Welcome to the direct descendant of Dragon's Lair Webzine:

I received an e-mail January 13th telling me that Aphelion has been given a "Fiendish Best" award by Pro Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer Allan Cole's website!

Cole And Cash's Fiendish Best On The Web Award

The banner above provides a link to Allan Cole's website where you may find out more about his work. You can also find links to the other recipients of this award.

Also, it seems that another one of our writers is branching out; D.K Smith has become the Sci-Fi Editor of a new webzine: The Little Read Writing Hood. There is a banner near the end of this page that will take you to visit the Little Read Writing Hood website, where you will find all manner of good stories in several different genres. Give it a visit soon!

Welcome back for our 13th issue! If you'd like to be on a mailing list for notification of the update or for the upload of new issues of Aphelion then click here to send me an e-mail. Be sure to put the words Aphelion Mailing List in the Subject line of the e-mail. This mailing list will only be used to notify you of new issues and will never be given out to anyone else... 'cause I hate spam as much as you do!

I have made arrangements with Pagecount and the company that used to be called LPage to give us two different substitutes for the old lettercol. There is now a Guestbook provided by LPage for you to use as a replacement for the old Lettercol. Use the "Sign my Guestbook" or "View my Guestbook" links near the bottom of this page to access this feature. Thanks for being so patient. I'm still refining the look and options of the guestbook, so keep your eyes open for changes. Also, by clicking on the "Leave Message" button on our Pagecount hit counter (right under our title at the top of this page), you can leave me a private message, but be sure to chose the "private message" option or I may not be able to accesses it.

I'd like to thank those of you who have sent e-mails for your feedback. Keep those e-mails coming, folks! Without those messages we will never know what we need to improve upon. Hope you like the improvements so far!

Also, there is a banner link to a website where back issues of Aphelion will be stored from now on, at the bottom of this page. You can still see everything that has appeared in the Zine so far.

Starting with this issue (February -- #13), Aphelion is going to shift to a bi-monthly schedule. I'm sorry if this upsets anyone, but I'm going to have to do this for personal reasons;

1. I'm going to start working more overtime at my regular job so as to make ready to buy a house.
2. I've started submitting stories to the paying publishers again and need more time to write.
3. And I'm fighting a case of burn-out from the workload of producing Aphelion each month.

Thank you all, for you make everything that happens at Aphelion worthwhile.

If you miss the wavefile that played automatically at the start of our first two issues click here to hear it now.

And now, I'll shut up and let you get to reading. Thanks again for visiting. Enjoy yourselves!

• The Threat of Valleor Part 3 By Dan L. Hollifield ***An ancient evil vies with an Immortal hero while innocent lives hang in the ballance.
• Time and Time Again Part 13 By Cris Lawrence ***Danger leads to strange meetings. (This story finished 7th in the Preditors & Editors "Top 10 on the Internet" contest)
• Time Matrix Part 6 By D.K. Smith ***People can get addicted to almost anything.
• Trigeminus Part 6 By Dennis Talent ***Aliens among us, what are they really like?
• Witness of the World Part 6 By Chad Cottle ***Memories of a telepathic child.
• The Universe Between Part 6 By Scott Reeves ***Action and adventure when universes meet.
• The Quality of Grace Part 6 By Vasilis Adams A. ***History as it might have been.
• Though the Dark Veil Part 4 By Allen Woods ***High Fantasy as an adventure begins. (Allen was the winner of the Preditors & Editors contest)
• Zod Part 2 By Neil McGill ***A side-splitting sci-fi romp through the cosmos. Look out Douglas Adams! McGill may just steal your thunder!
• Dry Run Part 2 By Mark E. Cotterill ***Two youngsters on an epic adventure in space.

• Calling All Stars By Frederick Rustam ***Sometimes its the amateurs who get the job done.
• A Grim Conclusion By David Allen ***A harmless nutcase, or victim of a giant conspiracy? Too much knowledge can ruin your whole day.
• Backstreet Gambler By W. Fraser Sandercombe ***High stakes and double-dealing.
• Release By Atk. Butterfly ***Who's more dangerous- your enemies or your allies?
• A Meeting of the Minds By Kaleen Weston ***Beware the well-intentioned strangers.
• A Second Sight By Nick Burton ***Foresight can hurt too much.
• Momma's Little Thief By Gean Exe ***The ordinary horrors can be the most deadly.
• Moonscraper By Thomas McNamara ***War forced evolution, in both culture and kind.
• Cloak of Shadows By Jon Nixon ***The best laid plans...
• The Wizard By Kumar Narayanan ***Magic reveals a hidden wealth.
• Hazy, Hot, and Humid By Salvatore Amico M. Buttaci ***How well do you really know the one you love?
• A Twist of Magic By Matt Eckert ***Never underestimate the power of an Apprentice.
• The End of the War, the Crash of the Economy By Ryan Muirhead *** "... But that's beside the point."
• The Man Who Saved His Wife By Russell Huneke ***Still a few bugs in the system.
• The New Underground Railroad By Robert Carvalho ***Sometimes its hard to retire.
• Blood Online By Lady Vampyre ***What do you really know about the people in an internet chat?
• Katie's Atomic Junk By H. Turnip Smith ***Somebody will always find a way around the law.
• We the People By John Liptow ***Ages pass, but some powers remain-- forever.

The Mare Inebrium shared universe project I open up my own Spaceport Bar to other writers!

Click here to read "At the Spaceport Bar: the Mare Inebrium" by Dan L. Hollifield

Click here to read "The Absent-minded shall inherit..." by Dan L. Hollifield

Click here to read "Frightening Little Planet, Isn't It?" by Roger Bennett

Click here to read "A Nightmare Inebrium" by D.K. Smith

In the next issue of Aphelion, another writer visits the Mare Inebrium universe... watch for "Cause and Effect" by Kate Thornton

• A Challenge to Writers A series of artworks that writers may compose stories about.
• A Word in Your Ear By Robert Wynne ***Rob Wynne holds forth on....whatever comes to mind. ***Carl Wilson -- 1946-1998 RIP – A rememberance.
• Starbase Update SFTV Schedules and News Compiled by Lee Whiteside.
• Dan Hollifield reviews: This month- Callahan's Legacy by Spider Robinson
• Excentrivial Musings The Aphelion Cartoon Page.
• Mare Inebrium Wallpaper Page 51 JPGs you can download and convert to Bitmaps for wallpaper. This is a slow-loading page, but well worth it.
• Click here to see the Links Page
• Click here to see the Submissions Guidelines Page.
• Aphelion Explanations and Thanks Where the name "Aphelion" came from and other info.

The replacement Lettercol/Guestbook!

Sign My Guestbook

View My Guestbook

You can e-mail the Senior Editor by clicking here.

Some folks have asked about submitting Poetry: While we do not publish poetry ourselves, there is someone for the poets to turn to-

Dragon's Lair Webzine is back! Way to go, Roger! I knew you couldn't stay away for very long.

Visit The Dragon's Lair Webzine, our sister publication!

Sideways to the Mare Inebrium, homepage of Aphelion's Editor: Dan L Hollifield