An Interview with Leora Spitzer

Posted on August 23, 2018 by scarywhitegirl

Our interview today is with Leora Spitzer, who wrote “Breath and Roses” for Battling in All Her Finery!

DV: Tell us a bit about yourself!

Leora Spitzer: My name is Leora Spitzer, and I live in St. Louis, MO. I love waterfalls, intersectional feminism, arguing about Harry Potter, apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and great literature. I collect books, earrings, and stuffed animals.

DV: What inspired you to write “Breath and Roses” for Battling in All Her Finery?

LS: I have recently been researching the history of labor organizers overcoming tremendous odds to improve life for workers in America. Separately, I came across the theme of an all-powerful company that controls access to oxygen in a few different sci-fi stories and TV shows. I asked myself how anyone could oppose a company that literally controlled their ability to breathe. “Breath and Roses” grew from my attempts at answering that question.

DV: Your story includes a poem from the early twentieth century. Can you tell our readers more about the poem without giving away too much of the story?

LS: “Bread and Roses” is a poem about women strikers in Massachusetts in 1912, a couple centuries before the events of my story happen. While the poem describes a very particular time and place, it encapsulates the broader message that people need and deserve both the basic necessities that keep us alive and the dignity, respect, and joyful moments that make life more than just existence. I believe that that message is a universal one that will last long after humanity, like my characters, has left Earth behind.

DV: Are the characters in this story ones you hope to revisit in the future?

LS: I don’t have anything specific planned yet, but I did have a bunch of backstory for side characters that didn’t fit in with narrative, so I might revisit them to expand on that more.

DV: What’s on the horizon for you?

LS: I am working on a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel set on Earth. It is also my goal to write a biography of Pauline Newman, the woman my protagonist is very loosely based on in “Breath and Roses.” I’ve also got a couple of fantasy short stories in progress.

Thanks, Leora!

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off on An Interview with Leora Spitzer

Review of To Another Abyss! by Zach Bartlett

Posted on August 22, 2018 by scarywhitegirl

Cover art for To Another Abyss!To Another Abyss! by Zach Bartlett (Spaceboy Books, 2018) is a delightful tale of eldritch otherworldly beings and college town art scenes, blended into a clever short novel.

Greg Withers runs a small art gallery and artist grant, thanks to his generous parents. When most of the applications are pure rubbish, he offers the grant to a filmmaker who suggested a documentary. But when the filmmaker’s plans suddenly evolve into an action-adventure movie shot in the art gallery, things go horribly awry, and it’s up to Greg and his friends Decca and Myra to figure out how to right things.

Though the pacing in the book is a little slower than what I’m used to, I absolutely devoured this book nonetheless. As someone who lived in a college town for entirely too many years and was tangentially connected to that college town’s art scene, so much of the ridiculousness of that world was true to life and hysterical in retrospect. The eldritch otherworldly beings were also appropriately weird but not too unfathomable.

If you like your fiction weird and funny, you’re likely to enjoy To Another Abyss!

The author provided us with a free copy of this novel in exchange for review consideration.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Review of To Another Abyss! by Zach Bartlett

An Interview with L. Chan

Posted on August 21, 2018 by scarywhitegirl
A many armed figure

Broesis (https://pixabay.com/photos/friendship-fun-backlighting-poor-2366958/)

Today, we’re chatting with L. Chan, one of our authors for Battling in All Her Finery!

DV: Tell us a bit about yourself!

L. Chan: I’m from Singapore, generally writing around the gamut of SFF, in fairly specific niches. Near future cyberpunk, contemperary fantasy, dark fantasy. This story is a bit of a departure from my normal writing space. Other than stories, I have an elderly Springer Spaniel who inspires all of the interaction that I get on Twitter.

DV: What inspired you to write “Chasing the Wombship Echidna” for Battling in All Her Finery?

LC: Some time ago, there was some Twitter discussion about space marine midwives. I can’t remember whether that anthology actually took off, but I got to thinking about Wombship at that time, in a bit of a reversal, we’d have the monsters being chased by the space marines, flipping the birth of the sisters in space and their subsequent training and modifications as desperate rather than hostile acts. I wanted that to serve as a counterpoint to the idea of a hegemonic military being ambushed by science fiction monsters.

DV: Where did the idea for the Sisters come from?

LC: Two sources. The many armed, many weaponed look calls back to Kali, the Hindu goddess. She’s a little mischaracterised in popular culture, the earliest I remember of her being Indiana Jones. She also inspired Sister Kalindra’s name, and possibly her penchant for righteous destruction.

The other inspiration was HR Giger, not just in the call back to the Aliens movies, but back to some of his original biomechanical art pieces, which you can see in the augmentation of the sisters, in their armoured skin and their cybernetic implants.

