Have you always wanted to see your name in the pages of Mad Scientist Journal? Polish up your stories and classified ads, because our final submission period for 2018 opens on Saturday, December 1!
We’ll be looking for regular stories, quarterly exclusive stories, and classified ads from December 1 through December 31. The submissions guidelines will tell you everything you need to know! And if they don’t, you can ask us questions here or via email!
The amazing folks at TO Comix Press are at it again with another comics anthology called Shout Out. This anthology is a collection of queer comics for teen readers, by a queer creative team, and they’re currently seeking funding on Kickstarter!
The creators involved with this project include a few names that might be known to fans of comic books and awesome speculative fiction, including Kieron Gillen, an artist who has worked on The Wicked + The Divine, and MSJ alum H. Pueyo, who also earned the James Tiptree Jr. Literary Council Fellowship. TO Comix Press is also the team behind Wayward Sisters, which was a gorgeous anthology of comics about women and non-binary monsters.
The Kickstarter for Shout Out runs through December 14, 2018, and the release date for the anthology will be in May 2019. They hit roughly 1/3 of their goal in the first day, so they’re well on track to another successful and awesome project!
We’d joked one night about how the cats were too small to flip tables. This was their response the next day.
October was a busy month full of accomplishments. We had GeekGirl Con and fulfilled most of our Kickstarter rewards. Great rewards, but also some big costs. How many, you might ask? Read on, dear reader person.
The Money Aspect
Amounts in parentheses are losses/expenses.
Web Resources: (-$17.06)
Stories: (-$80.00)
Art: (-$200.00)
Advertising: (-$275.48)
Processing Fees: (-$11.08)
Printing: (-$1,595.05)
Donations: $76.71
Print Book Sales: $371.00
Online Book Sales: $150.61
Total: (-$1,580.35)
QTD: (-$1,580.35)
YTD: (-$10,936.75)
All Time: (-$34,674.68)
As usual, I try to list costs for art and stories under the month that the stories run on the site rather than when I pay them. (This does not apply to special content for quarterlies, which does not have a specific month associated with it.) Sales are for sales when they take place, not when they’re actually paid out to me. Online book sales reflect the royalties given after the retailer takes their cut. Physical book sales represent gross income, not counting the cost of the physical book. Donations include Patreon, as well as other money sent to us outside of standard sales.
GeekGirlCon straddled September/October, so we opted to list the sales from that weekend in October. This was probably our best sales of the year, including a huge spike on online book sales as well.
On the downside, this was also the big push to fulfill Kickstarter orders, so we spent a ton of money shipping books out.
We’ve also seen a small amount of drop in our Patreon supporters. We’d seen a surge in the wake of our Kickstarter, as we tried to emphasize that people who backed both the Kickstarter and the Patreon could get extra stuff. But the last couple months have seen a drop in Patreon pledges.
Submissions
We were closed to submissions in October. Our all time acceptance rate remains 35.1%.
Followers
Below is the social media following we had at the end of October.
Patreon: 28 (+1)
Facebook: 2,081 (+38)
Twitter: 640 (+15)
Tumblr: 333 (+5)
Mailing List: 189 (+14)
Instagram: 160 (+8)
Traffic
Last three months:
October 2018: 1,060 visits, 874 users, 1,627 page views, peak day 62 visits.
September 2018: 1,073 visits, 870 users, 1,782 page views, peak day 66 visits.
August 2018: 1,121 visits, 861 users, 1,669 page views, peak day 58 visits.
Last three Septembers:
October 2017: 1,408 visits, 1,134 users, 2,179 pages views, peak day of 107 visits.
October 2016: 769 visits, 581 users, 1,307 page views, peak day of 65 visits.
October 2015: 781 visits, 502 users, 1,461 page views, peak day of 57.
An essay by Carmel Jimenez, as provided by Denzell Cooper
Art provided by America Jones
“And this is Carmel.” The director’s voice was muffled by the glass. “She is working on something that will literally–” he made a hand gesture like he was flattening laundry “–change the world.” Theatrically, he turned and pressed a fingertip to the speaker button. The system whined, and when he next spoke, his tinny voice echoed into the lab: “Carmel, why don’t you explain it?”
I smiled. It was forced, of course. All I really wanted to do was get on with my work, but I reminded myself that I needed funding to make that work possible. I scribbled a note in the log and measured out 3ml with the syringe as I talked. “Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to where the real work takes place.” The group of investors laughed. I saw a few nods. Putty in my hands. “The formula I’m working on here is a matter calorific-fat-cell inverter. When it’s perfected, the company–your company if you choose to invest with us–will manufacture it as a kind of high-end diet supplement.”
