Corley's texts are not typical stories of gay young men from rural areas finding their ways to sexual liberation in cities, but instead describe "many complex nodes of circulation, not just aggregation".
During World War II, Corley served in the South Pacific in the United States Marine Corps.
In both jobs, he designed and illustrated tourist guides, manuals, pamphlets, road maps, and traffic surveys.
John Howard identified ten Carl Corley posters sold by Sir Prise Publishers of Chicago.
When Howard interviewed Corley in 1997, the older man told him, "One of my ambitions [was] to be the greatest male physique artist of all".
Many plots deal with young Southern farm boys discovering gay sex, sometimes crossing racial or class lines.
Rex goes on, like Corley, to serve in the military in the Pacific during World War II, and the novel details his sexual experiences, including a gang-rape by drunken soldiers.
[1] Carl Corley in his writing and illustrations provides a nearly unique example of out gay expression in a predominantly rural, Southern setting in the pre-Stonewall era.
In 1998, Duke University bought from Corley his papers, including typescripts and published copies of his novels, for their special collections in gay and lesbian studies.