Jump to Machine of Death Volume 1 contributors

THIS IS HOW YOU DIE — AUTHORS

Karen Stay Ahlstrom has written dozens of English adaptations for manga, several volumes of which landed on national bestseller lists. She also had an epic poem published in Leading Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy, the magazine for which she also served as Fiction Director. While working at the magazine she met her husband Peter Ahlstrom as well as the writers Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells, for whom she now serves as an alpha reader. Karen lives in Utah raising three daughters as future lepidopterists.

Liz Argall grew up in Canberra, China, and country Australia. Her first real job was at a women’s refuge and her last normal job was managing a circus. She writes love letters to inanimate objects and creates the sporadic webcomic “Things Without Arms and Without Legs.” lizargall.com

Rebecca Black has taught English in Japan, studied linguistics in New York, and is currently in Maryland studying math so that she may have the luxury of spending her life showing people how beautiful mathematics is. In her spare time she muses about the use of language, designs websites and then rarely updates them (myriadballoons.net/rebecca), sings along to Japanese pop songs, reads fiction aimed at twelve-year-olds, and laments not having more time to paint or write.

’Nathan Burgoine lives in Ottawa with his husband Daniel. His short fiction appears in Fool For Love, I Do Two, Saints + Sinners 2011: New Fiction from the Festival, Men of the Mean Streets, Boys of Summer, The Touch of the Sea, Night Shadows, and Mortis Operandi. His non-fiction appears in I Like It Like That and 5×5 Literary Magazine. His first novel, Light, is forthcoming from Bold Strokes Books. You can find him online at: redroom.com/member/nathan-burgoine

Daliso Chaponda is a Malawian writer and stand-up comedian whose fiction has appeared in publications such as Ellery Queen, Apex Magazine, and the first Machine of Death anthology. His last one-man show, “Laughrica,” got him in trouble with the Malawian censorship board. He co-wrote a radio play called “When the Laughter Stopped” inspired by these experiences. It will air on BBC Radio 4 in 2013. daliso.com

Bill Chernega is best known for being John Chernega’s brother, but he’s also a picture editor, digital asset manager, screenwriter, programmer, and whatever other crazy thing he can think of doing. He lives with his amazing wife and two awesome kids in Los Angeles, and you can find out about his latest projects at billchernega.com. His death prediction card simply reads, “Robot.”

John Chernega is an English professor in southeastern Minnesota, where he lives with his awesome wife Jenna and their two amazing sons. John’s first published work was “Almond” from the first volume of Machine of Death. His hobbies include singing, playing board games, and saving Christmas. chernega.com

Ryan Estrada is an artist/adventurer who travels the world making comics, videos, and trouble. He is the author of the graphic novels Aki Alliance, The Kind, Plagued, and the short “Mystical Monkey” from Flight: Volume 4. He loves saying yes to random new experiences just in case he ever needs to write a story about them, so he knew that buying those illegal goods in that Mumbai black market and wandering through all those riots would pay off one day! ryanestrada.com

Tom Francis plays and writes about video games for a living at PC Gamer, and in his spare time he’s making one called Gunpoint. He writes about that, entertainment, happiness, and plane seats on his blog: pentadact.com

Erika Hammerschmidt is the author of Born on the Wrong Planet, a memoir about autism, and Kea’s Flight, a science fiction novel about parrots, robots, and embryos in space. She has a webcomic called “Abby and Norma,” and lives in Minnesota with her husband John. erikahammerschmidt.com

Ada Hoffmann’s fiction has appeared in Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. She lives a nerdy, awkward life in southern Ontario and is currently taking a break in between different grad schools. You can find her online at ada-hoffmann.livejournal.com or on Twitter as @xasymptote.

Chandler Kaiden is an Affiliate Member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA). Previous short fiction has appeared in the anthology The Mothman Files, as well as a number of small press magazines. He lives and works in the Midwest.

