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Editorial
The Senior Editor's usual drivel about whatever...
Hello and welcome!
Well, I told you to go out and vote, now you only have
yourself to blame if you don't like the result of this month's
election. Actually, the question on my mind is will there be an
assassination in America's near future? Conspiracy pundits are already
blathering, but the fact remains that if no attempt is made on the
President's life then the curse of the "election year ending in 0" will
be broken.
The only good news that I've gotten out of this election is
that fellow writer L. Neil Smith managed to get on the ballot in
Colorado. For Libertarians, that's a really good sign. If we're all
lucky, in a few years’ time we'll be able to burn effigies of Alexander
Hamilton on April 15th as well as keep that extra 40%, or more, of our
incomes that the bloated governmental burro-cracy feeds itself upon
year after year after year...
But I digress.
Actually, I had intended to ignore politics in this
editorial, but I've had a lousy day at work and I'm in an ill mood. So
please forgive the above outburst and feel free to do anything you'd
like as long as it doesn't harm anyone unnecessarily. (Thanks for the
great line, Spider!)
OK, so we're all Fictioneers here. We have the power to mould
young minds, affect public opinion, change the world (for the better I
hope!), and to entertain along the way. Whether you're a "sad
fan-boy/girl" or a "dirty old pro", whatever you read affects you just
as whatever you write affects others. Each of us has to choose a
direction, to find that "job that needs doing" according to our own
individual makeup. Some of us weave messages in amongst our texts,
those things that feel important, to try and impart a bit of our
collective wisdom to those who come after us. Some distain message for
various reasons, but yet still have something to say.
What do your tales say about you and what you believe? The
stories you read, the stories you write... What are you trying to say?
What are you trying to see?
Life, love, sorrow, joy, anger, brotherhood, hunger,
tenderness... What do the words that you chose say about you?
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 & Novelettes
Graveyard Shift
By Karl Eschenbach To work the graveyard shift from midnight to eight is
to see and hear what no one else will experience. The night, when all
others are asleep, is a world apart from the day.
Whose Sword Is It, Anyway? --Part 5 of 5--
By Ralph Benedetto, Jr. In which everything depends on Rivenbark's skills.
Bummer. However, if Caitlin, Mal and Rivenbark can make it through in
spite of this, maybe they'll manage to find out about the sword. Or
maybe not. You'll have to read it to find out
Victor
the Warrior Cleric
By The Hansen Family The army of the faithful march forth beneath the
banner of the double-helix, for the glory of Gordon and the honour of
Victor
Six Shots in Carson
By Daniel F. Beaupre' A Writer's Challenge II Story:
Cackling with glee, my assailant raised his meat cleaver on high
Watch Me
By Russel Goldstein "You just sit there and stare. Is this death? I felt
the rope snap taut. My neck broke; I felt it snap. Even my feet leave
the chair. What do you want from me? Why do you sit there and stare?”
Skin Bags
By Frank Mosca In a busy fish market on a busy street, unseen and
unnoticed, the ages long battle between good and evil goes on.
Up In The Air
By David Blalock The colonizers of Centauri face an aeronautical
mystery: Why do airplanes encounter deadly turbulence, but free
balloons don't?
The
Discovery
By Dennis Earl "He had a certain wit, something I will never forget.
When I think of Charlie, I always remember his best one-liner: Why
can't I put window dressing on my salad?"
When On
Wartl...
By Ralph Benedetto, Jr. "This is the planet: Wartl. Three billion sentient
beings live here, none of them human. Humans visit regularly though, in
spite of the fact that Wartl only has probationary status in the
Confederation. People come here, some of them on business, some of them
just looking for a restful and relaxing vacation along the hundreds of
kilometres of unspoiled coastline. Sometimes things go wrong. That's
where I come in. I carry a small biochip implanted in my neural network
that identifies me to all y-base-c compliant platforms as a police
officer. Oh, yeah. I also carry a badge."
Updated -- 9-10-00 --
Each of the three links below have changed. Please take note and adjust
your Bookmarks if necessary. The first link below gives you the
introduction to the Mare Inebrium, the banner link now gives you access
to all of the Mare stories, and the third link now gives you access to
the Mare Inebrium Online Starter kit. The online Starter Kit will be
updated as often as Mare writers make necessary.
The banner above links to all the Mare Inebrium Stories on one page!
The Mare Inebrium Starter Kit.
--Updated 10/02/2000-- This is a link to all the background information for the Mare
Inebrium stories so far.
Features
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 Jason Phone Home -- You make your own yuck
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. Its 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
page is updated, please join our new, revised, automatic mailing list.
To subscribe:
Send a message to
majordomo@america.net with the following in the body
of the message:
subscribe aphelion <email address>
As always, 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!
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.
8\8\2000
- /b>
