Chris F. Grant

Chris F. Grant is an author-artist that created the Empires story setting, first seen in widespread print in the pages of Yarf! fanzine, from 1989 to 1996. During this time, Chris Grant attended numerous conventions and interacted with the audience, maintaining contact with his base and conducting sales. He maintained a very nomadic lifestyle during the time of production, moving from Woodland CA, to Huntington Beach, California, with Dwight Dutton, then up to Sunnyvale, California with Peter N. Glaskowsky and others. In 1991 Grant moved to his hometown of Boise, Idaho. During this time he managed to maintain an unbroken contribution run, establishing a steady relationship with Yarf! and his audience.

Central Empire Productions is the name used by Chris F. Grant to produce the Empires science-fiction series that was serialized in the pages of Yarf! in 1989-1996.

Early Empires: The Ace of Spades and Morrigan's War features were inked by Grant himself, the results of which were seen as 'decent' but far from being professional grade. Inking was done by a host of guest inkers while Grant attempted to hone his skills. In Boise, Chris Grant developed a relationship with Aeryn Summers, also an artist, who did a lot of background inking for Grant as he began to re-cast himself as inker for the series. Grant learned a lot through his experiences with the series and with the various inkers he worked with over the years, but the furry Empires universe, except for a few false starts, did not grow much beyond the end of the Yarf! series, which concluded in 1996.

Chris Grant continued to work in the non-furry science-fiction Empires setting, creating short stories and illustrations, which were published in college writer's guild magazines and student newspapers. Stories and characters continue to be fleshed out, but at a slower pace, as time went by. From 1998 to 2002, Grant lived in Israel, doing art projects and comics for the Panim student newspaper at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva and Eric Cohen Books in Ra'anana, before returning to the United States to finish his BA in History at Albertson College of Idaho in 2003.

In 2004, Grant was mobilized with the US Army Reserves and sent to Iraq where he created the series "Bohica Blues"[], which received a write-up in Stars & Stripes, and returned in March of 2005. Shortly thereafter, he incorporated Central Empire Productions as a legal business entity in Idaho and intends to revive Empires under the title Iriesii Manifest. In 2006, Grant was married at a private ceremony in Los Angeles. The couple lives in Boise, Idaho.