Rhiannon Kelly was not old enough to sign a legally binding contract when she sold her story to the Machine of Death people. She is now reveling in such adult rights and studying English at Cal Poly SLO. You can find her daily bite-sized pieces of writing at: 55wordstories.tumblr.com

Hollan Lane lives in Spokane, Washington and writes stories and books for a living under various pen names. She writes weird flash fiction and short stories, epic YA space operas and gay erotic romance?mixing genres how she sees fit. In her spare time, she collects vintage pins and dresses like she lives in the 1950s.
thevintageunicorn.blogspot.com

M.J. Leitch lives nocturnally in Ontario, Canada. She enjoys reading, writing, and engaging critically with TV shows that may or may not deserve such attention. She can be reached at: mj.lynhurst@gmail.com

Martin Livings is a West Australian writer who has had more than eighty short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies both locally and internationally. His first novel, Carnies, was published in Australia in 2006 by Hachette Livre, and his first collection of short fiction, Living With the Dead, was published by Dark Prints Press in 2012. martinlivings.com

Marleigh Norton is a game design consultant currently residing in Boston. She occasionally gets tricked into writing things. Don’t read this book, it will only encourage her. web.mit.edu/marleigh

Brigita Orel has had her stories and poems published in Rose & Thorn Journal, Cantaraville, Autumn Sky Poetry, Islet, and other print and online magazines and collections. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Micro Award. She studied writing at Swinburne, Australia, and she lives and creates in Slovenia. bsoulflowers.blogspot.com

George Page III is a writer from Texas. His stories have appeared in Ruins Terra, Mirror Shards, and other anthologies. tgapgeorge.com

Sarah Pavis is a mechanical engineer and writer who wants to play board games with you. sarahpavis.com

D.L.E. Roger is Ian Stoner. Ian earned his B.A. from St. John’s College in 1999, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Minnesota in 2011. www.tc.umn.edu/~ston0235/

Toby W. Rush is a professor of music theory by day and an author by night, or at least whenever the kids are in bed and only after the dishes are done. He lives in Centerville, Ohio, where the drivers are friendly and the wi-fi is strong. By the time you are reading this, he hopes to have scraped something together worth discovering at tobyrush.com.

Richard Salter is a British writer and editor living near Toronto, Canada. He has had over twenty short stories published, and has edited two short story anthologies, most recently the shared-world collection World’s Collider, a mosaic novel about the end of the world. His debut horror novel, The Patchwork House, should be available to buy before the end of 2013. Check for updates at: richardsalter.com

Kyle Schoenfeld took a westbound train one day and ended up in Seattle, where he recently finished graduate school. This is his first published story, but you can follow future projects at: kyleschoenfeld.wordpress.com

Gord Sellar is a Canadian author and screenwriter who was born in Malawi and spent over a decade working in South Korea. He attended Clarion West in 2006, and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2009. For more information on his writing, see his website at gordsellar.com.

Grace Seybold is a science fiction writer and poet. She lives in Montreal, where she spends her time working as a copy editor and waiting for her latent superpowers to manifest.

John Takis is a part-time librarian and freelance writer, specializing in film music journalism. His short fiction has appeared in several volumes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and in the anthology Professor Challenger: New Worlds, Lost Places. johntakis.com

Ed Turner is a writer, RPG designer, and academic with a scholarly interest in games and the interaction between mechanics and narratives. He lives in the Seattle area with his wife and their hamster. thoughtcheckgames.wordpress.com

Ren Warom is a writer of the strange, dark and bizarre, residing in Middle England. Ren’s stories are published here and there, and her novels are represented by the fabulous Jennifer Udden of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. renwaromsumwelt.wordpress.com

ILLUSTRATORS

Nick Abadzis is a British cartoonist, writer, graphic novelist and visual and editorial consultant of international renown. As an author, he has been honored with various awards including the prestigious Eisner for his graphic novel Laika. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. For more info, portfolios and links, please visit: nickabadzis.my-expressions.com

Graham Annable is a Canadian cartoonist living in Portland, OR. When he’s not busy creating new “Grickle” comics and animation, he spends his time working as a storyboard artist at Laika Entertainment.

c.billadeau is an illustrator working out of Chicago, variably spending her time freelancing her skills or drawing a graphic novel. Portfolio and prints of her work are available at: billet-deaux.com

Sam Bosma is an illustrator living and working out of a burrow in Baltimore, Maryland. He works largely on editorial and book illustrations, and more specifically, the kind of illustrations with monsters and swords and stuff. sbosma.com

Tony Cliff is a contributor to the Flight series of comic anthologies, has been nominated for Shuster, Harvey, and Eisner awards, and is the author of Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant, a light-hearted adventure tale available at delilahdirk.com. He owes his draftsmanship skills to a series of teachers who emphasized strong fundamentals, hard work, good manners, proper nutrition, and regular flossing. He internets at: tonycliff.com

Shari Chankhamma is a comic artist, illustrator, reluctant writer and technology enthusiast. sharii.com

Anthony Clark is a cartoonist and illustrator from Indiana. You can see more of his drawings at nedroid.com.

