Richard McStay

Richard McStay was born in Pittsburgh, PA and graduated Community College of Allegheny County and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from La Roach College. He attended additional classes in Graduate school at California University in Special Education. He is a former board member of the Artist’s and Craftsman’s Guild and Community Producer at PCTV. Having worked at many jobs in auto body repair and in group homes, he uses mechanical skills and mental health observations to develop characters and solve problems characters encounter.
Currently working as a FEMA Disaster Inspector has allowed time for writing fiction between disaster deployments and to see parts of the country under adverse conditions. Puerto Rico resembled a war zone, but it was his first time in the tropics; however, it matched up with his previously written scenes in novels. Seeing people collecting water coming out of a mountain and living without utilities in the tropic heat was inspiring. Recently, he began doing security work on movies sets and seeing firsthand the enormous effort film makers go through to film a scene. He will certainly use the experience in future novels.
Richard has always been interested in the arts and had his works accepted into local art shows. Writing has taken over his artistic expression and he attempts to paint stories that people will enjoy reading. The unlikely and the underdog prevailing over adversity is his theme in much of his writing. Having seen disabled people and those recovering from nature’s devastation, his characters do the best they can with what they have.
Writing Bilge Rat was inspired by articles about the Irish slave trade. As in his other novels, the underdog overcomes and the unlikely prevails. An unlikely meeting between a difficult Scott Slave and a Samurai gives the skills necessary to free his mother and sisters, but also tempers his defiant nature allowing him to become an honorable warrior. Writing The Pirate Boy was also inspired by the Irish Slave Trade and seeing the jungle and banana plantations in Puerto Rico
Previous publications include: Survivors of flight 387 Whiskey Creek, 2016. Self-published novels: Rip-offs in time, 2015. Partners, 2016, Anna’s book 2015, Free Thinkers, 2017, Donna 632, 2018. Bilge Rat, Argus Books 2018, 2048 released by Argus in the fall of 2018. The Pirate Boy and Defending Nipon released in 2020 by W & B Argus.