Malcolm King, RN, MS, CS, worked as a psychiatric nurse for forty-four years, in twelve hospitals, three countries, and four US states, starting as a nursing assistant and eventually becoming a director of nursing. His book, Wonderful and Weird, is a compilation of the clinical case studies and administrative issues that were most influential in guiding him to a better understanding of the role of the psychiatric nurse and nursing administrator in providing the best possible care to their patients. The book reviews the positive and negative impacts on psychiatric nursing practice as the theoretical models of psychiatry moved from the psychosocial-psychodynamic model to the current biological-medical model and how those models themselves may be influenced by political trends. The particular issues for the nurse working with a forensic psychiatry population are discussed, focusing on the need for nurses to be aware of their professional and personal boundaries with this patient group. Wonderful and Weird will be of interest to those psychiatric nurses making decisions regarding the development of their own careers, and to both educators of psychiatric nurses and educators of general nursing students doing their dreaded psychiatric rotation.   “ I am delighted … that Malcolm King has put pen to paper….a thought-provoking book. “ -Fiona Geiger Winter 2019 edition of the "Nightingale Fellowship Journal" U.K. nursing publication Malcolm King was born in Newcastle, England. He graduated from Southampton University in 1970 with a BSc in physiology and biochemistry, then somewhat to his own surprise started working as a nursing assistant at the local county psychiatric hospital, kicking off a career that would last for the rest of his working life. In the United Kingdom, he graduated as a Registered Mental Nurse from the Knowle Hospital School of Nursing, and as a State Registered Nurse from the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas's Hospital. In the United States, he received his Master's degree in adult psychiatric nursing from Boston University in 1978 and became qualified as a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist in1985. His career was divided between working as a line staff nurse and serving in middle and executive management positions, at a number of psychiatric hospitals. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at two American university schools of nursing and has had a number of articles and letters published in professional nursing and psychiatric journals. Since retiring, Mr. King's interests have included staring at the birds in his backyard with a bottle of beer in hand, and collecting American Indian artifacts. He and his wife, Karen, live in Ohio, as does their daughter, Hilary. Wonderful And Weird Thumbnail Sketches from a Career in Psychiatric Nursing By Malcolm King AuthorHouse Copyright © 2018 Malcolm King, RN; MS; CS All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-5462-3282-7 CHAPTER 1 A Hampshire, UK, Hospital Sketch # 1 I had gone to a Hampshire, UK, university in 1967 to study physiology and biochemistry as my major. When I had to pick a track for my minor study, I had little idea of what to do until an incident occurred in my freshman college dormitory, South Stoneham House. There was a young man there who was clearly "different" from the rest of us. He kept entirely to himself and never talked to anyone unless it was unavoidable. At supper he wouldn't eat any of the regular food; rather, he would take only two slices of bread, sprinkle salt over the slices, and cut the crust off them. He would then eat the crusts and throw away the rest of the bread. Shortly after it had turned dark each evening, he would run around the tennis courts five times, increasing his speed as he went, before going to bed. We mercilessly mocked him in private, but we also knew that what ailed him was completely beyond our ken, and in reality, we were perfectly afraid of him. After several weeks he simply disappeared, and a few days later we were told by the dormitory staff that he had killed himself. In an effort to try to find out what on earth had just happened before my eyes, I decided on psychology as my minor course of study. At the time that I graduated from university, people with a degree in biochemistry usually went to work for a pharmaceutical company. But that just didn't appeal to me at that point, so I was unemployed for a few weeks. Eventually, the exasperated man at the unemployment office told me that there were available nursing assistant positions at a local hospital, and I should do that, "Until your perfect job comes along." I blithely assumed that this hospital was a normal general hospital dealing with medical and surgical patients, and it came as a great surprise to me when I turned up at their human resources office to discover that it was actually the old county insane asylum founded in 1852, now with a different name. But, as I had done psychology as my minor course