Awesome Finds: My Kingdom for a Panel

Posted on April 18, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

Cover illustration for My Kingdom for a PanelIf you’re a Shakespeare fan, you might be interested in My Kingdom for a Panel, a Shakespearean graphic novel anthology. Featuring 26 re-imagined and illustrated Shakespearean tales, this graphic novel anthology looks absolutely awesome. They’ve also got a couple of cute add-ons and opportunities to get original artwork from some of the illustrators as well. We’re particular enamored of the Happy Dagger pin and the Shakespeare sticker waving the Pride flag.

The Kickstarter campaign for this anthology started just last week and runs until June 6, so there’s plenty of time to check it out. The original artwork levels are limited, so get over there sooner rather than later if you want one of those!

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Review of Gunsmoke and Dragonfire

Posted on April 17, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

Cover art for Gunsmoke and DragonfireGunsmoke and Dragonfire (Aradia Publishing, 2019) edited by Diane Morrison is an anthology of stories that mash up fantasy with westerns, resulting in a collection of 25 stories where the good guys don’t always ride white horses … but they might ride good dragons.

Many of the stories in this anthology are reprints, including a classic Solomon Kane story from Robert E. Howard, “Rattle of Bones.” A few of the stories are novella length or longer, and many are set in worlds where the authors have written other stories or longer pieces.

With so many stories to choose from, there were a lot that grabbed my attention. Sara Codair’s “Red Tide Rising” is a little more in the sci-fi end of the universe of speculative fiction, but their well-written characters and clever plot made this story work well within the confines of the anthology. I also enjoyed the plotting and world building in Zach Chapman’s “Rick and the Green Gunslinger,” where spells are etched into bullets and cast by firing a gun.

Liam Hogan’s “Pinkerton” had a really fun twist on the idea that the Pinkertons always get their man, and Jude-Marie Green’s “Glorious Madness” is a delightful retelling of Don Quixote. I also liked R. Daniel Lester’s “The Sound of One Shoe Tapping” both for the clever title and as a nice compact story that worked perfectly at its brief length. Finally, I found “Fallen Horseshoes” by G. Scott Huggins to be wonderfully atmospheric and creepy, while “Balthazar Beausoliel’s Blink Wolf Badger” by Paul Alex Gray was an action-packed romp with a real sense of the peril the main character faced.

If you enjoy westerns with fantasy (and sometimes sci-fi) elements, ranging from steampunk to magic and beyond, you’ll likely find a new favorite or several among the stories in Gunsmoke and Dragonfire!

The publisher provided us with a free copy of this anthology in exchange for review consideration.

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Music and Mad Science

Posted on April 16, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

Music and mad science aren’t things that always go together, but we’ve published a few stories over the years involving these two topics.

“Cryptoid Sonics: An Investigation into the Uses of Cryptozoological Sounds” by Andy Brown (applications for the sounds made by cryptids) (available in MSJ Spring 2018)

“The Nightingale of Atlantic City” by Meg Merriet (a gearpunk songstress) (available in MSJ Spring 2015)

“We Shall Make Monsters” by Mark Patrick Lynch (cloning and boy bands) (available in MSJ Spring 2014)

We also found an interesting piece on the science behind music and brains that’s worth a read if you missed it before!

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Fiction: Quietly Goes the Mix Tape

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Mad Scientist Journal

An essay by Dr. Marie Randall, as provided by Willow Croft
Art by Scarlett O’Hairdye

The quiet is the worst. The silence that is not silence, broken up by jangling keys, someone screaming, the endless stomping of feet up and down the hall. There is no music here. I don’t care what certain avant-garde composers say. Noise cannot be turned into music. Silence is not a composition. It’s merely a dripping faucet that chips away at one’s sanity. Such is my life here at the Twin Oaks Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center. Even the sound of my own voice is like shattered glass dropping on pavement. If I wasn’t mad before I came here, I will be when I leave. But maybe that’s what they call sane.

I wouldn’t even be writing down these thoughts in this static medium, except the doctor made me. It was that, or ECT, and just think of the noise that would be filling up my head then. All this just because I asked if there was a piano. I don’t comprehend how anyone could live without music. But then, that’s how I got in trouble. Simply by bringing more music into the world. Into people. And for that part of the story, I’ll have to start at the beginning. In 1985.

~

“Hey, Dr. Randall, how’s it going?”

Jimmy, my lab assistant, had asked me the same question every morning for the past six months.

“Headphones off, please.”

“What?”

I mimicked taking off the headphones. I sometimes wished he would be hit by a bus he couldn’t hear because his Walkman was up so loud. But lab assistants, even annoying ones, were at a premium around here, so I reminded myself that we scientists worked to enhance life, not destroy it.

“Oh, sorry, Doc.”

