Amy Sterling Casil

Jonny Punkinhead Amy Sterling Casil

According to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Miscellany, "Kristine Kathryn Rusch even had one issue of F&SF, June 1996, announced as the 'New Writer Issue,' in which 7 of its stories, all the fiction pieces, were either first sales or first published stories." "Jonny Punkinhead," which appeared in that issue, was Amy Sterling Casil's first professional science fiction and/or fantasy short fiction sale. It was not her first professional fiction sale, nor first published story, but rather first professional Science Fiction Sale.

"Jonny Punkinhead" tells the story of Dr. Hedrick Arlan, who is in charge of the Southern California Sherman Institute for Differently-Abled Children, and how hard it is for Dr. Arlan to balance his professional life, family, and trying to cope with the unwanted children who are victims of Human Mutational Virus <@151> or "freaks" like Jonny.

"Jonny Punkinhead" is a prequel to "Chromosome Circus," which appeared in a later issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction featuring the little wolf girl Gyla, all grown up. The same characters also appear in Amy Casil's first novel Imago.