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Editorial
The Senior Editor's usual drivel about whatever...
Last month, I treated you all
to my attitude towards
the Star Wars movie - I still haven't seen it - but I think I figured
out
what's
been keeping me out of the theaters for the last few years.
It's the hype.
I thought back over all the
movies I'd seen or avoided over
the last decade - the over-hyped ones were usually disappointing if I
saw them, and the more modestly advertised films were much more fun.
Usually. I have to confess that ads on TV now make it look as if
"Phantom Menace" was filmed merely as a demo for a video game. I seem
to have given up on video games lately, so you can imagine my negative
delight every time I see an ad for the "Pod Racer" game. Never have
liked those plug-in-to-the-TV kind of games, anyway.
I did go see "Mystery Men"
and had a great time. That's a
really neat movie. I plan on buying the video when it comes out.
Although DVDs are begining to look better - to start saving
shelf-space.
Go see it for yourself - "Mystery Men" is worth the price of the
ticket.
If you like the Tick, or even Plastic Man, you'll like this movie. To
paraphrase Brian Eno: "Wanna-be superheroes give you so much more."
What's really strange is that
I've been avidly reading Mike
Tanier's "Superhero Nation" here in Aphelion - with Mike's own slant on
superhero wanna-be types - and the two tales dovetail oddly.
I guess what I'm getting at
is that I've been cheating myself
out of good movies by not going to the theaters more often. Its not the
theater I have to avoid, its the hyped-up-but-disappointing movies.
There are many, many more films out there - that aren't pushed on the
public - that are worth going out to see. I plan on going out to see
more of them now that the ice has been broken, so to speak. I may be in
no hurry to see "Annikin Bratpacker" in the present and upcoming "Star
Wars" installments, but "Mr. Furious", "The Shoveler", and "The Blue
Raja" have spoken to me in a language that I cannot resist. That
language is the belly-laugh and the bon mot.
Thanks for your time.
Dan
I'd like to thank those of
you who have sent e-mails or signed into the
Lettercol for your feedback. Keep those messages coming, folks! Without
those messages we will never know what we need to improve upon. Hope
you like the improvements so far!
Aphelion Staff:
Dan
Hollifield
Senior Editor, Publisher
Roger
Bennett
Editor Emeritus
Robert
Wynne
WebMaven
Cary
Semar
Short Story Editor
Kim
Holec
Poetry Editor
Jeffrey
Williams
Production Editor/Serials Editor
Serialized Stories
Superhero
Nation
-Part 4 of 5-
By Mike Tanier It's 2049, and any kid can call himself a superhero
if he's willing to
spend a little money and break a few laws.
The
Journeyman -Part 4 of 5-
By Allen Woods Nothing in their lives could ever have prepared the
citizens of Ithica, GA
for the Journeyman.
Dreamer -Part 2 of 3-
By Dan L. Hollifield A rare foray into pure fantasy, just to prove that I
can do it. This story ran in 5 parts in the second incarnation of Dragon's
Lair webzine in 1997.
Novellas and Novelettes
Morning Bird
By Jeffrey Williams "Panda Swann awoke from a shallow sleep. Swinging
her legs over
the mattress of her bed, she slid off and dropped slowly to the
floor. Quietly, Panda tiptoed towards the window and drew back her
light green curtains. At first, she was greeted by the powerful orange
light of
the street lamps; however, despite the brightness, she was still able
to see it
hovering, seemingly motionless, in the night sky."
A
Paranoid's Paradise By David J. Rollins You would have to be crazy to ride in a time machine.
Heros
(In the Shadows) By
Debra Laich Behind every great hero, there is someone unsung...
Father
Shadow By Michael J. Martineck Hunted by police, private detectives and insurance
investigators, Father Anthony only has one trick up his cassock, but
it’s a good one.
Dancing
Bird By Kelly D. Tolman "You can't just go chasing vanishing females in the
night", and if you do...
Tarj's
Hit By
T.S. George Even in the Mare Inebrium- "Another day, another
dollar..." for the galaxy's greatest living assassin.
Alien
Sun
By Daniel William Gonzales "There is no tale more full of woe, than that of
Juliet and her Romeo."
Bronwon
By Stephen Vollmer Here is a penetrating stare into the divorce that
exists between civilization and nature.
Recycled
By Noel Carroll Where are we going? We aren't certain. When will we
get there? We don't know. But we are on our way.
Psyche By McCamy Taylor In hero tales, men try to find their way home. In
heroine tales, women try to find their lost men. Here is the other side
of "Ulysses," told from Molly's point of view.
Now
I Know By Myke Anthony Harn and Aries have been best friends for years. Now
they are faced with circumstances that can possibly
bring the Galactic Alliance to war with the Cali
people. If this happens it could escalate to a
galactic war. What they do in the next few hours could
impact the lives of trillions.
Einstein
Versus Satan By Django Wexler There is more than one way to keep the devil way down
in the hole.
Aphelion's
Daily Comics
By ark Stanley, and Steve Troop Did he say daily? Yep, Aphelion is proud to feature two
of the funniest comic strips on the Internet, Mark Stanley's "Freefall"
and Steve Troop's "The Melonpool Chronicles". Bookmark this page, you
don't want to miss a single installment!
The
Aphelion Interview: McCamy Taylor
by Jeff Williams Jeff Williams sits down with one of Aphelion's most
popular writers, to discuss her life and work. This is the third in a
series of Interviews we will be bringing you over the next few months.
Wayward
Musings by Kim Holec Kim shares her thoughts about seeing the musical Chess
at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.
Double
Wide
by Jim Parnell On the Road -- Where it goes, nobody knows! WARNING:
Contains language.
A
Word In Your Ear
by Rob Wynne Rob Wynne remembers DeForest Kelley, who passed away
in
July...
The
Reading Room
by Rob Wynne Rob Wynne takes a look at books of note in this
semi-regular column. In this issue: The Ultimate Melonpool by Steve
Troop (an Aphelion author!)
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.
P.S.
In case anyone is curious as to exactly what's been keeping
me so busy, I've planed a few webpages that show the progress of my
landscaping, interior decoration, and housework. Look for it in my
personal pages at Casa
Vila. Its the begining of a sort of photographic
timeline of my yardwork and such. I don't know why anyone would want to
see it, but Rob thought that someone might so I worked it up. Expect it
to be updated as I get new film developed and scanned.
Dan
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Back Issues:
Instead of the back issues the banner below now takes you
to the Archives-where all our past stories are available for you to
read.
I've decided to ditch the back issues in favor of the
Archives. The Archives are easier to use and can be indexed by author
or story title. Hopefully this will ease the task of finding a favorite
story. We may start a page of our past cover art, if there is a call
for it. Thanks for your readership for without you, nothing we do has
any meaning.
Excentrivial
Musings 
By
Debra Laich