I set him to work readying the lab station for the day’s genetic experiments. I could hear the abstract thumping of his music as I tried to focus on my report. Nothing is more irritating than music you have to listen to secondhand. But that’s when inspiration struck.

Art for "Quietly Goes the Mix Tape"

It wasn’t until the police showed up in my lab the next day that I realized something was wrong.

To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Spring 2019 collection.

Dr. Marie Randall was a biology teacher at the small, but distinguished, Twin Oaks University, located in Twin Oaks, Missouri. Born on a farm just on the outskirts of Twin Oaks, Dr. Randall breezed through high school, earning her diploma by the time she was thirteen. The brilliant Dr. Randall received numerous scholarships, through which she gained dual PhDs in genetics and cell biology, respectively, with specialty studies in both evolutionary biology and molecular biology. After conducting controversial genetic experiments, which led to her arrest, she was committed to the Twin Oaks Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center. Her mysterious disappearance from the facility remains unexplained to this day.

Willow Croft is a writer and poet currently living in high desert, though she has dreams of moving to green Scotland. She has a BA in writing and literature and a MA in history. She recently published a book of poetry, Quantum Singularity: A Poetic Voyage through Time and Space, and is editing a mystery manuscript for publication.

Scarlett O’Hairdye is a burlesque performer, producer and artist. To learn more, visit her site at www.scarlettohairdye.com.

“Quietly Goes the Mix Tape” is Copyright 2019 Willow Croft
Art accompanying story is Copyright 2019 Scarlett O’Hairdye

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Strange Science: Medical Technology Informing Artifact Analysis

Posted on April 12, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

Medical technology can be used for a multitude of applications, including helping art historians and archaeologists learn more about artifacts. Recently, five pieces of art held by the Art Institute of Chicago were imaged using axial tomography, known to most people as CT scanning. The 3-D image created by this form of imaging showed that the five terracotta sculptures, known as the Bankoni figures, based on the location where they were found in present-day Mali, were created from the same clay and with the same methods. This information strongly suggests that the five figures were made as a set, likely by a single artist.

In addition to information about the maker of these figures, the CT scanning also allowed scientists to pinpoint the date when they were created more closely, to somewhere between 500 and 800 years ago, which makes them older than previously realized. As this article states, “These types of collaborations between museums and hospitals have expanded the conservator’s toolkit by giving them access to the most advanced technologies and to equipment that would be otherwise unavailable. Their medical partners’ specialized knowledge guarantees that conservators have the best instrumental protocol available to find answers to their questions and that the results will be interpreted accurately.”

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Throwback to Other Strange Things in the Ground

Posted on April 11, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

While we haven’t published many stories dealing strictly with archaeology at Mad Scientist Journal, we have a few, along with several others detailing other oddities of this planet we call home, and a few a bit farther afield.

“Within the Pulse of Darkness” by Lucas Leery (what can be found beneath the surface of the earth in an improbably deep and dark hole?)

“A Sunny Day on the Ziggurat” by Joachim Heijndermans (anthropology and self-defense on another planet) (available in MSJ Winter 2018)

“To Dr. Von Lupe, Concerning the Volcano” by Alanna McFall (reasons for selecting the right scientists for your project) (available in MSJ Summer 2016)

“Recalibrating Archaeological Time Scales” by E. B. Fischadler (proposal for an alternate means of dating archaeological finds) (available in MSJ Winter 2015)

“Who’s Yer Mummy?” by Mike Bryant (Egyptology and action!) (available in MSJ Spring 2012)

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Review of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Mad Scientist Journal
Cover art for The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, by Meg Elison, is a post apocalyptic story about a woman who wakes up to find most of the world dead. Both haunting and inspiring, it follows her as she explores the fragments of North America and tries to find ways to survive.

The unnamed protagonist is a obstetric nurse and midwife who worked at the front line of a virulent and lethal disease that impacts women and unborn children more than men. She contracts the disease and manages to survive, but after her fever breaks she finds herself alone in the hospital. From there she tries to find her way through a world where infrastructure has collapsed, the scattered population is primarily armed men, and pregnancy is a death sentence. 

With that setup, it would be easy to assume how the rest of the book would go. As the story evolves, Elison’s use of point of view challenges expectations and brings a wider view of how the world survives. It highlights assumptions about human nature and morality that come out of the genre, and shows that humanity can respond in more than one way.

I read the book in a single day, unable to stop reading for long. I’m hesitant to go into spoilers, but it was a book I didn’t realize I needed. Compared to the post apocalyptic fiction I grew up with, this has much more hope to it without ignoring the dark side of humanity. 

This book is the first in a trilogy, but stands alone well. The second installment, The Book of Etta, is now available. The third, The Book of Flora, releases April 23rd. So you have time to tear through the first two in time for the third. 

