Chiral Mad
The original ideaforChiral Madwas to include twenty short stories, similar toPellucid Lunacy, the first charity project by Written Backwards. This did not happen, and here's why. Prior to an open call for submissions, twenty well-respected peers were invited to write for this anthology, as well as the twenty whose work appeared in the previous anthology. Half of the forty responded within the first few days, and most of the others in the following weeks. All were intrigued by the chirality theme and, more importantly, by the charitable cause to which all proceeds would be donated: Down syndrome. Submissions then opened to the public, and the public responded magnificently. Two hundred stories were received in a matter of weeks. After releasing a teaser book trailer, which listed accepted contributors, hundreds more piled in. The quality of stories received was at such a high level that it warranted expanding the anthology to twenty-eight stories instead of the planned twenty. All of the stories within this book were donated by the authors involved. No one received payment, other than contributor copies. Biographies of each author can be found in these last pages. Some of the names you may easily recognize; some are multi-award winning authors of poems, plays, short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels; and for some, this is their first published work. These are all amazing individuals and they span the globe. Seek them out. Much thanks to everyone involved.