And, Aphelion writers; Jeff Williams, Dave Kuzminski, Mike Tanier, DK Smith, Kate
Hill, D.
A. Krikorian, Chad Cottle and many other writers familiar to Aphelion's
readers over the years-
All have stories nominated for awards on the Preditors and Editors
website. Check out both websites and vote for your favourites! The Preditors
& Editors TM Readers' Poll
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Editorial
The Senior Editor's usual drivel about whatever...
Hello and welcome!
You're not going to like this one...
Things are falling apart...
That's what has been on my mind lately. Not only things that I
own are breaking down- my computer, things around the house, the
machinery at work -but it looks as if America isn't going to be free
much longer. I can hear you thinking- that I've been reading the
conspiracy webpages too much again, but no, that's not it. I just look
at those to find out what's fashionable for paranoids to believe these
days. Mere entertainment, you understand. But... What if? Writers deal
in "what ifs" every time they write, so it’s hard to separate what one
is thinking about one's work from what one sees in the news, in
magazines, or online. Writers never stop thinking about alternate
possibilities. How many of us have turned a dream or nightmare into a
plot point for a story? I know I've done that several times and I doubt
that I'm much different than anyone else.
"So," you ask. "What bug crawled up his shorts about the loss
of freedom in America?"
OK. You want a laugh? Then I'll tell you. Gun control. There,
I've said it- Now every one of you knows that I'm just some nutcase
with a handgun and the insane urge to kill everyone who's ever looked
at me. Go ahead, get it out of your system, laugh. But, you see, I'm
not like that at all. I own at least a dozen handguns and half that
many rifles- and all I ever want to shoot is little paper targets.
That's all. I hope I never have to use any of those weapons on anything
but little pieces of paper with little circles drawn upon them. I pray
that I'll never be forced to defend myself against anyone, for any
reason. I haven't hunted anything more dangerous than crows in a
cornfield in over twenty years. I have no urge to go postal at work, no
stuffed animals on my walls... I'm not even angry at the deer that
jumped out in front of my truck a few weeks ago. So what's the big deal
about gun control?
Freedom, that's what. If you think that governments establish
anti-gun laws in order to regulate hunting, you're wrong. Laws to
restrict or prevent the private ownership of guns are passed to protect
governments from the governed, and for no other reason. They aren't
passed to prevent children from taking guns to school and blowing away
the bullies- that's the responsibility of the parents who raise the
children. They aren't passed to prevent act of terrorism or crime
because terrorists and criminals will always be able to obtain weapons,
no matter what laws are passed. I'm sorry to have to inform you that
anti-gun laws are passed to protect politicians from the people that
they rule. And for no other reason! Politics and
government were invented to extort payments from the governed. Look at
history if you don't believe me, the evidence is there and plain to see
once we take off the blinders that we've all been saddled with from
birth. All governments began with some group of
thugs who got tired of taking the chance that they would be killed by
the people that they wished to enslave. Let's face it, if you rob
enough people, chances are that one of them will be brave enough to
fight back... and possibly kill you. This is not a pleasant thought to
the man who would be king. So governments were born, from those who
wish to enslave others so that they themselves don't have to work for a
living. From bullies, muggers, thieves, murderers, rapists... These are
the people who founded the institution of government. Nice bunch of
folks who own you, hunh? Make no mistake, they do own you- Try not
paying your income tax one year and see what prison you wind up inside.
So what's that got to do with guns? Well its hard to control slaves
that have the means to resist, to fight back. That's what made America
free in the first place- A bunch of peasants who got tired of paying
tribute to a government that was treating them as a captive market and
a source of tribute. They had the means to fight back and were willing
to do so, even if they were killed themselves. Freedom requires the
means to defend oneself against any who wish to make one a slave. This
kind of rankles those who wish to be slave-masters.
These are dangerous times. The lessons of history are being
ignored once more and the rights of all Americans are closer than ever
to being wiped away in a frenzy of gun control laws. The state of
California will be allowed to vote this year upon the issue of
mandatory registration of all weapons. Like Hitler, the American
government wants to know where all the guns are and who has them so
they can confiscate them when the need arises. As usual, California
will be used to blaze the trail straight to slavery for every man,
woman, and child in America. Australia is now a country of slaves-
since the mandatory registration of firearms made it easy to confiscate
them when some spurious "national emergency" (I.E. One lone nutcase
with a rifle who killed a bunch of folks who had no means of defending
themselves against him.) was pushed to the forefront by the media, and
the government stepped in to "protect" the governed of that once free
country. Now the government is free to proceed with anything they wish,
free of the fear that someone could possibly defend themselves. The
inhabitants of Australia are not even aware that they are now slaves to
the whim of their own government, since the velvet gloves are still on
and the government has not yet become oppressive. Not yet, anyway.
