The Author

JUSTIN SEWELL (born 1971) is the CEO and head writer of Despair, Inc.® He is a college dropout with no meaningful achievements beyond his role in the creation of the Demotivational® poster, surely the most trivial form of personal expression known to man other than Twitter. He did once gain minor celebrity as an 11-year-old by stealing white phosphorus from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Next time he will remember that important tip about keeping phosphorus submerged in water while transporting it, as apparently oxygen can seep into your short pockets, even if you zip them shut.

He is working on a semi-autobiographical book called Thorazine Seasons about his half-year experience in a Texas psychiatric hospital for teens. He’ll probably never finish it.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

PAUL STRANGER is an award-winning illustrator, painter, and matte designer living in L.A. who really shouldn’t be reduced to this kind of thing. He refuses to include his real name here, because he does not want to be on any CIA, Mafia, Freemasonic or NASA hit lists.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Fresh on the viral success of Demotivators®, Twin brothers JUSTIN and JEF SEWELL and DR.E.L. KERSTEN were invited to New York by a giant publisher to pitch ideas. They proposed an elaborate parody of Bantam’s CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURES series which had sold over one quarter of a billion books. After claiming to have never heard of the series, the acquiring editors noted,“That sounds complicated. Not sure where it would go in the bookstores. ‘Kids’ Section?’ But the buyers would be grown up by now. That’s confusing. There’s more to publishing than a funny idea. Got any other ideas?”