ABOUT

Michael Hunter McVay

Michael Hunter McVay | Author | Southern California, USA

Michael Hunter McVay is a retired art instructor, a miniaturist, and the author of “Michael, Little Boy Black & Blue: Surviving the Effects of a Poisonous Child Abuser,” and “The Repulsive Tales of Wayward Fern: When Drinking & Thinking Don’t Mix,” and “Michael, Little Boy Blacker & Bluer II”. Several more books are on the way.

A professionally trained art teacher, Michael, has illustrated several books and an award-winning book cover for the Mississippi Community College Creative Writing Association. As well as an artist, Michael has written short stories and plays for all ages. He taught school as an art teacher and as an elementary school teacher until recently retiring after the tragic death of his beloved mother. Michael writes real, true-life stories of love, deception, passion, torment, abuse, torture, lust, betrayal, and joy with plenty of humor, a tinge of sarcasm, and inspiration from the heart.

His first memoir, “Michael, Little Boy Black & Blue: Surviving the Effects of a Poisonous Child Abuser,” was written as an account of the trials and tribulations of his excessively abusive and violent childhood. Adult survivors of child abuse typically develop serious health conditions later in their lives. Michael suffers from Meniere’s Disease, complex PTSD, BDD, and a host of other conditions because of the decades of abuse he endured throughout his life. This book was written as an exercise in healing and coping after he had recently recalled blocked memories that his mind had compartmentalized and hid away for forty years.

A child of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Michael was into all sorts of things. He collected world-wide stamps, Barbie dolls, Depression-glass, Coca-Cola memorabilia, antiques and much more. As an adult he still has many of these things and he continues to add to his collections. He parted with some things, and he downsized his Barbie collection from over 10,000 vintage Barbie and family dolls to less than half that number after moving to California from Mississippi, when he transferred to teach in an all-new environment. He was a multi-state licensed K-12 educator, now mostly retired.

Michael lost his father at a young age to suicide, so the story goes. He and his mother, both, attempted suicide during their years spent with a psychotic maniacal abuser, his brutal stepfather. Through his writing, Michael shows us his sense of humor even during the darkest of times. While he reveals horrendous episodes of abuse, he shares what was going on in his head as it was happening, often remaining calm at the worst of times, and finding humor while scratching his way out of a deep pit. The abuse began when Michael was barely five years old and it continued into his early adulthood. He wrote a follow-up, companion book to the first memoir in order to include more events and people who were not covered in-depth in the first book.

Michael and his partner Christopher, extensive world travelers before Covid, live with their blind dog in sunny, Southern California, where they enjoy taking long walks and cooking. Michael spends his retirement years writing, and building highly detailed miniature structures.