Trudy Cooper, as a child, was annoyed that Betty and Veronica’s skirts didn’t ride up when they bent over. She now illustrates the dirty webcomic “Oglaf.” oglaf.com

Mike Dawson’s graphic novels include Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody (Bloomsbury USA), Ace-Face: The Mod With the Metal Arms (AdHouse), and Troop 142 (Secret Acres). He is also the co-host of the popular comics-related podcast, “The Ink Panthers Show!” His next book, Angie Bongiolatti, will be published by Secret Acres in late 2013. mikedawsoncomics.com

Aaron Diaz is an ex-professor and dread cartoonist. Creator of the science webcomic “Dresden Codak” and the art theory blog “Indistinguishable from Magic”, he currently resides in Brooklyn. dresdencodak.com

Alexandra “Lexxy” Douglass is a freelance fantasy and sci-fi illustrator, working for clients all over the world from the comfort of her pajamas. In her free time, she plays video games and works on her pet project, The Cloud Factory. alexandra-douglass.com

Becky Dreistadt is a painter and comic artist living in Los Angeles. She mostly works with her partner Frank on the hand-painted webcomic “Tiny Kitten Teeth”. the vintage-style children’s book series Tigerbuttah and the 151-painting project “Capture Creatures.” Becky likes animals, old cartoons and Bavarian folk art. beckydreistadt.com

Alice Duke is an illustrator and concept artist. She has also illustrated several comics for anthologies, including The Graphic Canon Volumes 1 & 2 (Seven Stories press), The Lovecraft Anthology Volume 1 (Self Made Hero) and Nelson (Blank Slate Books). Find her online at: alice-duke.com

Meredith Gran is a freelance cartoonist, animator and writer from Brooklyn, NY. She spends a lot of time taking pictures of her dog. octopuspie.com

KC Green is currently possibly on the East Coast drawing comics and stuff. He might, however, be on the West Coast still drawing a bunch, but possibly not as many, comics as he used to. Wherever he is, you can be sure he is second-guessing his every move. kcgreendotcom.com

Dustin Harbin is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has never died before. More information, comics, and even more information at: dharbin.com

Tyson Hesse has a college degree in who cares from the school of whatever. He’s animated characters on video games like Skullgirls and illustrated on comic books like Bravest Warriors. He has two comics of his own: “Boxer Hockey” and “Diesel.”  The machine has predicted he will die before he finishes either of them. boxerhockey.com/tyson

Claire Hummel grew up in L.A., went to school in Rhode Island, and ended up in Seattle, working as an associate production designer for Microsoft Studios. When she isn’t drawing art for video games, she spends time with her two boa constrictors and tries not to think too much about what her Machine reading would be. Preferably not “snakes.” shoomlah.com

Indigo Kelleigh is an illustrator living in Portland, Oregon. His latest projects and interests are tracked online at: lunarbistro.com

Braden Lamb is a Boston-based illustrator. He and his wife, Shelli, are the series artists for the Adventure Time and Ice Age comics, as well as some self-published comics that are less lucrative. bradenlamb.com

Les McClaine has worked as a librarian, a janitor, a record store clerk, and a Santa wrangler. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where he sits in a big room with his friends and draws cartoons all day. lesmcclaine.com

Kevin McShane is a cartoonist, designer, actor, filmmaker, writer, photographer, and a dozen other things that won’t impress you either. He can be found digitally at kevinmcshane.org.

Ben McSweeney is an illustrator, animator and director on projects such as The Way of Kings, PostHuman and Darksiders II. Find out more at inkthinker.net.

Carly Monardo lives and draws in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and their ridiculous dog. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts Animation Program, Carly has worked on projects as diverse as Venture Bros. and Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel. You can find more of her art at whirringblender.com.

Danica Novgorodoff is a painter, comic book artist, writer, graphic designer and horse wrangler from Kentucky who currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has published three graphic novels: A Late Freeze (2006 winner of the Isotope Award), Slow Storm (2008, First Second Books), and Refresh, Refresh (included in Best American Comics 2011). Her fourth graphic novel, The Undertaking of Lily Chen, is forthcoming from First Second Books in 2014. danicanovgorodoff.com

Emily Partridge is an illustrator/cartoonist from British Columbia, Canada. She is a cutie pie. empartridge.com

Ryan Pequin is a tiny man who lives in Canada and draws cartoons for a living somehow. If he had to choose a way to die, he would probably choose being carried off by an eagle and then eaten by its young. You can read his comics at threewordphrase.com if you want to do that.

