Mad Scientist Journal: Spring 2014

Edited by Dawn Vogel and Jeremy Zimmerman

by Maureen Bowden, Andy Brown, Judith Field, J. J. Green, Camille Griep, Iulian Ionescu, Christine Layton, Mark Patrick Lynch, Parker McKenzie, Erick Mertz, Jennifer Mitchell, Pathos, Torrey Podmajersky, Alter S. Reiss, Diana Rohlman, Ian Rose, Dusty Wallace, Trent Walters, Steve Zisson

The unicorn apocalypse, self-propelled time-travel, pharmaceutical rocket fuel, and cloned steampunk boy bands. These are but some of the strange tales to be found in this book.

Mad Scientist Journal: Spring 2014 collects three month's worth of essays from the fictional worlds of mad science. Included are three new pieces of fiction written for the discerning mad scientist reader by Camille Griep, Erick Mertz, and Trent Walters. Readers will also find other resources for the budding mad scientist, including an advice column and other brief messages from mad scientists.

Authors featured in this volume also include Dusty Wallace, Ian Rose, Mark Patrick Lynch, Jennifer Mitchell, Iulian Ionescu, Christine Layton, Judith Field, Diana Rohlman, Steve Zisson, Pathos, Maureen Bowden, J. J. Green, Alter S. Reiss, Torrey Podmajersky, Parker McKenzie, and Andy Brown. Illustrations are provided by Scarlett O'Hairdye, Dawn Vogel, Katie Nyborg, Luke Spooner, Shannon Legler, and Justine McGreevy.

About the Authors

Maureen Bowden

Maureen Bowden is a Liverpudlian living with her musician husband in North Wales. She has had over a hundred stories and poems accepted for publication by paying markets. Silver Pen publishers nominated one of her stories for the 2015 international Pushcart Prize. She also writes song lyrics, mostly comic political satire, set to traditional melodies. Her husband has performed these in Folk clubs throughout England and Wales. She loves her family and friends, Rock 'n' Roll, Shakespeare, and cats.


Andy Brown

Andy Brown is a musician and entertainer living near Edinburgh in Scotland. (He doesn't currently own a kilt but does play bagpipes a little.) He is a pleasant enough fellow with a healthy interest in many things and an obsessive interest in many others. (Music, computers, astronomy, reading, writing…) He plays a wide variety of instruments to a wide variety of standards. His greatest happiness is his family and the fact that he wakes every morning still breathing. His greatest sadness is that he might die before warp travel, teleportation, and Klingons are discovered.


Judith Field

Judith Field lives in London, UK. She is the daughter of writers, and learned how to agonise over fiction submissions at her mother's (and father's) knee. She's a pharmacist working in emergency medicine, a medical writer, editor, and indexer. She started writing in 2009. She mainly writes speculative fiction, a welcome antidote from the world she lives in. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications in the USA, UK, and Australia. When she's not working or writing, she studies English, knits, sings, and swims, not always at the same time.


J. J. Green

Attracted to the weird and fantastic since childhood, J. J. Green feeds her addiction by writing about the frontiers of scientific exploration and beyond. Her work has been published in SFGate, Opposing Views, Global Science, Synonym.com, Seattle P-I, Modern Mom, Dark Tide Writers' Magazine, Metro Moms, Piker Press, and other publications. Living in Taiwan has also given her endless opportunities to amuse the locals by attempting to learn Chinese. Check out her meanderings at http://infinitebook.wordpress.com/


Camille Griep

Camille Griep lives and writes north of Seattle, Washington. When she's not alphabetizing the paragraphs of her stories, she works for a couple of literary magazines and volunteers for a local summer workshop. Her genre work has been anthologized in Evil Girlfriend Media's Witches, Stitches, & Bitches, Song Story Press's Blaze of Glory, and The Sea forthcoming from Dark Continents Books.


Iulian Ionescu

Iulian was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, where he earned his Bachelor's in Finance. He moved to the US in 2001, and became a CPA (oh, the excitement!). Despite his career choice, Iulian's creative side kept him awake at night. At this point he calls himself an aspiring sci/fi and fantasy writer. He published several short stories and is currently working on two novels. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and son and he blogs at www.fantasyscroll.com and www.iulianionescu.com. He is also the editor of http://fantasyscrollmag.com.