There are other examples, but I leave it to you to see them. I'm not
some guru, nor am I some doomsday prophet. I want you all to think for
yourselves. Don't you dare let my words determine your opinions.
Shall we allow America to become a nation of slaves? I hope
not. What can we do to prevent such a horror from coming to pass? Vote
the rascals out of office! Anyone of age to vote, go register to vote,
find out which candidates have supported anti-gun laws, and put them on
un-employment! Get them out of office. You might never find someone you
wish to vote for, but you'll find plenty to vote against!
Exercise what few rights that you have left, before they are all gone.
Folks in California will be the first in America to stand up for their
rights, or fall prey to those who wish to make them slaves.
In short, guns are equal to freedom. "A man without a gun is a
slave, a man with a gun can only be murdered, never enslaved." So
register to vote, go buy a gun and learn how to use it safely, and be
proud that you are free. Freedom is like a helium balloon, if you ever
lose it, you'll likely never get it back.
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 and Novellas
First
War --Part 2--
By David Allen In the distant future, mankind has come in direct
contact with a deadly
enemy.Life on earth suddenly takes a turn for the worse...
Hawking's
Dawn --Part 2--
By Ben Stevenson The life of Alec Kyte has always been an interesting
one. At the forefront
of inter-corporation espionage involving the new super-powerful
entropy-based weapons systems, he is used to living dangerously and
taking
risks. But with the latest job, he has taken on more than he expects
and,
as his colleagues around him begin to have 'accidents', a sinister
conspiracy
becomes apparent.With enemies closing in, there is only one place to
flee
- the darkest, most remote region of space known to man. A hidden
sanctuary. A Dark Haven.
Weeds
By George M. Scott Weeds should be treated as weeds, but Bob ignored this
simple truth.
Rivers
of Olympus
By Terry Bramlett With the failure of the Mars Polar Lander, the only
way we can search for Martian water is in our collective imagination.
Abduction
By Stephen Thompson There is God and there are gods.Who is to say which is
real?
Mother of Beauty
By McCamy Taylor The saga of Rusty, Knight of Death, continues.A
"Sister Death" story.
Hollywood Mindsink
By Megan Powell It seems the young ladies who go to Hollywood to
become stars are losing more than their virginity.
Running
With the Vundt
By Ralph Benedetto, Jr. Sometimes a creature can seem so alien that you can't
judge it.
Then again, sometimes it's just stupid.
Lessons of
Guilt
By Matthew A. Reed A dark and disturbing journey into one man's quest to
understand and overcome his madness.
Dreamspinner's Curse
By Stephen Varner His art was forbidden, but for Dancer and Troubadour,
Dreamspinner was the last hope.
Homecoming? By
Jonjack "It’s not enough to succeed, you have to survive and
get home again too."
A Mare Inebrium story AND a Writer's Challenge II story!
Poetry editor Kim Holec's father had emergency heart surgery and as a
result,
she had to take time off to be with her family.We will have the poetry
up
and online shortly.In the meantime, please include Kim's father in your
thoughts and prayers.You can send your support to her and her family by
emailing her at poetry@aphelion-webzine.com.
Aphelion's Daily Comics
By Mark 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 instalment!
Double Wide
by Jim Parnell Dwarf Nebula Reprise -- or, No, We Wasn't Done Yet
WARNING:Contains Language.
In case anyone is curious as to exactly what's been keeping me
so busy,
I've planned a few webpages that show the progress of my landscaping,
interior decoration, and housework. Look for it in my personal pages at
Casa Vila.
It’s the beginning of a sort of photographic timeline of my yard work
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. I have two new rolls of film shot for
this page and expect to update it within the next few weeks.
Dan
If you would like to receive notices from Aphelion when this
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updated, please join our new, revised, automatic mailing list. To
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Send a message to
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As always, this mailing list will only be used to notify you
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spam as much as you do!
Help support us by supporting Amazon.Com -- When you buy books and music
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the best science fiction and fantasy fiction on the web!
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 favour 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 favorited 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.
-
1\21\2000 - A Challenge
to Writers...
By
Jonjack