Ramón Pérez is the multiple-award winning cartoonist best known for his graphic novel adaptation of Jim Henson’s Tale Of Sand for Archaia Entertainment. Currently he’s illustrating Wolverine & the X-Men for Marvel. Notable recent works also include John Carter: The Gods Of Mars, Captain America and the First Thirteen, and Deadpool Team-Up for Marvel Comics, as well as his creator-owned endeavors “Butternutsquash” and “Kukuburi.” ramonperez.com

Mike Peterson, aka Halcyon Snow, is suspiciously comfortable with nameless dread and gibbering horrors. Approach with caution. halcyonsnow.blogspot.com

Greg Ruth is the Spectrum Award-winning artist and writer whose most recent projects include Red Kite, Blue Kite (with Ji-Li Jiang), A Pirate’s Guide to Recess (with James Preller), INDEH (with Ethan Hawke) from Hyperion/ABC, and his latest creator-owned graphic novel from Scholastic/Graphix!, The Lost Boy. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife and two boys. gregthings.com

Chris Schweizer is the cartoonist behind The Crogan Adventures, a historical fiction graphic novel series. He grew up in Kentucky and now lives with his wife and daughter outside of Atlanta, where he teaches comics at the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design. croganadventures.blogspot.com

Kris Straub is the author of the comic strips “Chainsawsuit,” “Starslip,” and “Broodhollow.” He lives in Seattle, where he can be frequently seen on Penny Arcade TV. krisstraub.com

Lissa Treiman was born in the city of Los Angeles and has never managed to leave it. After graduating CalArts with a degree in cartoons, she began working at Walt Disney Feature Animation in 2007. She’s been storyboarding there ever since, contributing to films such as Tangled and Wreck-it Ralph. She loves dogs. All dogs. At the time of writing this she still does not know how to ride a bicycle. lissabt.blogspot.com

Leela Wagner has made some choices which make it difficult to predict what her life will look like at the time of this volume’s publication. She will certainly be in a time, in a place, drawing things and drinking tea. She would love to hear from you at: leelawagnerart@gmail.com

Dana Wulfekotte is an animator and comic artist who lives with her two rabbits in Queens. She has worked on a variety of projects for clients like Nickelodeon, Fox, and PBS. In her spare time she makes ridiculous comics with Mike Cornnell, which you can read at: leadpaintcomics.com

MACHINE OF DEATH

Camille Alexa is American and Canadian and lives down the street from a Pacific Northwest volcano. Her fiction appears in Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazines, Fantasy Magazine, and Escape Pod. Her short story collection Push of the Sky received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was nominated for the Endeavour Award. More info and bibliographical updates on Twitter @camillealexa or at camillealexa.com.

John Allison lives near Manchester, UK and intends to keep positive despite all the evidence suggesting that he do otherwise. See his comics and his upbeat attitude at scarygoround.com.

Kate Beaton draws men in fancy hats for a living. On an exciting day she’ll draw a character with epaulets. Her website is harkavagrant.com.

Matthew Bennardo lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the writer of over 20 published short stories, appearing in magazines like Asimov’s Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, and others. Contact him through Twitter at @mbennardo or through his website at mbennardo.com.

Brandon Bolt draws cartoon pictures in order to eat, and has made a variety of other unclever life decisions. Perhaps you will be affected by one of them one day. To start, read the cartoon he draws at nobodyscores.com. There is also a portfolio site at loosenutstudio.com if perhaps you are interested in having some pictures drawn, which experts concede is possible.

Vera Brosgol spends her days drawing storyboards for animation in Portland, Oregon. At night she produces illustrations and comics, and her first book, Anya’s Ghost, was published by First Second in Spring 2011. Her website is verabee.com.