The test subjects were lined up in fish tanks filled with river sludge. It was the best approximation of their natural environment that we could manufacture. I checked the charts to make sure I was selecting the right one.
“Excuse me, young lady. I’m sorry, but did you say a diet supplement?”
I looked up to see a rotund gentleman with a handlebar moustache and a monocle regarding me with a puzzled expression. There was a half smile on his face.
“Yes,” I said. “But this isn’t your regular run of the mill diet pill, mister … ?”
“Oh, Pickman. Richard Upton Pickman.”
“Mister Pickman. This pill will be revolutionary. Everyone will want it. You see, the formula uses otherworld gases and molecules to completely reverse the calorific and fat content of food. Taking the pill means that not only will you not put on weight, you’ll actually lose it. Sir, with our pill, the more food you eat, the more weight you’ll lose.”
“My word, how clever.” He chuckled. “And you designed this?”
The director guffawed loudly. “Sir, she is both beauty and brains.”
Condescending bastards.
The creature was certainly no more.
To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Autumn 2018 collection.
Carmel Jimenez works for Autre Monde Laboratories in an alternative reality of modern London, where aspects of Victorian society were never quite forgotten. She is most famous for her groundbreaking thesis on the origins of the Lesser Old Ones, which forms the basis for much of our current understanding of the otherworlds. You can visit the secret underground chambers where her experiments are conducted by presenting your travel pass to the gentleman in the top hat at Kensington Tube Station.
Denzell Cooper is a British writer working across multiple genres. His dark fiction has previously appeared in Mad Scientist Journal, Bete Noire, and other small press publications, as well as the anthologies Mental Ward: Echoes of the Past and Pirates & Ghosts. When he’s not writing, Denzell enjoys playing horror board games, such as those set in the world of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, which provided part of the inspiration for this story. The other part was his own twisted imagination.
AJ is an illustrator and comic artist with a passion for neon colors and queer culture. Catch them being antisocial on social media @thehauntedboy.
“The Benefits and Risks of Calorific Fat Cell Inversion” is © 2018 Denzell Cooper
Art accompanying story is © 2018 America Jones
Did you know that male cats have nipples? Did you ever wonder why?
The reason for this is that when kittens are first embryos, they start out without any characteristics that will determine their biological sex. And nipples are part of that standard kitten embryo package. Interestingly enough, this is true of MOST mammals, including humans (so you’ve got a bonus explanation as to why humans of any gender have nipples). And as one writer explains, “Because it doesn’t hurt males to have nipples, most mammals haven’t evolved away from them.”
To learn more about extraneous nipples in mammals, you can check out this Q&A on cats or this article on humans!
Ah, Thanksgiving. A day to consume food, visit with friends and/or family, and maybe watch some football, before taking an enormous nap. Or maybe that’s just us. If you’d rather spend your Thanksgiving curled up with some good stories, look no further! We’ve collected a few stories about food and family for your reading enjoyment!
“Deddville” by Nicole Tanquary (a touching story about a mother and son and life after death)
“Hollywood Cafe” by Tara Campbell (franchising opportunities for a unique restaurant)
“Grandma Visits” by Shelly Jasperson (a funny story about the secrets Grandma took to her grave)
“Excerpts from the Diary of Theodore Miro, Competitor on CryptoChefs Season 2” by Zach Bartlett (a funny story about reality cooking shows) (available in MSJ Winter 2018)
“Lasagna with Legs” by Rich Knight (a funny story about food with a mind of its own) (available in MSJ Spring 2015)
“Oenophilia” by Megan Vogel (for the wine lovers out there) (available in MSJ Spring 2013)
“Turkey of Frankenstein” by Richard Zwicker (a Thanksgiving meal gone wrong) (available in MSJ Autumn 2012)
Public domain (http://gallery.spitzer.caltech.edu/Imagegallery/image.php?image_name=sig06-010)
One of our MSJ alum, Jennifer Lee Rossman, is one of the editors for Space Opera Libretti, an anthology that is currently funding on Kickstarter. The anthology will contain stories that reimagine the traditional tropes of the space opera genre, infusing it with more fun and more music! Their goal is also to present a more inclusive version of space opera, both in terms of the characters in the stories and the authors involved.
If their funding succeeds, the anthology will be available in ebook and print, and there are some really cool rewards for backing the Kickstarter, including a very reasonable $2 pledge that gets you both the ebook and a fictional recipe! The Kickstarter runs through December 14, 2018, so check it out!
