Oh, it's great to be married! At last Lyn and I have triumphed over all adversities. We've outlasted all the hold-ups and hurdles. We've beaten the odds and battered back the barbarians that tried to come between us and wedded bliss. We trekked down to the county courthouse on Friday, July 14th, waited an extra hour for the judge (who was late even after he'd called us and confirmed the time we were all going to be there ready and waiting), had a short and sweet civil ceremony, and then fled the state for a family get together to celebrate my grandmother's 99th birthday.
My Dad was only too proud to give the bride away. Lyn's Dad isn't well enough to have made the trip over from England, so my Dad stood in for him. One of my best friends from work showed up to be a witness, and almost got roped into being my best man, but managed to beg off. Mom could barely keep from crying tears of joy. My 4 year old neice was extraordinarily well behaved, and so precious. The whole family was so happy for us.
Then we began the trip up to Tennessee to visit my Mom's family. Granny Griffith's 99th birthday party turned out to be far smaller than I'd thought. But nothing went wrong, Granny was having a really good day, and she & my aunts & uncles all fell in love with Lindsey as soon as they met her. Lyn even got asked to help with the family feast. That let me know right then and there that she'd been accepted into the family with full honors. The dinner was fabulous. Home cooking by ladies who've been practicing longer than I've been alive. Almost everything was fresh out of someone's garden, or bought at a farmer's market. We demolished piles of corn-on-the-cob, potato salad, green beans, cornbread, creamed corn, boiled potatos, cole slaw, roast beef, biscuits, sliced tomatos & onions, and much more. Then we had birthday cake and ice cream for dessert.
The hotel that Mom booked for us to stay in is owned by an old school friend of Dad's. The staff treated us like family. Complete bliss. Although we never got a chance to get into the pool, we did wanter around and look at the antique cars, the sculptures, the many, many local photos that graced the walls, and even the llamas that the hotel uses instead of lawn mowers. No mere machine could handle the steep Tennessee hillsides where the hotel is located. Halfway up one of the smaller slopes of the Smokey Mtns. and overlooking a beautiful lake framed by more mountains in the near distance. The view alone was worth the trip. Being with my beautiful bride was just the icing on the cake. And what delicious icing it was! Oh, it was like falling in love all over again.
On the trip back we stopped at lots of stores, as well as one of the better farmer's markets in North Carolina. The Smokey Mountains were at their most beautiful summertime peak. The fogs, quick rainstorms, and brilliant sunlight limned the mountains like some sort of masterwork oil painting. The sun cutting through the clouds - lighting up the trees and rivers like fine jewelry. There is home, and then there's home! This was a wonderful trip.
When we got back to Casa Vila, there were little tiny tomatos on Lyn's first tomato plants, and the first tiny limes that my lime tree has produced in over 3 years... All right, I've gushed long enough. We've got lots of new stories for you to enjoy. Kick back, grab yourself a cool drink and your mouse, and get to clicking! I'm going to go kiss my wife again... Oh, that sounds so lovely. My wife. Heaven can't possibly hold more bliss than is in my heart right now.
Dan
I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading...
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Aphelion Staff:
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Serialized Stories & Novellettes
Nightwatch:Death Valley
By Kate Thornton Death Valley is eerily beautiful. The creepy landscape is the stuff of off-world fantasies, and more than one desert rat has claimed First Contact out on the weird expanse. Situated between several strategically-important military and scientific research sites, it is that strange place everyone knows about -- but no one really knows.
A lost chronicle of Nightwatch
A new shared universe series: Nightwatch, under the direction of Jeff Williams.
Short Stories
The Importance of Being Khan
by Gregory Adams Warren Pohmer was accustomed to the usual nuisances of suburban life -- salesmen, neighborhood pets using his yard as a litter box, kids selling candy to raise money for whatever -- but the so-called psychic insisting that Warren carried the soul of Genghis Khan was a new one. And calling the police turned out to be exactly the wrong thing to do ...
Acts of Reprisal by John M. Cowan When Mahoney had retired from the military, he figured that doing corporate security work would be an easy gig. But now he had to avenge a double murder -- one victim Cintaran, the other human -- or have the trading mission he was working for stuck in the middle of a war.
Speak, Vaccine, Speak!
by Tim C. Taylor The generation ships had been built based on blueprints found in alien probes, or so everyone had been told. But hydroponics specialist Erik Gunnarson suspected that the truth about the colonization mission from Earth was something else entirely. If only somebody would listen!
The Shaper's Folly
by Ee Pin Pang The Shaper was the ultimate judge of the Accepted. If he thought an Initiate worthy, he would use his powers to transform the man or woman into something far greater. But after decades at his task, the Shaper had grown weary -- and careless.
Rosepetal and the Hunter
by Joe Vadalma The fairy Rosepetal had come of age and it was time for her to find a mate. Choosing a human -- choosing to become human -- was something nobody would have expected.
Tiburcio's Treasure
by G. Lloyd Helm The story Rio Rita spun about her great grandfather and why his ghost haunted the rocks at Agua Dulce was too juicy for Big Dave and her best customer to ignore. At least the tequila made it seem that way, enough so that the trio just had to go and call Tiburcio out to reclaim what he'd lost so many years ago.
Half Light House
by J. W. Bennett Years before, Falcon had been Lucas's lover. He'd stolen Lucas's heart -- and something more. Somehow, Falcon had taken Lucas's dreams, his ability to feel. Now a note from Falcon had brought Lucas back to the scene of -- what? The crime? His first love, and his first -- and last -- heartbreak? Whatever it had been, Lucas had to go back to Half Light House.
WARNING: Adult Themes, Language, and Content
Clean Blood
by Rob Bass Internship at Cook County Hospital was exhausting. Getting roped into building the website for the Blood Bank made it worse. But it brought Desdemona to him, and knowing her made the rest of it seem worthwhile. She was ... special ...
A Matter of Money
By Robert Moriyama With all quiet on the 'Morningstar' front, it was back to business for Majius Magical Services. The gremlins sabotaging the "More Real Than Real" dolls should have been easy to deal with -- but things were more complicated than they seemed.
The Mare Inebrium Starter Kit.
--Updated 2/7/2004-- This is a link to all the background information for the Mare
Inebrium stories so far. This is a must read for all Mare Inebrium writers and
fans!
Tales of the Mare
Inebrium
The banner above links to
all the Mare Inebrium Stories on one page!
Aphelion Interviews: Gareth Powell
By Chelsea Meyer Long Awaited and well worth it!
Double
Wide
by Jim Parnell The collected wisdom of Bubba WARNING: Contains Language.
Aphelion proudly presents the installments of Double Wide all on
one page of links. We wanted to make sure that the wit and wisdom
of Bubba wasn't lost for new readers, so we made a mini-archive
list of just the Double Wide features.
Aphelion Banners
And banner artwork for links. If you want to link to Aphelion and want more than a text link,
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A Challenge to
Writers... --8\8\2000-- Not a contest, but a series of ideas to spark off a story.
Challenge 1 is the paintings of Daniel Hannaquand, Challenge 2 is a
collection of narrative hooks composed by Dan Hollifield.
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