Jeffrey Brown is the author of numerous autobiographical graphic novels such as Clumsy and Funny Misshapen Body as well as humorous work including Incredible Change-Bots and the New York Times bestseller Darth Vader and son. He also co-wrote and created art for the film Save The Date and teaches comics at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. www.jeffreybrowncomics.com

Scott C. is Scott Campbell, art director for Psychonauts and Brütal Legend at Double Fine Productions. Scott has done numerous comics that have appeared in such anthologies as Hickee, Flight, Beasts!, and Project: Superior. He has also painted many clever little paintings that have shown in such places as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Montreal, and Japan. pyramidcar.com

Mitch Clem authors a ton of comics, most notably Nothing Nice to Say (jokes about punk rock and the culture surrounding it), and My Stupid Life (jokes and stories about his stupid life). Everything about him lives at mitchclem.com.

Daliso Chaponda is a writer & comedian who writes fiction in between stand-up gigs. He was a finalist in Britain’s Got Talent. His BBC Radio show Citizen of Nowhere was a finalist in The Rose D’Or Awards. He’s only ever won a game of Monopoly. He has appeared on QI, The Royal Variety Show, Have I Got News for You and many others. He has three comedy specials available online. He also likes strawberries. www.dalisochaponda.com

John Chernega lives in southern Minnesota with his wife and sons. Aside from a few corporate catalogs, “Almond” is his first published work. He keeps a nondescript business card on his nightstand that says “Clumsy Hippopotamus”, but he refuses to divulge whether it’s from a machine of death, or if he’s been moonlighting as a clumsy hippopotamus. chernega.com

Danielle Corsetto is the creator of the webcomic “Girls With Slingshots,” the comedic story about two girls, a bar, and a talking cactus, which can be found at girlswithslingshots.com. She lives with two cats and a 9-year-old goldfish in Shepherdstown, West Virginia in a very old house. These days she spends most of her time drinking alone and talking to herself.

Chris Cox is an avid musician, composer and writer, into all the dark and offbeat arts, and music of every ilk (except country—bleh). He loves dark humor, funky slap bass and Scotch. Tastes include The Wasp Factory, Harold & Maude, Waking Ned Devine, and addictions include Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom viking series, Magnus Mills, Kurt Vonnegut, Danny Boyle, Star Trek. He’s a writer and geek, usually working on music or wood carving, (but tends to precariously slice his fingertips way too frequently, so limits this.) He lives in Rhode Island with his wife, and an abundance of books, films, flowers, instruments and strange ideas. He will most likely die of a self inflicted power tool injury. Chrispcox [at] cox.net.

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw was born and raised in England but now lives in Australia. Primarily a gaming writer, he is responsible for the “Zero Punctuation” video reviews at The Escapist online magazine. His first novel, Mogworld, has been published by Dark Horse Books. He can be reached through his personal site at fullyramblomatic.com.

Alexander Danner is a writer and sound designer working primarily in the medium of audio drama. He is co-creator of the critically-acclaimed audio drama Greater Boston, and a script writer on the audio adaptation of Wendy & Richard Pini’s classic comics series ElfQuest. He is a sound designer on The Amelia Project and Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery, and lead sound designer on What’s the Frequency?. His short fiction and comics have appeared in various journals and anthologies. He is also co-author of two textbooks on the history and craft of comics and graphic novels. He teaches creative writing at Emerson College.

Aaron Diaz gave up a life of professional science to draw comics on the internet. He shares a name with a Mexican pop star. dresdencodak.com

Rene Engström is a cartoonist and illustrator living and working out of Östersund and Malmö, Sweden. She has just wrapped up the 300-page online graphic novel Anders Loves Maria. reneengstrom.com

Jess Fink is the author of We Can Fix It: A Time Travel Memoir, published by Top Shelf. She has seen the all-knowing Space Rainbow and eaten its gummy heart. She also makes T-shirts. Her erotic webcomic about a Victorian robot is at: jessfink.com/Chester5000XYV

James Foreman lives in Pittsburgh and is probably drinking coffee. He blogs about his life’s esoterica at: jamesforeman.com.

Tom Francis designs, writes and tries not to code videogames in Vancouver, Canada, with a group of lovely collaborators scattered around the globe. So far they’ve made Gunpoint and Heat Signature, and are now working on Tactical Breach Wizards. His personal blog (pentadact.com) has more info on those, and whatever else he’s up to lately.
pentadact [at] gmail.com.

Rafa Franco was born in a wee town in Argentina. Graphic designer by trade, he has had some art and a couple of articles published where you will never find them, and has managed to unwillingly produce some small-time freelance graphic design work. Like an idiot savant, he roams the muddy slime of mediocrity and has the common sense to let the occasional spark of creativity out to the world. If you feel like traveling fifteen thousand miles south to the city of La Plata near Buenos Aires, you may catch him starring in a play as a 70-year-old backwater whore.

