Mad Scientist Journal: Summer 2016

Edited by Dawn Vogel and Jeremy Zimmerman

by Zach Bartlett, Maureen Bowden, Jacqueline Bridges, Loria Chaddon, James A. Conan, Samantha Cross, Kate Elizabeth, Judith Field, Sean Frost, Braddock Gaskill, Amandeep Jutla, Simon Kewin, Shane Landry, Freya Marske, Alanna McFall, Luke McKinney, Tamoha Sengupta, Joshua Steely, Franko Stephens, Rick Tobin, David J. Wing

Mutant cephalopods, inter-species disease transmission, squabbling scientists. These are but some of the strange tales to be found in this book. Mad Scientist Journal: Summer 2016 collects twelve tales from the fictional worlds of mad science. For the discerning mad scientist reader, there are also pieces of fiction from Freya Marske, Maureen Bowden, and Samantha Cross. Readers will also find other resources for the budding mad scientist, including an advice column, horoscopes, and other brief messages from mad scientists.

Authors featured in this volume also include Jacqueline Bridges, Amandeep Jutla, Tamoha Sengupta, Joshua Steely, Zach Bartlett, Alanna McFall, James A. Conan, Simon Kewin, Luke McKinney, Franko Stephens, Braddock Gaskill, Judith Field, David Wing, Loria Chaddon, Rick Tobin, Shane Landry, Kate Elizabeth, and Sean Frost. Art by Matt Youngmark, Scarlett O'Hairdye, Amanda Jones, Shannon Legler, Luke Spooner, and Errow Collins.

About the Authors

Zach Bartlett

Zach Bartlett is an editor and former Masshole living in New Orleans. His fiction has appeared in Gallery of Curiosities, The J.J. Outre Review, and Mad Scientist Journal, and is performed regularly at the local reading series Esoterotica. A collection of his comedic stage work, Northern Dandy, was published in 2016. You can find more of him online at http://zachbistall.wordpress.com.


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.


Jacqueline Bridges

Jacqueline Bridges works as a guidance counselor to junior high students, where she puts her Masters degree to work, and then some. She is new to flash fiction and reads it daily (even in the counseling office). Her students join her weekly for a writing club, where they impress her with stories about fairies, dragons, and golden retrievers. Recent publications include Daily Science Fiction, The Writing Disorder, Story Shack Magazine, and Short Fiction Break. She’s currently working on a young adult science-fiction novel, mostly void of fairies, dragons, and golden retrievers.


Loria Chaddon

Loria Chaddon is a 40-year-old photographer and writer, with delusions of responsible adulthood. Due to her regular use of Madame Mortencia’s Anti-aging Cream, (which she introduced to her husband, as well) she is often mistake for a much younger 30.

A gentle soul with a heart of murderous darkness, she accompanies her beloved husband in their shared travels through a dubious reality (accompanied by four hyperactive Hell Hounds disguised as dachshunds), both dreading, and anticipating, the day the monsters buried beneath their kindly masks might burst forth, to the dismay of all. Or she might bake some cookies.


James A. Conan

James A. Conan is a 25-year old chef and writer living in Toronto, currently seeking representation for his first novel. He studied politics and international development at Trent University.


Samantha Cross

Samantha "Sam" Cross is an historian and archivist as well as a fan of comic books, movies, music, and television, never shying away from talking about or analyzing the world of pop culture minutiae. She's the owner and head writer of the Maniacal Geek and the host of That Girl with the Curls podcast where she takes the written word and voices it with her dulcet tones whether it's in the company of friends or special guests. You can also follow her on Twitter @darling_sammy


Kate Elizabeth

Kate Elizabeth lives in Melbourne, Australia. When she isn't working, she likes to write the occasional short story.


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.


Sean Frost

Sean Frost is a software developer in Michigan, who writes comics and stories while watching horror and science fiction movies. He lives with four demanding cats and a very understanding wife. It is entirely likely that he has a few too many hobbies.


Braddock Gaskill

Braddock Gaskill is a senior research scientist at a major multinational corporation. His work involves computer vision and multi-lingual translation. His passion lies in machine learning in general and neural networks in particular. He has, in the past, written space industry news and numerous privately funded technology analyses.


Amandeep Jutla

Amandeep Jutla is a writer and psychiatrist in Los Angeles. Visit him at www.amandeepjutla.com.


Simon Kewin

Simon Kewin is the author of over 100 published short stories. His works have appeared in Nature, Daily Science Fiction, Abyss & Apex, and many more. He lives in England with his wife and their daughters. His cyberpunk novel The Genehunter and his "steampunk Gormenghast" novel Engn were recently published. He is currently completing his Cloven Land fantasy trilogy. Find him at simonkewin.co.uk.


Shane Landry

Shane Landry was born on the East Coast where driving is a full contact sport. He has a degree in Applied Physics and spent 13 months as a research assistant in the South Pole, Antarctica. When not writing, he conditions his body and mind for the zombie apocalypse, brews beer, and plays guitar so poorly the instrument filed a restraining order. Authorities report he is currently teaching English in Japan. You can visit his website at www.shanelandrybooks.com.


Freya Marske

Freya Marske has lived in Australia since she was tiny and is yet to be killed by any form of wildlife. Her short story "The Provenance Game" appeared in the anthology Fight Like a Girl. She is usually happily working on five things at once, or else procrastinating from all of them. Some of her favourite activities to facilitate the latter are watching attractive people cook things on television, shouting at strangers about Shakespeare, and buying nail polish. She can be found on Twitter (@freyamarske) passing serious judgement on coffee shops and talking about books.


Alanna McFall

Alanna McFall is an actor and science-fiction writer based out of the Bay Area in California. She has published pieces on Mad Scientist Journal, Escape Pod, Alliteration Ink, and many more, across a range of mediums. You can follow her work on her website at https://alannamcfall.wordpress.com or on Twitter at @AlannaMcFall.


Luke McKinney

Luke McKinney is an ex-physicist turned freelance writer. He's a columnist for Cracked, the CBS Man Cave, and RETRO gaming magazine, all of which are tremendous fun. Adding Mad Scientist Journal to the bibliography makes it even more fun! lukemckinney.net


Tamoha Sengupta

Tamoha Sengupta lives in India. Her fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry, and elsewhere. She sometimes tweets @sengupta_tamoha.


Joshua Steely

Joshua Steely lives in the Midwest with his wonderful wife and son.


Franko Stephens

Franko Stephens lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and children. In addition to the multitude of stories told to his kids just before bedtime, he has a novel, The Crooner, currently on Amazon Kindle. His short story, "The Werner and Chalsky Event," was published by Mad Scientist Journal in 2016. He hopes to one day find a home for his new novel, That’s My Little Death God.


Rick Tobin

Rick Tobin is a retired government emergency and counter-terrorism consultant now puttering as a freelance writer, painter, and photographer in San Antonio, Texas. Scores of his flash science fiction stories are at www.365tomorrows.com. His thriller novels are on Amazon: The Curse of the 8th Buddha and Gordion’s Knot. His art is available on Pinterest, under “Rick Tobin Art for Sale.” Rick also writes safety and security guides and blogs for schools at Safe to Learn in Seattle at www.safetolearn.com. He also works part time supporting special needs patients and protecting feral cats.


David J. Wing

David is predominantly a short fiction writer, but he's venturing into children's novels at the moment. He has a beautiful wife, a gorgeous baby daughter and a needy dog. He runs a flash fiction site: www.zeroflash.wordpress.com