Don't miss a single hillarious issue of Bruno the Bandit,
Freefall or The Melonpool Chronicles! Check back every day for laughs
from Aphelion's featured cartoonists!
Editorial
The Senior Editor's usual drivel about whatever...
Hello and welcome!
Welcome to the 50th issue of Aphelion! I think we've just set some kind of internet record for e-zines. Somebody call Ripley! LOL!
I never thought that I'd be still at it by this time. Good grief! As e-zines are usually short-lived buggers, I thought that Aphelion would have vanished long ago. But yet, here we stand. I can relate due to the tribulations and trials of my job, my home life, and whatnot. Lately I've been feeling like I'm being used up rapidly... I'm having to work too much overtime because of entropy. Things keep breaking down and I have to have cash to replace and repair them. But I've done what I needed to do and still I remain.
As Aphelion remains. Others have come, burned like a beacon in the long night, then dimmed and died. We miss them, but yet we remain. Thanks for keeping us alive. But you really want to know what I'm gonna rant about this month, don't you? Diety knows that its not my editorials that keep you coming back each month, LOL! But yet... I can dream, can't I?
OK, entropy-- Let's look at that. Everything I own is falling to pieces, chaos, disorder... Sounds like college actually. I get the feeling that if I didn't work my butt off I'd wind up back in a duplex with packing crates for tables and lawn furniture for chairs. Now I'm a minor landowner, with a house and several vehicles, my Lady Love, and a very demanding poodle. Or did I reverse those last two? Hmmm... The point is that entropy increases, always, unless one takes pains to impose order on your personal portion of reality. Everything wears out, or spoils, or self-destructs over time, unless you make it your buisness to keep it stable. You can't neglect your home, or car, or job, or even your girlfriend-- Not unless you plan on getting a new one by-and-by. And replacements aren't easy to get, so pay attention to what you have. Work at it or it'll be gone. Whether its the environment or your relationships with your loved ones, if you don't make an effort to keep it alive, it'll go bad on you. You can't afford to neglect what you have, and you can indeed make it better with hard work. Much like writing. If you don't work at making it better, you wind up doing without it. And that'd be a really sad thing to happen.
Of course, imposing order is never easy. It seems like something simply has to be fixed each day. But you can't let it get you down, and you can turn it into fun most of the time. So dig in, think it through, and then make it happen the way you want. Its not easy, but the rewards are pure bliss.
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
Kim Holec
Poetry/Filk Editor
Robert Wynne
WebMaven
Cary Semar
Short Story Editor
McCamy Taylor
Assistant Short Story Editor
Jeffrey Williams
Production Editor/Serials Editor
Ralph Benedetto, Jr.
Assistant Serials Editor
Roger Bennett
Editor Emeritus
Serialized Stories & Novellettes
Aphelion Special Presentation
Starshock --Pt. 3 of 3--
By Roger Bennett A century ago the T'zirian Empire first found the Human colony near its borders. At first there was an uneasy peace, then finally there was war between the two expanding empires. After that there was another uneasy peace between the humans and T'zirians. But as always, peace was a very fragile thing...
The Bulliwogs
By E. A. Gundlach Everybody remembers somebody like Talmidge from their own childhood.
If we ever go to the stars, he'll go too.
The Final Lesson
By Robert Moriyama UN Peacekeeping Force Lieutenant Aaron Stein thought he had completed his training,
but he was wrong ...
Hell
By Thomas D'Intino Heaven may not be all it is cracked up to be!
The Night No Printers Would Collate
By Elizabeth C. Arguelles-Florance Working late one friday night, a fallen proposal goddess discovers a
greater glory.
No News is Good News
By Swanand Arole It has been said that every editor of newspapers pays tribute to the
devil. Dr. Thomas Zimmerman refused.
Sad Grey Eyes on Tharsis
By J Alan Erwine The rebellion against the Martian Colonial government had begun the year
Sanji was born and the fighting had continued off and on through all the years
he was growing up. It was now his eighteenth birthday, by Earth reckoning, and
the war was waiting.
Selkie In Amber
By Francis Eaden A creature of the sea, Fiona, grieving her dead human lover, is entrapped by
a new need for human love. She is unable to accept the reality of her true
nature until faced with a decision requiring her to be both human and selkie.
A Few Tunes
By John Powers An elderly musician is seeking a place where he can play a few tunes to loosen up for his
most important performance.
Links 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 acess 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 12/10/2000-- 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!
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 installment!
Double Wide
by Jim Parnell Say Good Night Gracie
WARNING: Contains Language.
Aphelion reluctantly presents the last regular installment of Double Wide. Jim informs us that he's begun work on a novel and wants to give it his full attention, and he's the kind of guy that can't stand to do less than his best. Please join myself and the Editorial Mafia in suporting his decision to take that next big step as a writer.
Dan Hollifield reviews: "The Ghost Sister"
The new novel by Liz Williams To a world whose inhabitants posses extra senses that tie them intimately to the land come visitors from the stars, who find more than they barganed for...
The Listening Room
by Rob Wynne Rob Wynne bangs his head against Phoenix's "Into the Fire"
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.
Aphelion Links Page --6\08\2001--
Click here to see the Links Page. Our fellow E-zines, Astronomy, research material, entertainment, and much, much more!
Aphelion IRC Chat --2\16\2001-- Information about a new feature for Aphelion. IRC Chat is a fun way to talk to our readers, writers, staff members, and other netizens. This link takes you to a basic intro and provides further links to the IRC software that you can download for free. Look for new updates as we refine this feature.
Aphelion JAVA Chat --2\12\2001-- For a quick look at the JAVA chat client, this link launches a new browser window that takes you to a Log-in form for a JAVA-based chat in your browser window. No specian programs are needed. This will be a very simple, but passable IRC client, very no-frills. This will also tell you if there's anyone else in the chatroom, by the way.
Aphelion Banners
And banner artwork for links. If you want to link to Aphelion and want more than a text link, then this page is for you. Some of these banners are finished, but most of them lack only my adding text to make them complete. Unfinished banners can be completed and e-mailed to you within 8 days. The banner HTML code-- and image --can be e-mailed on request, or can be more simply copied from the "View / Page Source" option in your web browser. Finished images can be copied from the banner artwork page itself. An exchange of links or banner links is always welcome. Link Swap E-mail should be sent to: Dan Hollifield
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 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.
Dan Hollifield reviews:
--8\8\2000-- 
