Hi, I’m merritt k. I’m a writer, editor, podcaster, and game designer. I have an MA in Sociology from the University of Washington, though I do not recommend going to graduate school unless it is fully funded. Even then.

In the early 2010s, I ran the game curation site Forest Ambassador. I also made some little narrative games during that time that you might have heard of, a few of which gained some critical acclaim. I’ve since taken most of them offline, but if you need access to them for a class or exhibit or something, let me know.

In 2016, I was the NYU Game Center’s first Artist in Residence. After that, I was briefly the editor of the now-defunct streaming service VRV’s blog (it has since been folded back into Crunchyroll), which published media criticism and original comics. People really liked it, but it died when AT&T acquired the company and realized they didn’t need a smart pop culture vertical because their money guys saw the collapse of media coming.

From 2019 to 2023, I worked at the games and culture site Fanbyte, where I was variously a podcast and streaming host, editor, and writer. We had a lot of fun, but the site was too beautiful to live and was killed by its corporate masters.

Podcasts! I’ve done so many podcasts. I hosted Woodland Secrets, dadfeelings, and Papal Bull (with Eric Thurm), as well as Channel F and The K-Hole during my tenure at Fanbyte.

My writing on games, fashion, and interpersonal advice has been published in outlets like SSENSE, Real Life, MEL, and Polygon, as well in a number of books. I’ve also published poetry at places like The Collapsar, Heavy Feather Review, The Poetry Society of America, and Nat Brut.

Right now, I’m a weekly columnist at 1-900-HOTDOG, a comedy website founded by two of the beautiful geniuses who made Cracked such a wonderful site in the 2010s. In between that and other freelance work, I write and draw comics over on my Patreon.

I’m also developing games with my studio In Secret Places. Our first title, Fledgling Manor, came out in December 2024 to overwhelmingly positive response from players, and we’re currently working on a followup. Oh, and I host a comedy podcast with my Fanbyte colleagues John Warren and Niki Grayson called If You’re Driving, Close Your Eyes.