As well as writing and maintaining the Number 1s Blog since 2018, I have also been a fiction writer for the past ten years or more. In 2024 I published my first novel, ‘The Ballad of Billy Lopez’, which was a finalist in the 2023 Proverse Prize for Literature.

‘The Ballad of Billy Lopez’ is the story of Brad, a sixteen-year-old from a difficult home, who sees the world for what it is, who performs tricks on anonymous men for money, and who has recently started seeing The Doc because he got in one fight too many.

In class he is forced to work with straight-A dweeb Billy Lopez, whose leg Brad just happened to break in a soccer game. As Billy and Brad’s friendship develops, they find in one another certain things they lack in themselves. They spend the summer together, growing closer, in more ways than one.

What starts out as an awkward alliance develops into an impulsive, eye-opening, and ultimately devastating romance.

‘The Ballad of Billy Lopez’ is available on Amazon, or from CUHK Press. More information can be found on Goodreads, or on the Proverse Publishing Website. Signed copies can be ordered directly from me through this blog – just let me know (13 USD or 10.50 GBP, plus P&P).

Advance comments on the book:

‘”The Ballad of Billy Lopez” is an exciting and delightful read from beginning to end – a web of controversial issues… McKay demonstrates an enviable ability to stage a seemingly uncontrollable material while the reader knows only too well that the writer has utmost control over every little detail of it from the beginning to the end.’ Dr Ahmed Elbeshlawy, author of ‘Savage Charm’.

‘A deeply moving, and engaging counterpoint to “Catcher in the Rye”, “The Outsiders” and even “Huckleberry Finn”… McKay’s novella eschews the pedantic as it poignantly reveals and delves into the most singular of love stories.’ George Watt, author of ‘The Finley Confession’.

I have also contributed to, and acted as lead-editor for, two Hong Kong Writers Circle anthologies, ‘HK24’ (2017) and ‘Lost in Transition’ (2024).

While my short stories have also featured in several Hong Kong Writers Circle anthologies, such as:

‘Another Hong Kong’ 2013

‘Hong Kong Gothic’ 2014

‘Future Perfect’ 2016

‘Highs & Lows’ 2018

‘Coming to Our Senses’ 2019

‘Masking the City’ 2020

‘After the Storm’ 2021

‘A Book of Changes’ 2022