Mad Scientist Journal: Winter 2018

Edited by Dawn Vogel and Jeremy Zimmerman

by Stewart C. Baker, Zach Bartlett, Maureen Bowden, Catherine L. Brooke, Andy Brown, Robert Dawson, E. B. Fischadler, Sean Frost, J. A. Grier, Lucinda Gunnin, Joachim Heijndermans, J. A. Psoras, H. Pueyo, Rebecca Siân Pyne, Darren Ridgley, Tamoha Sengupta, Sophie Sparrow, David J. Wing

Cooking advice, previously undiscovered species, and tortured artists. These are but some of the strange tales to be found in this book.

Mad Scientist Journal: Winter 2017 collects thirteen tales from the fictional worlds of mad science. For the discerning mad scientist reader, there are also pieces of fiction from Laura Arciniega, Judith Field, and Alexander Forbes. Readers will also find other resources for the budding mad scientist, including an advice column, gossip column, and other brief messages from mad scientists.

Authors featured in this volume also include E. B. Fischadler, Zach Bartlett, Catherine L. Brooke, Tamoha Sengupta, Darren Ridgley, Maureen Bowden, H. Pueyo, J. A. Psoras, Robert Dawson, J. A. Grier, Stewart C. Baker, Rebecca Siân Pyne, Joachim Heijndermans, Sophie Sparrow, David Wing, Andy Brown, Lucinda Gunnin, and Sean Frost. Art provided by Errow Collins, Scarlett O'Hairdye, Shannon Legler, Luke Spooner, Amanda Jones, Justine McGreevy, and Liz Argall.

About the Authors

Stewart C. Baker

Stewart C Baker is an academic librarian, speculative fiction writer, and occasional haikuist. His fiction has appeared in Writers of the Future, Nature, and Flash Fiction Online, among other places. Stewart was born in England, has lived in South Carolina, Japan, and California (in that order), and currently resides in Oregon with his family--although if anyone asks, he'll say he's from the Internet.


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.


Catherine L. Brooke

Catherine L. Brooke is a thirty-something from Yorkshire in North England. She has been writing fiction since she was eight years old and has always loved stories of the weird and wonderful. She has an academic background in Egyptology and a passionate interest in the oral traditions of story telling. Her other interests include video games, collecting the oddest romance novels she can find, and an obsession with foreign soap operas.


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.


Robert Dawson

Robert Dawson has a Ph.D., teaches mathematics at a Nova Scotian University, and writes science fiction.


E. B. Fischadler

E. B. Fischadler has been writing short stories for several years, and has recently begun publishing. His stories have appeared in Mad Scientist Journal, Bewildering Stories, eFiction, Voluted Tales, Beyond Imagination Literary Magazine, and Beyond Science Fiction. In addition to fiction, Fischadler has published over 30 papers in refereed scientific journals, as well as a chapter of a textbook on satellite engineering. When he is not writing, he pursues a career in engineering and serves his community as an EMT. Fischadler continues to write short stories and is working on a novel about a naval surgeon. You can learn more about Fischadler and access his other publications at: https://ebfischadler.wordpress.com/


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.


J. A. Grier

Dr. J. A. Grier is a planetary scientist, poet, fiction writer, and wine lover. Her stories and poems have appeared in venues such as Mad Scientist Journal, Eye to the Telescope, Liquid Imagination, and Mirror Dance. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Dr. Grier spends her time penning odd articles, reading strange stories, comparing vintages, and looking at impact craters on other worlds. She throws a fabulous Halloween party every year where one room is decorated entirely in eyeballs. Her babblings can be found at jagrier.com and @grierja on Twitter.


Lucinda Gunnin

Lucinda Gunnin is a short story author and commercial property manager in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She writes a gossip column for Mad Scientist Journal and has a published collection of short horror Seasons of Horror available at Amazon.com. When not writing, she’s a gluten-free gamer girl, sushi lover, and cat-spoiling pet parent. Find her on Twitter @LucindaGunnin.


Joachim Heijndermans

Joachim Heijndermans writes, draws, and paints nearly every waking hour. Originally from the Netherlands, he's been all over the world, boring people by spouting random trivia. His work has been featured in a number of publications, such as Metaphorosis, Hinnom Magazine, Every Day Fiction, Asymmetry Fiction, Kraxon Magazine, and Gathering Storm Magazine. He's currently in the midst of completing his first children's book. You can check out his other work at www.joachimheijndermans.com, or follow him on Twitter: @jheijndermans.


J. A. Psoras

J. A. Psoras is earning a master's in marriage and family therapy while working full-time as a development associate. Her fiction has been featured in Issue 160, Volume 16 of Aphelion. Another short story received an honorable mention in Allegory, Volume 16/43. Her urban fantasy novel, A Dark Corner, is available via Amazon.com. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, a photojournalist.


H. Pueyo

H. Pueyo is an Argentine-Brazilian writer and translator. Her work can be read in venues such as Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and The Dark Magazine, among others.


Rebecca Siân Pyne

Dr Rebecca Siân Pyne is a writer, researcher (and mental health first-aider), now based in West Wales, via Cardiff University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. She has a PhD in Micropalaeontology, specializing in British Upper Cretaceous ostracods, with published research in Revista Española de Micropaleontología and Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Short stories have appeared in Bête Noire, Macabre Cadaver, Bards and Sages Quarterly, Albedo One, Aurora Wolf, Eschatology, Neo-Opsis, and others. Research assistants include a mad sprollie (springer spaniel x collie) who ensures there is no time for writer's block.


Darren Ridgley

Darren Ridgley is a journalist and speculative fiction writer residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His work has previously appeared in the Fitting In: Historical Accounts of Paranormal Subcultures anthology published by Mad Scientist Journal, as well as magazines including Polar Borealis, Fantasia Divinity, and Empyreome.


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.


Sophie Sparrow

Sophie Sparrow has published short fiction in a variety of venues, including here at Mad Scientist Journal. She lives and works in Birmingham, England, with her partner and not enough cats. Visit her online at www.writersophiesparrow.com or on Twitter @_sophiesparrow.


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