Born and raised in the Chicago area, Gerri R. Gray is a cemetery photographer and a lifelong aficionado of horror, dark humor, and high camp. She blames her twisted sense of humor on a wayward adolescence influenced by the likes of Monty Python, Charles Addams, Frank Zappa, and John Waters. Her interest in writing started early on in life, and she began writing poetry, music, short stories, and plays while a teenager in the 1970s. Her first notable publication occurred in October of 1976 and was an interview the she and her cousin conducted with Ides of March singer/songwriter, Jim Peterik (who went on to find even greater success with the rock group, Survivor.) Her poetry has appeared in a number of literary journals and anthologies, including The Poet, Xenomorph, The Kindred Spirit, and, most recently, Beautiful Tragedies and Poetry Quarterly.