Homework: Mad Science
By guest editor Dave Freer!
Stories exploring fringe science and its consequences. Unhinged researchers push the boundaries of our perception of reality. Clone armies! Eccentric experiments! Doomsday devices! Abbie Normal! Flip the switch!
Hear from our editor Dave Freer about what he’s looking for in our Mad Science anthology.
"Mwhaahaa! My creation!" cackles the evil Doktor Von Monkenstein, rubbing his furry paws together in wicked delight... "Ja. They have been foolish enough to hand over control of ziss experiment to me. Me! Mwhaahaaaa...." (sound trails off as Von Monkenstein tumbles once more into the depths of... )
Ahem. The Mad Science anthology: Yes, I do expect tails...tales that would horrify and delight Von Monkenstein. Ideas like surfing on the sun, Mag-lev above molten planets, breeding hive-intelligent head-lice, unleashing the terrifying powers galvanic within slime-moulds... The idea is to is stir the primordial broth of sf and give us the stories that, strangely, dominated sf back in the days when America strongly believed in itself, and when engineers and scientists had fun writing sf. Played with technologic ideas like nothing was impossible. It was cool. It was also crazy and often funny (this editor has a weakness in that direction). I believe that the US and indeed humanity is heading for those times again, so those are the kind of stories I would like to push it along with. Heinlein, Waldo, Leinster (almost any of them), Harrison – the harassed scientist in the STAINLESS STEEL RAT and amusingly lunatic devices therein... for the new generation.
Things I do want to see: mad scientists we can all love, solving problems with mad science. Things I don't want see: 1) lectures about how evil science and tech are. If they go wrong and your personal Monkenstein solves the problem with technology, great. 2)I also really don't want to see exploration of some device or piece of science weirdness – no matter how weird or interesting – that centres on that. Always keep your centre on the characters. People like reading about science, but they love reading about people they like. When you add the two together, you have great sf. 3)No, I don't really care if the science is great, or works. I do care if the story works well enough for me to gloss over that. Most readers, let's be fair, won't grasp or care if your handwavium math is not quite on for quantum displacement. It just mustn't toss them out the story. 4)This is sf: It's fun. If you want a mad monkey-scientist or UFO... great. Do it.
Mad Science!
With guest editor Dave Freer!
Opens: 03/01/25
Closes: 05/04/25
Contracts: 05/12/25
Publication: 06/13/25
Dr. Vim finds a good way to network is to blow things up.
Hmmm, I may have been barking up the wrong tree. My scientist is becoming obsessed with his wormhole invention as his life crumbles around him, driving him mad, when all he wants is recognition.