If you’re looking for a great way to share science with kids, have you checked out BrainPop’s science section? With a wide variety of scientific fields covered, it’s a great resource for curious kids. There are also resources for educators on the site.
The site does require a subscription to access, but the subscriptions can be scaled to your need, for home use, classroom use, and even homeschooling options. Once you’ve got a subscription, you’ll find videos, quizzes, activities, and more related to the subjects you’re interested in learning more about. And in addition to the basic English site, there are also sections for English language learners, and portions of the site in French and Spanish.
Please note, we’re not affiliated with this organization. This is another of our awesome finds!
By Marianne MacDonnal, provided by Joachim Heijndermans
Art provided by Leigh Legler
Follow Marianne @mmacdonnal-london12 or sign up with @london12-news/entertainment to receive her latest articles in your mail.
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On Wednesday, February 12th, a day that will never be forgotten by anyone who lived through the Pork Wars, Hammy the pig died.
Hammy was the last naturally born pig before the event that sterilized the entire swine genus (or Sus genus, for you biologists out there). Massive infertility struck pigs of both genders. All pigs, young and old, from pot-belly to Berkshire, were rendered incapable of producing offspring. [Click here to learn more about pigs and their history.] There have been no recorded births of new piglets since then. The cause of this event, nicknamed the Great Crunch, is unknown. Biologists are still unsure how it happened, with plenty of theories being thrown around. Nothing was ever confirmed. But its effects were disastrous for the pig population, and for the next twenty years, it would shape our own culture in dramatic ways.
When we discovered that pigs stopped breeding and our supply of pork would run out someday, we did what we always do in times of crisis. We panicked. The larger meat corporations began stockpiling as many pork products as they could find, driving store prices and stock value up. Pigs became the new oil, which, to clarify for our younger readers, was also once on the verge of running out before the Perseus Space missions to Mars. A better comparison might be pigs as the then equivalent of de eFace®-7SD. [Click here to pre-order yours now.] Prices skyrocketed beyond levels ever seen in food products before, with demand much higher than any company could ever supply. It didn’t take long before the need for pork exploded into a wave of violence.
During the pork riots in the wake of the Great Crunch, also referred to by some as the “bacon-apocalypse,” the pig population dropped even faster with the mass consumption and further stockpiling of edible pork products. Alternatives were found, but studies showed that even wild boars and warthogs were not immune to this sudden infertility. This news came far too late to save them from overzealous hunters under contract by the corporations. The last living wild boar was spotted in Germany, about five years after the Crunch. It was served at the wedding reception of then popular rapper T-zone and his now ex-wife and former celebutante, Kimy Khasfardian, where the animal was only half-eaten before being dumped into the couple’s swimming pool by Kyla Khasfardian, the bride’s sister. [Click here to see the video.]
Hammy, born to a litter of seven piglets from the sow named Gloria, was the only survivor after the Manor pig farm, privately owned by the Richmond family, was raided by men in the employ of Finelands Pork Ltd. The then unnamed piglet managed to hide under a wheelbarrow as the marauders raided the farm and confiscated the two hundred pigs from Manor farm, including all of his siblings, and dragged them away to be slaughtered and processed.
Are you tired of the same old pork substitutes? Sick of the cheap replic-bacon? Try Oink2.
To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Autumn 2018 collection.
Marianne MacDonnal is a regular blogger and journalist for London-12. She won the Peabody award for her work on the third Tiananmen square riot and the Gail Simone award for best monthly comic series for Zen Laser. She lives in Soho with her cat Mittens and her dawg® Rowler.
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.
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/.
“In memoriam: Hammy, the Last Pig on Earth” is © 2018 Joachim Heijndermans
Art accompanying story is © 2018 Leigh Legler
Many fruits have a literal sweet spot–that point when they’re just the right amount of ripe to taste their most delicious. Eat them before then, or after then, and you might be disappointed.
Ethylene is the naturally occurring chemical that causes fruit to ripen, and it can be accelerated by damaging the fruit or subjecting it to high temperatures. But for scientists, the trick is to find a way to prevent ethylene from ripening fruit too quickly when it’s being transported across long distances to various markets.
There are two genes involved in preventing fruit from ripening, ETR1 and CTR1. Both of these genes “turn off” when ethylene is present. So by strengthening these genes to resist the siren call of ethylene, fruit can be genetically modified to keep it from ripening during transport. The trick is to make these genes stronger, but not so strong that the fruit never ripens. So it remains a challenge for scientists working to create longer-lasting fruit!
You can read more fruit ripening here!
