Art/illustration/design
Bios
1 sentence
inkshark writes impossible things and paints what he shouldn’t.
< 100 words
inkshark is a scandalously queer illustrator, author, and editor who lives in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. He enjoys exploring with his dogs, writing impossible things, and painting what he shouldn’t. When his current meatshell begins to decay, he’d like science to put his brain into a giant killer octopus body with which he promises to be responsible and not even slightly shipwrecky. Pinky swear.
< 300 words
inkshark is a scandalously queer illustrator, author, and editor who grew up in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. All that wet moss, shadowy forest, and moonlit shorelines soaked into his imagination, and to this day he dreams it into moody landscapes featuring solitary figures, mysterious lighting, and eerie animals. His teen years were spent barefoot in real wilderness, probably much to the disgust of the local black bears, and as an artist, he attempts the metaphorical version of vulnerable hiking. He hopes to create art that feels like the familiar is meeting the unknown, like nothing is dangerous yet, but it might be soon, and maybe as if you’re seeing something private or reserved for someone else.
As someone who has always worn black and played with old bones, he swooned at the opportunity to curate imagery for Nightmare Magazine, but his truest love isn’t horrifying his audience, but instead disturbing them in thoughtful ways that marry the creepy to the serene. He found a perfect fit with the indie press Psychopomp and its first magazine, The Deadlands.
He wears as many personal hats as professional ones, including enthusiastic dog trainer, amateur marine biologist, and secret collector of houseplants. When his current meatshell begins to decay, he’d like science to put his brain into a giant killer octopus body with which he promises to be responsible and not even slightly shipwrecky. Pinky swear.
Images
Writer
Bios
1 sentence
Cory Skerry writes impossible things and paints what he shouldn’t.
< 100 words
Cory Skerry is a scandalously queer author, illustrator, and editor who lives in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. He enjoys exploring with his dogs, writing impossible things, and painting what he shouldn’t. When his current meatshell begins to decay, he’d like science to put his brain into a giant killer octopus body with which he promises to be responsible and not even slightly shipwrecky. Pinky swear.
< 300 words
Cory Skerry is a scandalously queer author, illustrator, and editor who grew up in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. All that wet moss, shadowy forest, and moonlit shorelines soaked into his imagination, and to this day he dreams it into moody landscapes featuring solitary figures, mysterious lighting, and eerie animals. His teen years were spent barefoot in real wilderness, probably much to the disgust of the local black bears, and he still makes up stories while walking barefoot in the woods, much to the delight of his disgusting foot-licking dogs.
He never saw himself in stories while he was growing up, and he’s determined to put himself and his weird friends in all of them now, as an imaginative revenge. When he isn’t living through bizarre anecdotes that get him free drinks at cons, he gets excited by historical maritime criminology, teaching dogs to do fun stuff, flipping over rocks at the beach (then carefully putting everything back), the indoor jungle he’s grown around his desk, and other things he’d probably be burned at the stake for if he was born earlier.
When his current meatshell begins to decay, he’d like science to put his brain into a giant killer octopus body with which he promises to be responsible and not even slightly shipwrecky. Pinky swear.
Images
Editor
Bios
1 sentence
Cory Skerry is a professional book cheerleader who prefers a humane catch-and-release program for darlings, finding them a proper story habitat instead of a grave.
< 100 words
Cory Skerry is a scandalously queer editor, author, and illustrator who lives in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. He prefers a humane catch-and-release program for darlings, finding them a proper story habitat instead of a grave. When his current meatshell begins to decay, he’d like science to put his brain into a giant killer octopus body with which he promises to be responsible and not even slightly shipwrecky. Pinky swear.
< 300 words
Cory Skerry is a scandalously queer editor, author, and illustrator who grew up in the rainy wilds of the Pacific Northwest. As a teen, he spent countless hours making up elaborate stories while barefoot in real wilderness, probably much to the disgust of the local black bears. It wasn’t until he shared his stories indoors with other humans that he discovered he enjoyed problem-solving for other people’s work as much as he did his own.
To further his goals, he was fortunate enough to attend two juried residential writing workshops: Viable Paradise in 2010, where John Scalzi stepped on his face, and Clarion West in 2012, where he got to pet Chuck Palahniuk’s dog. Of course he also learned a staggering amount about fiction; not merely how to craft it, but to grow it from unlikely seeds, and that kidnapping a darling is always superior to murdering it. The weirdest parts of fiction are the parts that make it memorable and relatable–they just need to be released into the correct habitat.
He joined the Shimmer Magazine staff in 2010 and the team at Tor.com (now ReactorMag.com) in 2011. After reading thousands and thousands of submissions from amateurs and professionals alike, and even acquiring a few shorts for Tor.com Originals, he was invited to work on long-form fiction by another (now folded) publisher. Being entrusted by a stranger with their delicate, sleeping novel made him feel like a story doula, protective of this new creation, determined to see it survive and thrive. Fortunately, he acquired a nickname that implied less afterbirth: a book cheerleader.
Images
