About Us
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the editors are not necessarily the same as those held by the editors. As for the contributors, the editors can barely figure out what they're attempting to express, so obviously their opinions are not ours either, necessarily we mean, though in some cases there are overlaps.
Any resemblance of anything or anyone herein that resembles anything or anyone therein is purely coincidental. The editors take no responsibility for resemblances. We are purely fictional.
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 In Alice in Wonderland, a demented and very irascible Mad Hatter hosted the tea party Alice attended. Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter may have been modeled after someone who was not an actual hat maker or “hatter”; the etymology of the term has been debated. Mad hatters in Carroll’s day, and even through the mid-Twentieth Century, in some locations, were victims of mercury poisoning. The poor, working-class hatters worked with hot solutions of mercuric nitrate, in poorly ventilated rooms. This environment caused neurological damage, resulting in such symptoms as tremors, slurred speech, irritability, and depression.
Mad Hatters’ Review, a tri-annual online multimedia magazine staffed solely by mad hatters, welcomes writings that address psychosocial issues, the pollution of minds, hearts, bodies and nature. We also welcome purely aesthetic pieces, packed with surprising images and whimsical wordplays. The name of our tri-annual reflects our view of the world as essentially demented and nonsensical, too frequently a nightmare or “non-dream” that needs to be exposed to the light for what it is, as well as what it is not. However, we, as artists, can also see another side of this world by voyaging into our own unique terrifying and joyful wonderlands and sharing our visions with others. If you’re thinking of submitting, rest assured that Mad Hatters decry the standard “give us your best,” or “we want the best writings on the Internets.” We are firmly rooted in theories of relativity, as our resident astrologist will gladly explain. We want you to give us what delights you, what makes you leap and dance, what makes you cry deeply, inside the core of yourself. We’re particularly interested in "edgy," experimental, gutsy, thematically broad (i.e., saying something about the world and its creatures), psychologically and philosophically sophisticated writings. Black/dark humor, whimsy, wise satire, erotica, irony, magic realism and surrealism are welcome. We love humor because we need it! Traditional arc, resolution, “Story” structure is far less important to us than originality, surprise, intellectual and emotional strength, lyricism and rhythm. We love writers who stretch their imaginations to the limits and challenge pedestrian notions of reality; we are open to all styles and care little for categories. We also love collaborative ventures, between/among writers, writers and artists, and among writers, artists, and composers. It’s not likely that you will ever find a serious sob story of childhood nostalgia or “coming of age,” an ode to a dying grandmother, or a cute epiphany in these pages. Mad Hatters are not sentimental and they guffaw at the concept of epiphanies. Mad hatters are zany, risky, idealistic, cynical, tragic, hysterical and edgy. They love playing in linguistic sandboxes and hurling mud pies at icons. |
