Weird NJ/Weird US/Weird Hauntings/Last Exit
Joanne M. Austin is a writer and editor who covers two subject matter extremes: the financial services industry and regional folklore as featured in the magazine Weird N.J. At the latter, she edited two special editions of the magazine – Tales From Clinton Road and Last Exit: Travels with Death in the Garden State – and interviewed a wide range of weirdly interesting people, including the Amazing Kreskin, Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey, and Sci-fi author Jeffrey Ford. She also compiled and edited the award-winning anthology Weird Hauntings: True Tales of Ghostly Places and has done the same with a second book, Weird Encounters: Ghostly Tales of Haunted Places, which will be available from Sterling Publishing in September 2010.
Since graduating with honors from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in Illustration Ryan Doan has supplied illustration and photo design services to such clients as Barnes and Noble, Sterling Publishing, BMG Entertainment, Sababa Toys, Art Asylum, The Aquarian magazine, The Sun, and commissioned costumers.In 2004 he joined Weird NJ magazine as an Associate Editor and Production Associate/Photographer. That position soon parlayed into Staff Artist when Weird NJ signed a large book deal with Barnes and Noble. He enjoyed that position for five years until branching out to establish himself as a freelancer. He was the primary illustrator for over 32 internationally syndicated titles also supplying cover art for three editions. Included in those titles is the award-winning Weird Hauntings, where he was responsible for acquiring the photography and which he enjoyed being the sole illustrator. The follow-up book Weird Encounters: Ghostly Tales of Haunted Places, his second book, will be released in the fall of 2010 to hopefully the same response as the first. Ryan has also worked as a freelance photojournalist, interviewing and photographing often eccentric, colorful characters. His photography has also appeared in many of his book projects and on the walls of commissioned clients. Ryan just finished working on a special issue for Weird NJ entitled Last Exit: Traveling With Death In The Garden State. He is now seeking to expand his freelance clientele. He can be reached through his web site www.ryandoan.com .