DV: Without giving too much away, your story ends on a note that there could be something more. Do you have any plans to write other stories along those lines?

LC: Writers are obligate scavengers and hoarders, so the story of Sister Kalindra and the Wombship is over but what comes after, well that’s something for a future story.

DV: What’s on the horizon for you?

LC: I’m still working on short stories until I get my act together to write up something as long as a novel. I’ve just finished a second world fantasy novella, with a music-based magic system and themes of family, intrigue, and empire. It’s in the next zip code as far as my comfort zone goes, so I’m looking forward to pushing back toward shorts to recharge.

Thanks, L.!

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off on An Interview with L. Chan

Within the Pulse of Darkness

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Mad Scientist Journal

An essay by Cassius Carter, as provided by Lucas Leery
Art by Luke Spooner

Dear Cass,

I invite you to assist me on my next expedition. The site is in remote, northern land that I trust you will remember well. Your task will be simple: to record data thoroughly and accurately.

I apologize, but I cannot share more. You must understand the significance of this project. Please keep my offer private, as my research is of a most sensitive nature.

I leave Thursday.

Kent

~

Though we had been friends since childhood, Kent’s proposition was strictly business. The letter nonetheless excited me, snapped my thoughts from the doldrums of my daily routine. Despite its vagueness, I accepted his offer in hopes of reconnecting with a friend lost to time. The letter was stark and abrupt, much like the writer himself, but I sensed in its language something as close to a plea as ever a man like Kent could make. Somehow, though I had not heard from him in over a decade, I felt a responsibility to respond. Besides, the trip was an excuse for escape, if but brief, from my life as a bachelor in the city, a situation I found exceedingly tedious as the years wore on me.

Kent worked as a geobiologist studying the evolution of Earth’s relationship with life. Though we had fallen largely out of touch since our schooldays, I kept up to date on his studies by following him in academic publications. In recent years, however, his name had disappeared from headlines, and I assumed that he had taken his career elsewhere. I myself, a former laboratory technician who now struggled as a freelance science journalist, was surprised to hear that he still practiced research in the field.

I was not surprised, however, that he had chosen me for his companion. We grew up together exploring deep within those northern reaches, woods I once knew more intimately than anyone alive. Moreover, I pursued science seriously enough to make a career of it, was familiar with equipment and repairs, and was a trustworthy, if not predictable, friend. Besides, I was a budding science journalist. He made it clear from the start that he intended the story of this expedition to make headlines.

Art for "Within The Pulse Of Darkness"

The sleet had melted through the day, and the forest was deepening to a cold blue-black light, the dark forms of trees silhouetted against a thick and colorless sky. A faint choir’s trembling pulse drifted to me from beyond the spectral darkness.

To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Summer 2018 collection.

Cassius (Cass) Carrington, born 1904, was a lab technician and science journalist who lived most of his adult life in Boston, MA. Quiet and reserved, Cass was known for his love of stories, whiskey, and the outdoors. He perished on a camping trip in 1966, leaving behind a wife and two sons. His body was never found.

Lucas Leery lives on the coast of Maine and spends a lot of time outside, collecting treasures found in the ocean and on land.

Luke Spooner, a.k.a. ‘Carrion House,’ currently lives and works in the South of England. Having recently graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a first class degree, he is now a full time illustrator for just about any project that piques his interest. Despite regular forays into children’s books and fairy tales, his true love lies in anything macabre, melancholy, or dark in nature and essence. He believes that the job of putting someone else’s words into a visual form, to accompany and support their text, is a massive responsibility, as well as being something he truly treasures. You can visit his web site at www.carrionhouse.com.

“Within the Pulse of Darkness” is Copyright 2018 Lucas Leery
Art accompanying story is Copyright 2018 Luke Spooner

Posted in Fiction | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Within the Pulse of Darkness

Strange Science: Superbug Yeast

Posted on August 17, 2018 by scarywhitegirl

Scientists are currently faced with a yeast that is behaving like a bacteria, making it difficult to fight with the drugs currently available.

Candida auris is a yeast and a fungus, but its behavior is atypical. Normally yeasts need warm, moist spaces to thrive. This particular yeast can thrive outside of the body, on skin and cold surfaces. This ability to survive outside of its original host’s body means that it can be passed on to other people, and can spread rapidly in a locale like a hospital. Thus, scientists have classified its behavior as more similar to a bacteria, which can do the same thing.

The fact that this yeast resists many of the standard antifungals also makes it difficult to deal with. Past research has not focused heavily on developing new antifungals because there has not been much of a need, and the standard antifungals could deal with most fungal outbreaks. Candida auris defies this expectation.

The current best practices in fighting this superbug yeast include extra attention to cleanliness in a setting where it could be spread. You can read more about it here.