Dorothy Gambrell would like you to know that your library has a photocopy machine. Her unfortunate cartoons appear regularly at catandgirl.com.

Shaenon K. Garrity is a cartoonist and writer best known for Narbonic, Skin Horse (cowritten with Jeffrey C. Wells), and the Willowweep Manor graphic novels (with art by Christopher Baldwin). She lives in Berkeley with a cat, a man and a boy.

KC Green does comics online and off. He did some comics for Nickelodeon magazine and then they closed their doors. He blames himself every day. Currently he does the webcomic “Gunshow” at gunshowcomic.com, but for how long until his unfocused, child-like mind wanders on to something else? You can try to find more of his work, old and new, at his unfinished website kcgreendotcom.com.

William Grallo is the son of Lou. He was the winner of the Will Inman Award for Poetry and a runner-up for the Ursula K. LeGuin Award for Imaginative Fiction. He has had fiction published in Rosebud magazine and online at alwaysblack.com.

C. E. Guimont lives in Berlin, Germany. His previous two novels, The Ten Lies She Told Me and The One or Two I Told Her and That Business With the Rabbit are in Staten Island’s Fresh Kills dark archive.

Matt Haley is best known as a comic-book illustrator for DC, Dark Horse and Marvel. Currently drawing the sequel to Badass (Harper), he directs film and watches Japanese kids’ shows when sober. matthaley.com

Christopher Hastings is the creator of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Carly, and their dog, Commissioner Gordon. You can read his comic for free at drmcninja.com, and you can email him for free at chris [at] drmcninja.com.

Paul Horn is an infographics journalist, illustrator and man-about-town. His comic “Cool Jerk” is found in finer comics shops and at cooljerk.com. He and his wife Darlene live in San Diego and enjoy writing blurbs in the third person.

Sherri Jacobsen is a marketing writer/producer who spends her time convincing you to see movies you didn’t know you wanted to see. Her Machine of Death prediction reads “FINISHING THAT CHILDREN’S NOVEL BEFORE AGE 65” but she bravely writes on, one sentence at a time.

John Keogh is an itinerant rambler with fists of steel and a nose for trouble, currently roughhousing his way through New England. You can see him try to do right by his kin on lucid-tv.com.

Karl Kerschl has been drawing comics professionally for 15 years. He has worked on Superman, The Flash, Robin and The Teen Titans, among other heroic things, and is the author of the Eisner-nominated webcomic “The Abominable Charles Christopher.” More of his work can be found at karlkerschl.com.

Kazu Kibuishi is the creator of the Amulet graphic novel series for Scholastic Graphix and the Flight comics anthology for Villard Books. He lives and works in Alhambra, California. boltcity.com

Bartholomew Klick is an undergrad at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, where he studies Chinese and Creative Writing. He plays the flute and firmly believes that humans are generally equal to one another. He has a beautiful girlfriend who dotes on him and reminds him that, occasionally, someone reads his work. When he dreams, he has a pet duck. That duck was named Mr. Waddlesworth for several years until he one day began laying dream eggs, at which point he was renamed The Illustrious Duchess Mr. Waddlesworth. This notable only because Klick’s fridge never seems to run out of duck eggs, despite the creature’s phantasmal nature.

Adam Koford is the creator of a book called The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out. During the day he works for a video game company making secret things he’s not allowed to talk about unless there’s an official public relations envoy present. He has done freelance illustration work for Twitter, the Daily Show, and MAD Magazine.adamkoford.com

Doug Lane (Douglas J Lane 2.0) has over fifty stories to his credit, some collected in Shady Acres & Darker Places (2018) and Hundred Acre (2023). His Hollywood alt-history ghost story “Daddy, Play That Babalú” was first runner-up in The Saturday Evening Post’s 2023 Great American Fiction contest. He maintains a small but sincere pumpkin patch on Facebook (Doug Lane Writes) and a vacation destination at www.douglasjlane.com.

Roger Langridge is currently the cartoonist behind Boom! Studios’ Lewis Carroll-inspired comic book Snarked! and writer (and occasional artist) of Popeye for IDW. His past credits include the Harvey Award-winning Muppet Show Comic Book and Thor: The Mighty Avenger and his self-published comic, Fred the Clown. Go to hotelfred.com to see more of his work or to get in touch.

