Mad Scientist Journal Presents Series

"It takes time for a space to become a place. I'd never quite pinned down at what point during the gradual accretion of events and memories that houses became more than the sum of their parts, but I'd put down enough supposed hauntings to have developed a feel for when a place had turned." - Evan Dicken, "Every House a Home" No one understands strange places like people who have been there. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-two tales of people who have visited places both beautiful and horrifying. Some places heal, some places destroy, some places just want to see the world. Haunted houses share a neighborhood in these pages with dimensional rifts, hidden skyscrapers, and abandoned spacecraft. Included in this collection are stories from Ali Abbas, Nyri Bakkalian, S. E. Casey, Julian Dexter, Evan Dicken, Carolyn A. Drake, Dorian Graves, Diana Hauer, Georgie Hinojosa, Michael M. Jones, Gwendolyn Kiste, M. Lopes da Silva, Christine Lucas, Audrey Mack, Lyndsie Manusos, Alanna McFall, Alexander Nachaj, Timothy Nakayama, Betty Rocksteady, Ian M. Smith, Kathryn Yelinek, and E. R. Zhang. Includes art by Ray McCaughey, Kristen Nyht, Scarlett O'Hairdye, and Luke Spooner.

"I am a woman between worlds. Civilian and military. Seamstress and soldier. The Grande Armée I serve stands between tradition and merit. France itself between republic and monarchy. I stand between comfort and a wall of iron. Between progress and the world of dragons. Between grief and freedom." --Blake Jessop, "Cuirassiere" No one understands leadership like those who have led. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-one tales of otherworldly women leaders. Some are born to power, while others find the spark of power within themselves. Their leadership crosses the boundaries between the military and political world, while also making stops in music, the boardroom, and civil movements. Included in this collection are stories from Elisa A. Bonnin, L. Chan, Nathan Crowder, Lin Darrow, A. J. Fitzwater, G. Scott Huggins, Patrick Hurley, Blake Jessop, Alisha A. Knaff, Aimee Kuzenski, Christine Lucas, Matt Moran, Mathew Murakami, Jennifer R. Povey, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Frances Sharp, D. A. Xiaolin Spires, Leora Spitzer, Priya Sridhar, Tais Teng, and Shirley Vogel. Includes art by Rhaega Ailani, Errow Collins, A. Jones, Leigh Legler, Justine McGreevy, and Ariel Alian Wilson.

"When I was little, I didn't have an imaginary friend, I had an imaginary bully. She was a little girl of my age, who looked just like me, and took great delight in being cruel. This included doing things to make my parents furious, like punching my little brother. One day, when I was about thirteen, Ludwig showed up and wrapped all two hundred of his copper-bladed arms around this evil version of me. There was a warm light, like a camera flash made of lava, and then she was gone." -- Sam Fleming, "Ludwig" Are they in our imagination, or are we in theirs? Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-six tales of people with uncertain existence. These accounts range from cheerful to dark, stopping off at frequent points between. Imaginary friends share space with witches, monsters, nightmares, and maybe a few things that have not yet been dreamed. Included in this collection are stories from E.D.E. Bell, Jade Black, Die Booth, Maureen Bowden, Veronica Brush, Jacob Budenz, Sam Crane, Matthew R. Davis, Julian Dexter, Sam Fleming, Troy H. Gardner, Kiki Gonglewski, Lucinda Gunnin, Neil James Hudson, Blake Jessop, Vivian Li, Tucker Lieberman, K. K. Llamas, Christine Lucas, M. Lopes da Silva, Ville Meriläinen, Jennifer R. Povey, Lizz-Ayn Shaarawi, Kayleigh Taylor, Jieyan Wang, and E. R. Zhang. Interior art is provided by Errow Collins, America Jones, Leigh Legler, and Ariel Alian Wilson. Cover art by Luke Spooner.

"Growing up in Arkham, you hear things. Ghost stories wrapped in magickal moon lore with a heaping helping of elder gods and forbidden books, all swapped between boys and girls over dwindling campfires. We collected alternate histories like kids on TV traded baseball cards. As a child of Arkham, you just took for granted you lived in a special town, but seeing that difference up close and personal, in the place where you gave up evenings and weekends so college admissions might think you were well-rounded and responsible, well, seeing that kind of truth was an awful big shock." -- "Arkquarium" by Folly Blaine Mad Scientist Journal has brought together eighteen tales of people who have either lived in this strange corner of New England or had the misfortune of visiting. Mixed in with nods to classic Lovecraft icons are stories that bring a new eye to the genre. Tales of horse drawn carriages share space with orbital shuttles, alternate worlds, and football. Included in this collection are Sanford Allen, Brandon Barrows, Folly Blaine, Darin M. Bush, Kelda Crich, Nathan Crowder, Erik Scott de Bie, Sean Frost, Phil Gonzales, Brian Hamilton, Samuel Marzioli, Erick Mertz, Craig D. B. Patton, Jenna M. Pitman, Evan Purcell, Damir Salkovic, Emily C. Skaftun, and Cliff Winnig

"It would be our duty, as citizens on this earth to document its end the best way we know and if that means a second by second update of the world going up in flames, or down in rain, or crushed under the feet of invading monsters so be it." -- Shivangi Narain No one understands an apocalypse like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-three tales of people who have seen the world end. These accounts range from irreverent to surreal to heartbreaking. Zombies share space with global wars, superviruses, canned peaches, and the death of the sun. Included in this collection are Rhoads Brazos, Samantha Bryant, Garrett Croker, Nathan Crowder, Matthew R. Davis, Kate Elizabeth, Mathew Allan Garcia, Sylvia Heike, B. T. Joy, Herb N. Legend, Samuel Marzioli, Mary Mascari, Nick Nafpliotis, Shivangi Narain, Brandon Nolta, Alexis J. Reed, Natalie Satakovski, J. C. Stearns, Charity Tahmaseb, Nicole Tanquary, Kristopher Triana, Dusty Wallace, MJ Wesolowski, and Caroline M. Yoachim. Includes art by Errow Collins, Amanda Jones, Shannon Legler, and Luke Spooner.

"Once we were all just people. Our culture was only an element of our complex being. Now, we are reduced to our origins." -- Amelia Fisher, "The Children of Echidna" No one understands being an outsider like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-six tales of people who have lived in a world that doesn't accept them. Some face their situation with humor, others less so. Vampires, werewolves, and changelings share space in these pages with gorgons, natukkong, jiangshi, and rokurokubi. Included in this collection are stories from Ali Abbas, Marina Belli, Jimmy Bernard, Elisa A. Bonnin, Maureen Bowden, Darin M. Bush, Garrett Croker, Jordan Davies, Laura Duerr, Amelia Fisher, Sean Frost, Mathew Allan Garcia, Lucinda Gunnin, Rhiannon Held, Valjeanne Jeffers, Michael M. Jones, S. Qiouyi Lu, John A. McColley, Ville Meriläinen, Timothy Nakayama, Adam Petrash, Jennifer R. Povey, Darren Ridgley, Erin Sneath, J. C. Stearns, and Stuart Webb. Interior art is provided by Errow Collins, GryphonShifter, Amanda Jones, Shannon Legler, and Ariel Alian Wilson.