Posted in Strange Science | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Strange Science: Superbug Yeast

Battling in All Her Finery Nearing Completion

Posted on August 16, 2018 by scarywhitegirl

Battling in All Her FineryWe at Mad Scientist Journal have been working hard to put together Battling in All Her Finery, and we’re pleased to say that we’re getting very close! We’ve still got some work to do, but it’s nice to see the lion’s share of that work behind us, and look forward to having books ready to send to our Kickstarter backers, sell in person, and sell online! As soon as we’re ready for pre-orders, we’ll be sure to let you know!

We’ll continue to post interviews with our authors in the coming weeks, but we thought we’d give you a quick sneak peek at all of the authors’ bios! If you pop over to the DefCon One page for Battling in all Her Finery, you can read about all twenty-one of our talented authors! Some of them may have even snuck hints about their stories into their bios, so check them out if you’d like a quick taste of what you might see in Battling in All Her Finery.

Posted in Administrative | Tagged | Comments Off on Battling in All Her Finery Nearing Completion

On Kickstarter: Heartwood

Posted on August 15, 2018 by scarywhitegirl

One of the current projects on Kickstarter we’re digging is Heartwood, an anthology of fantasy comics by non-binary creators. Everything about this comic anthology looks gorgeous thus far, and we’re sure it’s only going to get more amazing as it moves into the final stages of production!

We’ve backed a few of these comic anthologies in the past, and find them to be a great way to find a bunch of new favorite artists and writers, much like short story anthologies do for writers!

The Kickstarter runs until August 31st, so you’ve still got plenty of time to pledge your support. There are some limited edition tiers, though, so we’d recommend checking it out sooner rather than later!

Posted in Awesome Finds, On Kickstarter | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on On Kickstarter: Heartwood

An Interview with Nathan Crowder

Posted on August 14, 2018 by scarywhitegirl
Blue lightning in the desert

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Lighting_in_the_Desert_02.jpg) CC-by-sa-4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Author Nathan Crowder is an MSJ alum, who has had stories included in previous anthologies and the magazine. Now he’s back for Battling in All Her Finery with “Swing That Axe,” which we’re talking to him about today.

DV: Tell us a bit about yourself!

Nathan Crowder: Despite a few decades living in the Seattle area, I still identify as a bit of a cowboy due to my upbringing in the Four Corners region of the Southwest, defined by rugged individuality, love of thunderstorms, the smell of pinon and Hatch green chile. To that end, I periodically wear a straw cowboy hat un-ironically and make it work, the memento of a regional rodeo I went to with friends a few years ago. I’ve written across a variety of medium and genre, but most stories tend to gravitate towards blue-collar heroes who do the right thing under difficult circumstances. I have a particular love for comic books, urban planning, history, and the movie Streets of Fire, much of which contributed to me creating the world of Cobalt City in which I (and several other authors) write superhero novels and short fiction.

DV: What inspired you to write “Swing That Axe” for Battling in All Her Finery?

NC: I’ve written a lot of stories inspired by music, some more directly inspired than others. I love music. I listen to it while I work, while I write, and sometimes while falling asleep. Somewhere in there, I had the thought about someone who rocked so hard they split the sky. Thinking about what that meant and where I could go with that gave me the foundation to my story. I set it in Tucson because of my enduring love of the SW, and also because one of my favorite bands happens to be from there.

DV: If you had to choose a band (or several) that are most like the band in “Swing That Axe” in terms of sound, who would you pick?

NC: The thing about Brujah is that they don’t sound like anyone else (though I imagine Mars Volta might have a bit in common in some aspects). When I think of the prog rock that inspires me, the three bands that come to mind are Coheed and Cambria, Porcupine Tree, and Mastodon. Interestingly Coheed and Cambria’s song “Atlas” provided the key to unlocking my “Madjack” story that appeared in the Behind the Mask anthology last year.

DV: Without too many spoilers, your story ends on a note that there is more to come. Do you plan to return to these characters or setting in future stories?

NC: I don’t know if I’ll return to those characters, but the story does subtly connect to the Cobalt City universe, so it’s anyone’s guess.

DV: What’s on the horizon for you?

NC: Speaking of Madjack, she’s one of the huge cast of characters appearing in my novel Cobalt City: RESISTANCE, which comes out early October. It’s a sweeping story of heroes, villains, and vigilantes having to decide where they stand and what they stand FOR when a tyrant rides a wave of simmering hatred to become President of the U.S.A. It’s a big turning point in the Cobalt City universe, the repercussions of which ripple down through the monthly short fiction I’m writing for backers of my Patreon.

Thanks, Nathan!

