Steve Aylett & Matthew Petz

(NOTE: Several aspects of The Nerve ended up in diluted form in a Dark Horse title called The Scream. Aylett awaits a credit and payment. He sent them The Nerve pitch and entire script—including all of Matt Petz's monster design pics, character pics, etc.—four or five years ago.)

Steve Aylett is a satirical science fiction and slipstream author of several Bizarro books. He is renowned for his colorful satire attacking the manipulations of authority, and for having reams of amusing epigrams and non-sequiturs only tangentially related to what little plot the books possess. Aylett left school at age 17 and worked in a book warehouse, and later in law publishing. He claims to have books appear in his brain in one visual "glob" which looks like a piece of gum (but denies it's "channelled"). His book, LINT, based on the life of pseudo-science fiction writer Jeff Lint, is currently being made into a documentary. LINT: The Movie will be released in 2009.

Matthew Petz is an artist and illustrator who lives online at www.monsterislandmedia.com.