The Secret Masters

Publisher/Editor/Graphic Designer: Michael D. Pederson
Mike Pederson is the publisher/editor/graphic designer responsible for the semiprozine Nth Degree and its e-zine counterpart, NthZine.com. Mike began life as a semi-pro in 1988 when his SF short story, “Dust Storm,” won first place in a local writing contest. In the 1990s, he wrote and published the Raven comic book series (with artist R. Craig Enslin) and edited and published Scene, a Virginia-based entertainment magazine.

In 2001, Mike was part of the “Best in Class – Master Division” winning presentation (Pre-Emptive Strike) at the Millennium Philcon Masquerade. Shortly after that he started Nth Degree. In 2007, he wrote a chapter on “Writing for Magazines” for Dragon Moon Press’ Writing Fantasy: The Author's Grimoire. In 2009, Mike began work as a book reviewer for the California Literary Review.

Mike is also the permanent con chair for RavenCon in Richmond, Virginia and (along with Warren Buff) is chairing ReConStruction, the Raleigh NASFiC in 2010. Yes, Mike is an insanely busy person; if you see him around the con please feed him lots of caffeine and/or beer.

When not engaged in geekish pursuits, Mike is a professional graphic designer and lives in Charlotte, NC.

Associate Editor: Robert Balder
Rob Balder is a professional cartoonist, singer/songwriter, game designer and web entrepreneur.

He writes and sings comedy songs, and has recorded two CDs. The title track from Rob's first CD, "Rich Fantasy Lives" was co-written with Filk Hall of Famer Tom Smith. It won the Pegasus award for Best Filk Song of 2007. In 2006, he and six other comedy music performers founded The Funny Music Project, where they present new songs every day, released under a Creative Commons license. The FuMP won the 2009 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast.

Rob is also the creator of the clip-art comic strip PartiallyClips. A book collection of the strip, Suffering for my Clip Art: the Best of PartiallyClips, volume 1 was published in 2005.

He writes science fiction and fantasy, including one unpublished novel and many short stories and poems.

Rob also teamed up with Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance to create Get Nifty, a stand-alone card game. Get Nifty debuted in stores in 2006, through Blood & Cardstock Games.

His current major project is a full-color fantasy webcomic called Erfworld, co-created with illustrator Jamie Noguchi. Time Magazine named Erfworld one of the Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2007.

Artist: J. Andrew World
While taking breaks from running for his life, J. Andrew World has designed record label logos, provided illustrations for Nth Degree, and fulfilled his ultimate dream by playing a goth in a folk music video. J. Andrew's second greatest moment in the sun was when his hat was featured in Sluggy Freelance. Someday he hopes to achieve great success as a science fiction illustrator and, perhaps, finally upstage his wardrobe.

Cover Artist: Doug Welsh
Doug Welsh is an award-winning Richmond, VA artist who has an intense interest in history and has no idea how he got hooked up with a bunch of sci-fi fans and gamers. His artwork graced the covers of issues #1-4 of Nth Degree and can be viewed in our online gallery.