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off on An Interview with Nathan Crowder

Gray Eye Shuffle

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Mad Scientist Journal

An essay by Othello Maxwell, as provided by Brandon Nolta
Art by Leigh Legler

She looked like the kind of woman for whom doors opened. Tall, hair so black it absorbed the light, her body a pillar of muscle, she strode with confidence through the late-afternoon commuter crowd, someone used to being unimpeded. I watched her walk toward my car, and thought ghosting must have been a tough call for her.

She stopped in front of me, turned her head to meet my gaze. Her eyes were gray, so light they were almost pearl. That’s just short of albino in the standard population, and rarer than hen’s teeth, as Mom used to say. In Lottos, though, that was almost base model. Eye scans are still the most common way to catch one.

“Double O?” she whispered, body tensed. She seemed poised to run, or maybe kick my head through the train window. I wouldn’t blame her for either. Imagine surviving an apocalypse, or being descended from someone who did, only to find that you were now an asset of incalculable value, and everyone wanted a piece–or more–of you. Even the West was shitty about snagging Lottos, and in theory, they still had rights there.

“Yes, ma’am,” I whispered back, nodding just a fraction. The whole point of ghosting was to avoid notice. Ghost suits work pretty well at deflecting attention, between the pheromone masks and pupil dilation sensors, but they don’t do shit for loud voices or sudden movements. Keep calm and stay unnoticed.

She opened her mouth to say something else, and I held up a finger, pointing at the ceiling. Her eyes flicked upward to the sensor ring in the panel above me. She nodded, and inclined her head toward me, as if we were old friends and not strangers on a trans-Bay of Bengal train.

“Next station,” I said, yawning as I did. The older Sikh next to me didn’t seem to notice; he probably saw Caucasians with smart lenses talking to themselves all the time, and he’d taken no notice of the ghosting Lotto in front of me. Not that I wanted to test that. I stood as the train began to slow coming into Chennai Port and moved in front of her. No need to watch her leave; she’d follow. Lottos aren’t welcome most places, and she’d need help to get somewhere she could be left alone, much less welcomed.

Art for "Gray Eye Shuffle"

Her eyes were gray, so light they were almost pearl. That’s just short of albino in the standard population, and rarer than hen’s teeth, as Mom used to say. In Lottos, though, that was almost base model. Eye scans are still the most common way to catch one.

~

When the genetic anomalies first started to show up, lots of people thought the stories were bullshit, cooked up by governments too afraid to admit how bad things really were. Losing nearly two billion people will do that. It didn’t take long for rumor to become documented fact, though.

To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Summer 2018 collection.

Born into a military family, Othello Maxwell (or Double O, as she prefers) is a world traveler, jack of all trades, and professional Lotto smuggler. Not much of her early life is known, and what details she does share are carefully parsed to minimize exposure. What is known, however, is that she’s good at her work, has contacts all over the surviving First World countries, and counts ancient movie trivia and recreational immunology amongst her few hobbies.

Brandon Nolta is a writer, editor, and professional curmudgeon living in the transportation-challenged wilds of north Idaho. After earning an MFA, he went slightly mad. Nothing much happened with that, so he gave it up and started working for respectable companies again, which he still does when he wants to pay his bills. His fiction and poetry have appeared in The Centropic Oracle, Stupefying Stories, The Pedestal Magazine, Every Day Fiction, Perihelion, and a cacophony of other publications. Iron and Smoke, his first novel, was published by Montag Press in 2015; he has yet to admit to a second.

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/.

“Gray Eye Shuffle” is © 2018 Brandon Nolta
Art accompanying story is © 2018 Leigh Legler

Posted in Fiction | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Gray Eye Shuffle

Strange Science: Massive Black Sarcophagus Found

Posted on August 10, 2018 by scarywhitegirl

Archaeologists in Alexandria, Egypt, recently located a massive black granite sarcophagus likely from the Ptolemaic period (roughly 2,000 years ago). The sarcophagus was uncovered while preparing a site for a new building, but now researchers are faced with several problems.

The sarcophagus is massive, “at 185 cm (72.8 inches) tall, 265 cm (104.3 inches) long, and 165 cm (65 inches) wide.” Its weight is speculated to be around 30 tonnes (about 33 tons, or 66,000 pounds), with the lid alone making up half of that. And it’s 5 meters (roughly 16 feet) below ground. So just getting the lid out of the ground will be a challenge requiring some serious engineering.

Preliminary stories about this sarcophagus can be found here or here.

The sarcophagus was opened in mid-July, and the contents were three skeletons and sewer water. While the contents were not as exciting as hoped for (some speculated it might be the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great), the findings will still prove valuable as scientists study the remains and the sarcophagus itself, which is also slated for removal.

Posted in Strange Science | Tagged , | Comments Off on Strange Science: Massive Black Sarcophagus Found