K M Lawrence lives and works in England, and at this moment is probably staring out of the window instead of writing. He has also been published in Strange Horizons.

David Malki ! is the author of the Eisner-, Harvey- and Ignatz-nominated comic strip “Wondermark.” His latest comic strip collection is called Friends You Can Ride On, but there are also many more of them, each nearly as good as the previous. He lives in Seattle and he likes to fly airplanes. Read comics, contact him, etc. at wondermark.com.

Erin McKean is a lexicographer (look it up). She lexicogs as the founder of Wordnik.com, and blogs about dresses at dressaday.com. She has written one novel, four books about wacky words, and enough email to cover the entire moon with a layer of alphanumeric characters five ems deep.

Brian McLachlan has drawn lots of comics. One of them is webcomic, The Princess Planet. He also writes about making comics. For lots of great tutorials visit him at brianmcl.com. He lives in Toronto with his wife and son.

Kevin McShane is a cartoonist, designer, actor, filmmaker, writer, photographer, and a dozen other things that won’t impress you either. He can be found digitally at kevinmcshane.org.

Dylan Meconis is the creator of Bite Me! and Family Man. Should one come across her tricorner hat (lost in a pheasant shoot), please send it home to dylanmeconis.com.

Camron Miller is an amateur writer and classics student. A graduate of St Bees School and the Lawrenceville School, he divides his time between the University of London, the Surrey Hills, and a seaside village near the Lake District National Park.

Carly Monardo lives and draws in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and their ridiculous dog. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts Animation Program, Carly has worked on projects as diverse as Venture Bros. and Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel. Most recently, she worked with Playmatics on their upcoming “Untouchables” mobile game. You can find more of her art at whirringblender.com.

Randall Munroe, a cartoonist from southern Virginia, is the creator of the webcomic “xkcd” (xkcd.com), one of the most popular comics on the Internet. Formerly a roboticist at NASA, he now makes a living writing comics. He spends his time drawing, traveling, and training computers to beat humans at Rock-Paper-Scissors. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Nation of Amanda enjoys using swear words and painting and drawing comics, not in that order. She currently lives with, is engaged to, and frequently collaborates with Mitch Clem who cannot even believe how awesome she is. Her blog lives at nationofamanda.livejournal.com.

Ryan North is an author who lives in Toronto, which is in Canada. He writes a comic strip called “Dinosaur Comics” which you can pick up in book form at your local bookstore, or which you can just read for free at qwantz.com. They’re pretty okay! You can reach him through his website.

Pelotard has worked at Microsoft in Dublin, at the European Space Agency in Noordwijk-an-Zee in the Netherlands, and has found his degree in theoretical physics completely useless in his current career at a translation agency. He lives outside Stockholm, Sweden, with his family, and can be reached via pelotard.com.

Ramón Pérez is the creative force behind Tale of Sand, an adaptation of the lost Jim Henson & Jerry Juhl screenplay, which is nominated for five Eisner Awards and was winner of the ForeWord BOTYA 2011 GOLD Award in graphic novels & comics. Other recent works include the acclaimed adaptation of the sci-fi classic John Carter: The Gods Of Mars for Marvel Comics. When spare time becomes available, Ramón likes to indulge his peculiar muse by regaling the world with tales such as “Kukuburi” and quirky comedies the likes of “ButterNutSquash.” For a deeper foray into his mind and meanderings visit ramonperez.com.

Brian Quinlan recently earned a degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing at Virginia Tech. He has yet to decide what the hell he’ll do next. Brian can be contacted at: bdpquinlan [at] gmail.com.

T. J. Radcliffe T. J. Radcliffe is a mercenary scientist and poet who probably lives on Gabriola Island, BC, Canada. When not kayaking or hiking he writes poetry and prose, sometimes illustrated by his wife, Hilary Farmer. He can be reached via his website: tjradcliffe.com where he writes about poetry, probability, politics and physics, sometimes all in the same post.

Jesse Reklaw has been drawing the weekly comic strip “Slow Wave” since 1995, and has two collections published: Dreamtoons and The Night of Your Life. Find more online at slowwave.com.

Katie Sekelsky lives in Pennsylvania. She has had illustrations published with the Harvard University Press and featured in Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Triennial. Her work can be seen on her mother’s refrigerator (by appointment only) and at ksekelsky.com.

