writers for the 1986 television cartoon series The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers.

Lucia St. Clair Robson, an author of historical fiction, was Daley's partner of 14 years.

Daley died in Maryland of pancreatic cancer on February 11, 1996, only hours after celebrating the completion of production on the Return of the Jedi radio drama with the cast and crew. The show is dedicated to his memory.

Coramonde Duology

• The Doomfarers of Coramonde (1977), ISBN 0-345-25708-1
• The Starfollowers of Coramonde (1979)

The Han Solo Adventures

• Han Solo at Stars' End (1979)
• Han Solo's Revenge (1979)
• Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (1980)

The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh

• Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds (1985)
• Jinx on a Terran Inheritance (1985)
• Fall of the White Ship Avatar (1986)

Robotech

Written with James Luceno under the shared pseudonym of Jack McKinney.

• Robotech
• No.1 Genesis (1987), ISBN 0-345-34133-3
• No.2 Battle Cry (1987), ISBN 0-345-34134-1
• No.3 Homecoming (1987)
• No.4 Battlehymn (1987), ISBN 0-345-34137-6
• No.5 Force of Arms (1987), ISBN 0-345-34138-4
• No.6 Doomsday (1987), ISBN 0-345-34139-2
• No.7 Southern Cross (1987), ISBN 0-345-34140-6
• No.8 Metal Fire (1987), ISBN 0-345-34141-4
• No.9 The Final Nightmare (1987), ISBN 0-345-34142-2
• No.10 Invid Invasion (1987), ISBN 0-345-34143-0
• No.11 Metamorphosis (1987), ISBN 0-345-34144-9
• No.12 Symphony of Light (1987), ISBN 0-345-34145-7
• No.18 The End of the Circle (1990), ISBN 0-345-36311-6
• No.19 The Zentraedi Rebellion (1994), ISBN 0-345-38744-0
• No.20 The Masters' Gambit (1995)
• No.21 Before the Invid Storm (1996)

• The Sentinels
• No.1 The Devil's Hand (1988), ISBN 0-345-35300-5
• No.2 Dark Powers (1988), ISBN 0-345-35301-3
• No.3 Death Dance (1988), ISBN 0-345-35302-1
• No.4 World Killers (1988), ISBN 0-345-35304-8
• No.5 Rubicon (1988), ISBN 0-345-345305-6

The Black Hole Travel Agency

Written with James Luceno under the shared pseudonym of Jack McKinney

• Event Horizon (1991)
• Artifact of the System (1991)
• Free Radicals (1992)
• Hostile Takeover (1994)

NPR Dramatizations

Expanded dramatizations of the Star Wars movies for National Public Radio.

• A New Hope (1981)
• The Empire Strikes Back (1983)
• The Return of the Jedi (1997)

GammaL.A.W.

Edited by James Luceno, and published posthumously

• Smoke on the Water (1997)
• Screaming Across the Sky (1998)
• The Broken Country (1998)
• To Water's End (1999)

Other Novels

• Tron (novelization of Tron, 1982)
• A Tapestry of Magics (1983)
• Kaduna Memories (written with James Luceno under the shared pseudonym of Jack McKinney, 1990)