Cory Skerry: Monsters & Supercreeps

Cory Skerry likes to go on long hikes where he sometimes does dangerous things in the name of adventure. More often, however, he just takes photos of bugs having sex while he ingests nettles, giardia, and other things that he guesses probably won't kill him. Unlike most of his friends, his plan for the zombie apocalypse doesn't require an army surplus store: it involves the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie wilderness and a hatchet. (And his eyeliner.)

September 2010. Who needs that pillowtop or memory foam crap when you can have granite bedrock covered in freezing snowmelt?

When he's not sneaking around in the woods planning future escape routes and man-traps for the undead, he's usually drawing, writing, or recreationally napping in his Cthulhian horror of a house, surrounded by books and pets. These include three crabby feline allergy festivals, a pair of sweet, goofy pit bulls who take great joy in robbing him of sleep, and a bad-ass carnivorous fish that ~~eats live mosquitoes~~ "lives" in the freezer. There's also a ghost, which irritates him because even though he writes about them, he doesn't believe in them. So maybe there's no ghost after all.

December 2010. Have you explored alternative methods of clipping your canine companion's nails?

After getting together because one of them stalked the other, he and his partner have been reading to each other for over ten years, and periodically slamming the books shut to bicker about what's going to happen. They're just as annoying when watching movies--the "pause" button is nearly worn off of the remote control.

June 2010. This will be the milk carton photo when the aliens finally abduct Skerry & O'Carey for a vaudeville act.

In 2010, Skerry took time off from his dayjob at an upscale adult boutique to play class clown at Viable Paradise (XIV). There, he gained valuable superpowers when he was bitten by a luminescent jellyfish. He now goes back as staff to keep in contact with his hydrozoan brethren. He's a guest reader for Tor.com (slush) and he's an Associate Editor at Shimmer Magazine (also slush, and copy-edits too). He has no free time left, but he makes some to volunteer at Young Writers Studio, where he attempts to make knowledge and resources about the craft of writing accessible to people from ages 8-18, something he really wishes had been available during his own adolescence.

October 2010. Sailors' lore says never turn your back on the ocean; instead, turn sideways and pose like a tryhard.