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Awesome Finds: Science For the People

Posted on April 9, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

Illustration of multiple people engaging in scientific studyScience for the People is currently working on Kickstarting a magazine! They plan to use this magazine to continue a tradition of bringing radical science to the people, where they define “radical” as “examining the root of assumptions and power structures in all areas, so that our future need not be dictated by our past or present.” If you’re a fan of science being used to benefit people, not corporations, this magazine might be just what you’re looking for!

With this Kickstarter, they plan to fund at least three issues of the magazine, and if the magazine proves successful on Kickstarter and elsewhere, they may be able to continue publishing. You can back the Kickstarter through April 17th!

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Fiction: Terminus Post Quem

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Mad Scientist Journal

An essay by Daniel Benlainey, as provided by Steve Toase
Art by Leigh Legler

Daniel Benlainey BA MSc
Project Manager
Multivallate Archaeology
Unit 4 Sunray Farm
YK94 1SX
D.Benlainey@multivallate.org.uk

Simon Campbell BSc
Senior Archaeologist
Historic Environment Team
Callshire County Council
County Hall
Ostbarnton
YK56 4RF

Dear Simon,

Please find attached the interim site report for the Carrion Knoll Excavation. Hope everything is OK. We’re still waiting on some results from a subcontractor, but I’ll forward them as soon as they arrive.

Yours sincerely

Daniel Benlainey BA MSc

~

Interim site report of Carrion Knoll Archaeological Excavations 2017 September 8th

Due to the position of the Carrion Knoll housing development in an area of known prehistoric and Roman activity, a planning condition for archaeological evaluation was required ahead of any groundworks.

Between August 1st and August 25th, a five-person team carried out the necessary work. Due to the low-lying nature of the site and anaerobic conditions found in certain areas, the quality of organic preservation was good, with several surprising results.

Three trenches, each 20m by 10m were excavated. These were distributed across the development area to give as wide a spread of results as possible.

Historic Background

Carrion Knoll lies in an area of known Neolithic, Iron Age, Roman, and Anglo-Scandinavian activity, though no known archaeological material has previously been recovered from the exact site location. Since approximately 900AD, there is no evidence of activity in the vicinity.

Art for "Terminus Post Quem"

In nearly thirty years as a professional Romano-British ceramic specialist, I have never encountered bone and pottery fused together in such a way.

To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Spring 2019 collection.

Daniel Benlainey was born in Fife, Scotland, and got his BA in Archaeology from the University of Sheffield, before completing an MSc in Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford. After working the commercial archaeology ‘circuit’ for several years, Daniel has been with Multivallate Archaeology for a decade, starting as a site assistant and working his way up to a project management position. He is especially interested in vitrified forts. When not working he spends his time seeing bands such as Blyth Power, New Model Army, and Flogging Molly, or playing for his local cricket team.

Steve Toase lives in Munich, Germany. His work has appeared in Shimmer, Lackington’s, Aurealis, Not One Of Us, Hinnom Magazine, Cabinet des Feés, and Pantheon Magazine, amongst others. In 2014, “Call Out” (first published in Innsmouth Magazine) was reprinted in The Best Horror Of The Year 6. He first worked on an archaeological site in 1994, and has an MA in Landscape Archaeology. He spent too many years digging big holes looking for old stuff, and once found 1,000 year old human hair. He also likes old motorbikes and vintage cocktails. You can keep up to date with his work via http://www.tinyletter.com/stevetoase, facebook.com/stevetoase1, www.stevetoase.wordpress.com, and @stevetoase.

Leigh’s professional title is “illustrator,” but that’s just a nice word for “monster-maker,” in this case. More information about them can be found at http://leighlegler.carbonmade.com/.

“Terminus Post Quem” is © 2019 Steve Toase
Art accompanying story is © 2019 Leigh Legler

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Strange Science: Aloof Cats

Posted on April 5, 2019 by scarywhitegirl

Orange and white piebald cat showing her belly and looking at the cameraMany people, both those who own cats and those who do not, have a belief that cats are anti-social or aloof. Scientists have found, however, that cats are only as aloof toward you as you are toward them.

When humans interact with cats, the cats tend to then continue to interact with those humans. Meanwhile, if humans ignore the cats, the cats will go about their business without interaction. Of course, cats won’t always interact with humans who want to interact with them. Scientists attribute this to cats wanting to have the choice–they want to be able to walk away if they aren’t in an interactive mood. But they also want to be able to interact with humans sometimes–hence why you get cats who must always be involved with whatever you’re doing, or who paw or meow at you if you’re not paying them sufficient attention.

We at Mad Scientist Journal have seen this extensively with our feline interns, most of which are perfectly happy to do their own thing 90% of the time. But that 10% of the time when they want attention, they will demand it vocally and physically. (And then there are the youngest interns, who are still figuring out what they want, making them much less predictable.)

You can read more about cat behavior here!

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