Carl Vernon Corley (December 8, 1921 - November 3, 2016) was an American artist. Born in Florence, Mississippi, Corley attended Florence High School and, after graduation, worked for the Coca-Cola Bottling Company as a sign painter for a year. Then, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and fought in World War II in the Pacific as a scout and sketcher, serving on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. After the war, Corley returned to Mississippi and worked for the Mississippi Highway Department as a draftsman and illustrator from 1947 until 1961. He moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1961 and worked as an engineering artist for the Louisiana Department of Transportation. He created murals, manuals, pamphlets, models, road maps, traffic surveys, and tourism posters of state resources and festivals for the Department for 20 years until he retired in 1981. Aside from his job with the Department of Transportation, Corley contributed homoerotic art to physique magazines beginning in the 1950s, including posters. After moving to Louisiana, Corley wrote more gay pulp fiction, publishing 22 erotic novels between 1966 and 1971. He published the novels and the art under his own name, a rarity for writers and artists in the genre at the time. After retirement, Corley ran the Beaux Arts Gallery out of his home in Zachary, Louisiana, and sold paintings of Louisiana wildlife and landscapes. His artistic style was influenced by French artist Gustave Doré. Duke University bought Corley's papers from him in 1998, including typescripts and published copies of his novels for the gay and lesbian studies special collection.