Christine Layton

Christine Layton lives and writes in the Chihuahua Desert. Her nonfiction work can be found on Cracked.com. Her fiction work can be found at the bottom of the sea.


Mark Patrick Lynch

British writer Mark Patrick Lynch’s short stories have appeared in various publications around the world, ranging from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine to Zahir. On the internet, his work can be found on Daily Science Fiction, Perihelion, and Abyss and Apex. Several of his pieces have received honourable mentions in annual Year’s Best summaries as notable tales of the year. His print book Hour of the Black Wolf is published by Robert Hale Ltd, while What I Wouldn’t Give, a novella, is available for eBook. Don’t be shy: find him at markpatricklynch.blogspot.com, or through his twitter feed @markplynch.


Parker McKenzie

Parker McKenzie is a hobby writer and archeology student living in the backwoods of British Columbia, Canada.

Between time spent sleeping and studying, he manages to squeeze in time to write, draw, and play video games into the wee hours of the morning.

He also has an alarming tendency to spend more time inside his own head than is likely healthy. A condition not helped by his love of fantasy and sci-fi.


Erick Mertz

Erick Mertz writes fiction, screenplays, and poetry while living with his wife, dog, and cats in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in English and Comparative Literature in 1998. He writes full-time while also working with persons with disabilities and mental health challenges.

Recent short stories have appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Los Angeles and Mad Scientist Journal. His short story "The Measurable Blood" has been adapted into an audio book. His new novella The Pelican is due in the summer of 2014. Follow along @emertzwriting and his site: www.erickmertzwriting.com.


Jennifer Mitchell

Jennifer Mitchell is a Canadian writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Born in 1722, a homemade time machine has allowed her to write stories for the people of the future. She has been abducted by aliens twice. Do not approach Jennifer, because it may be her identical evil twin, NotJennifer, who is a wanted criminal in six galaxies.


Pathos

Pathos is a shadow. He has had stories previously published in Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine and on yesteryearfiction.com.


Torrey Podmajersky

Delivered by time travelers to a newly-cooled Earth, Torrey Podmajersky spent her formative years in de facto world domination. Since her peaceful abdication, she and her knifemaking husband embroider the outskirts of imaginalia with monsters, tools, and words.


Alter S. Reiss

Alter S. Reiss is a field archaeologist and scientific editor whose fiction has appeared in F&SF, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. While he does occasionally do science in real life, it seldom reaches the level of irritable science, let alone mad science.


Diana Rohlman

Diana lives in the Pacific Northwest, invariably spending the rainy days inside, writing, with a glass of wine nearby, and her dog offering helpful critiques. Her website can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/rohlmandiana


Ian Rose

Ian Rose lived on every coast that the United States has to offer, and had a few short stints inland, before settling in Oregon. He lives with his fiancée, her daughter, and a mischievous black cat. His work has recently appeared in New Myths and Cast of Wonders, and more of his writing can be found at http://ianwrites.com.


Dusty Wallace

Dusty Wallace lives in the Appalachians of Virginia with his wife and two sons. He enjoys reading, writing, and the occasional fine cigar. Find him on Twitter: @CosmicDustMite


Trent Walters

Although Trent Walters denies being mad, scientificking or journaling, he teaches science in Honduras. Moreover, an eighteenth-century Egyptian archaeologist uncovered journals of his purported ravings next to the Necronomicon. You decide.... His works have appeared (or will appear) in Dreams & Nightmares, Electric Velocipede, Fantasy, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Mad Scientist Journal, among others. He won the Hayward-Faultline and Texas Ruby Red prizes, was honorably mentioned in the Asimov's and Writers of the Future contests.


Steve Zisson

Steve Zisson began his writing career as a journalist and now writes speculative fiction from a town north of Boston. He finds most journalism these days to be highly speculative. His day job now is running a medical education publishing company. He likes to write in approximately 1,500-word bursts and has another similar length story forthcoming in Daily Science Fiction.