Gord Sellar is a graduate of Clarion West 2006, and has lived in South Korea since 2002. His writing has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Interzone, and Jetse de Vries’ Shine anthology, as well as in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 26, edited by Gardner Dozois. He was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2009. Visit his website at gordsellar.com.

Kean Soo is the author and illustrator of the Jellaby series of graphic novels. He spends a distressing amount of time on the Internet, and not enough on his website, secretfriendsociety.com.

Jeff Stautz‘s work has been listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2019, and was long-listed in the 2021 Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest. His fiction has appeared most recently in Event Magazine and the Vancouver Review. He has been the recipient of grants and fellowships from the BC Arts Council and the Montana Artists’ Refuge, among others. He lives and works in Vancouver, BC, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.

Cameron Stewart is the multiple-award nominated illustrator of Batman & Robin, Seaguy, Catwoman, and The Other Side. His serialized online graphic novel Sin Titulo won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, and can be found at sintitulocomic.com.

Kris Straub is the cartoonist behind the webcomic “Chainsawsuit” and the sci-fi humor saga Starslip. He’s also co-author of the Harvey Award-nominated How To Make Webcomics, published by Image. Kris has lived in every city in America for at least one second.

James L. Sutter is a co-creator of the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying Games, and the author of the queer young adult romance novels Darkhearts and The Ghost of Us. He’s also the author of the adult fantasy novels Death’s Heretic and The Redemption Engine, plus short stories in such venues as Nightmare and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. In addition, he’s written comic books, video games, essays in venues like Clarkesworld and Lightspeed: Queers Destroy Science Fiction, and a wealth of material for tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. When not writing, James has performed with musical acts ranging from metalcore to musical theater. For more information, visit jameslsutter.com.

Marcus Thiele (familiarly known as Marcus Parcus) disappeared under mysterious circumstances at the age of 27 and was hastily replaced with a life-like replica. The pretense of his continued existence and artistic output is maintained through the silence, exile and cunning of the skilled estate representatives at themonkeymind.livejournal.com.

Kelly Tindall is a comic-book jack of all trades; writing, drawing, colouring (it’s spelled that way in Canada!) and lettering comics for both publishers (such as Image) and the web (That’s So Kraven!). His work can be found online at kellytindall.blogspot.com.

Dean Trippe is an alien robot ninja wizard (from the future) who makes comics. He is a former comic shop manager, a lifelong superhero fan, and has an actual degree in comics. For more of his work, visit deantrippe.com.

J Jack Unrau is a vagabond librarian whose writing has appeared on Wired.com, CBC Radio and in Broken Pencil. “The Age of Woe” is how he refers to all those years when he wasn’t reading stories about dinosaurs to children. J writes about books and libraries at librarianaut.com.

Julia Wainwright lives in Suffolk, England, where she writes stuff, makes things, and grows 0.1 percent of her own food. She’s just happy to be here. Julia can be reached at juliacw [at] ntlworld.com.

Jeffrey C. Wells is the co-creator of the award-winning webcomic “Skin Horse”, found online at skin-horse.com. He himself has also won awards, but they were for things like “Worst Opening Line of a Science Fiction Story”, so if you want to award him with things so he no longer feels inferior to his own webcomic, that would be great. He lives in the wilds of rural Wisconsin with a wonderful spouse, a dial-up modem, and more pets than you can shake a stick at. Watch him do his thing at scrivnarium.wordpress.com.

David Michael Wharton (inhetet [at] gmail.com) is a freelance writer and journalist from Texas. When not sweating in the trenches as an editor for Creative Screenwriting magazine, he hammers out screenplays and short fiction and swears one of these days he’s going to get around to that novel, damn it.

Shannon Wheeler is the Eisner-winning creator of the comics Too Much Coffee Man, Postage Stamp Funnies and How To Be Happy. His cartoons appear regularly in the New Yorker. tmcm.com

Kit Yona continues to try to prove that decent things can indeed be produced in New Jersey. When not running his automotive recycling business he can be found trying to tame his two children, running and playing a wide variety of board games and RPGs, and writing constantly, including reworking his first attempt at a novel because it was just too damn long . His appearance in MOD can be blamed on his beautiful muse of a wife, Laura. He can be tormented/mocked/contacted at jydog1 [at] gmail.com and at @thekitastrophe on Twitter. He also gave himself a cookie for not flaming a ‘reviewer’ who thrashed three stories from the collection that she admitted she didn’t read.