Seth Skorkowsky was born beneath the pine trees of East Texas and grew up with a love of camping and outdoors. His teen years were spent ingesting heavy doses of Dungeons & Dragons and Clive Barker novels.
At thirteen, while visiting his favorite comic/game shop, he saw the cover for the AD&D “Lankhmar: City of Adventure” campaign book. Seth had no idea who Fritz Leiber or his heroes, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, even were, but the imagery captured him. Leiber’s stories became the single greatest influence on the atmosphere of his fantasy writing.
Sometime after college, while attempting to write the next great epic horror/fantasy, he penned a short story on the side called ‘The Mist of Lichthafen‘. It was his nod to Fritz. He sold the story to TTA Press who wanted it for their upcoming Black Static magazine. “The Mist of Lichthafen” was praised among readers. It received a longlist nomination for the 2009 British Fantasy Award. Seth would later narrate the story for TTA Press’ ‘Transmissions From Beyond’ podcast.
Later, during a moment of writer’s block in his novel, he wrote an origin story for a thief character called The Black Raven. ‘Birth of the Black Raven’ was always intended to be a stand-alone story with a very open ending. A year later, after his first trip to Venice, he wrote ‘Race for the Night Ruby‘, and decided to cast the same character, but now as a master thief. Once that was done, he really had no choice but to fill in the gaps between the two stories and then continue on with more adventures. As of writing this, Black Raven has had over 20 stories.
In September of 2011, after attending a brutal 3-day writing workshop, Seth finally came to grips that his first novel was simply dreadful. Instead of feeling dismayed, it gave him the courage to let it go and actually start work on an Urban Fantasy story that he’d been mulling for several years.
DÄMOREN sold to Ragnarok Publications in 2013.
A week later, lightning struck twice more when Rogue Blades Entertainment agreed to publish not just one, but two collections of Black Raven adventures. MOUNTAIN OF DAGGERS and SEA OF QUILLS will be released in 2014.
At this time, Seth is currently working on a spinoff/sequel to DÄMOREN, called HOUNACIER. He has many more Black Raven adventures planned. One day he hopes to pen that epic fantasy, as well as a gritty pulp crime novel.
When not writing, Seth loves going on walks to clear his head and daydream. He enjoys traveling. His favorite city is Florence. Table-top role-playing is still an enormous part of his life. He loves shooting, going to Renaissance faires, and watching movies with friends.
