Presley, Michael

views updated

Presley, Michael

PERSONAL:

Born in Grenada, West Indies; immigrated to United States, 1978. Education: Stony Brook University, B.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Brooklyn, NY.

CAREER:

Writer.

WRITINGS:

Tears on a Sunday Afternoon, Strebor Books (Largo, MD), 2007.

"BLACKFUNK" NOVEL SERIES

Blackfunk, 2nd revised edition, Blackfunk Publishing (Brooklyn, NY), 2001.

Blackfunk II: No Regrets, Blackfunk Publishing (Brooklyn, NY), 2002.

Whatever It Takes (Blackfunk III), Blackfunk Publishing (Brooklyn, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Presley is a short-story writer and novelist whose first three novels are part of a series titled "Blackfunk." The series takes place in an urban world where love is difficult, if not impossible, to find and has been replaced by sexual manipulation. The "Blackfunk" books follow characters who seek authentic relationships and love in their life. "I wanted to show us [black Americans] as professionals: doctors, engineers, lawyers—successful people with issues," the author told Victoria Christopher Murray in an interview in the Black Issues Book Review. In his fourth novel, Tears on a Sunday Afternoon, the author presents a sexually graphic story about a man named Donald who finds himself in a bizarre situation, that is, living with his wife and her lesbian lover. Although Donald is no paragon of virtue, he loves his son and wants to get him out of a situation he sees as abusive, largely because of his father-in-law, Mr. Malcolm, who hates Donald. However, Donald's wife has all the money, and Donald has gotten used to living in a mansion and driving fast cars. The protagonist also faces the fact that his father-in-law has underworld connections that could prove dangerous. Donald soon finds his chance to get out when a beautiful woman presents an indecent and possibly illegal proposition that would make Donald enough money to get away with his son. Calling the novel of sexual betrayal and intrigue "hugely entertaining," David Pitt, writing in Booklist, went on to note that some readers may not like the swearing and graphic sex contained in the novel but that "all others will be thrilled."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, September, 2001, review of Blackfunk, p. 73; March-April, 2005, Victoria Christopher Murray, "On the Way Up: Two Emerging Authors Succeed in the Fast-Paced World of Literary Entrepreneurship," p. 70.

Booklist, February 1, 2007, David Pitt, review of Tears on a Sunday Afternoon, p. 33.