Fall is approaching and change is in the wind. Oh, that's not some gloomy rant beginning, I don't feel a rant coming on. And yet there is an editorial due, so I'm just going to ramble on a bit and hope I don't bore you. First off, (to get back the the changes in the wind bit) the Editorial Mafia have petitioned me, in my vast and awsome aspect of Aphelion's Tyrannical Publisher, (does that make me a P-Rex?) for the Christmas holidays off. Naturally, since I'm no Scrooge I agreed. So we are discussing various ways to combine the December and January issues from now on. Secondly, we'd like to revive Aphelion's writing contests. Which means that I've got to come up with better prizes than little webpage graphics from my artwork. LOL! So the contest results might wind up appearing in the combined issue, along with other options. When we think of a good contest theme I'll announce it here, but don't look for a contest this year. We don't have time. We're already working on the November and December/January issues for this year. (Yes, we actually do plan that far ahead. Well, most of us. LOL!) So a contest this year is out of the question. Thirdly, I'd like to revive the chatroom. Rob fixed it and the links to it are working, but he's usually alone hanging out there. I'd like to set up a weekly chat at a convenient time for the majority of readers. There won't always be someone from the Aphelion staff there (most of us are on Eastern or Central US time), but that's no reason you readers and writers can't talk to each other. I'm leaning towards Thursday evenings as being the best match to my personal schedule, but I'm willing to accept any other time except for Tuesday nights. My Tuesday nights are already committed. We'll see what evolves, if anything. Just think of the chatroom as a realtime Lettercol and you can imagine how much fun a group of people can have.
OK, for something a little different... I've been e-mailed by a reputable firm in Texas whose mailing list I subscribe to about a new health clinic being opened in a rural area near their headquarters. The doctor there needs an affordable X-ray machine and is asking that other clinics who have recently upgraded to new machines to consider donating or selling cheaply their old X-ray machines. In either case, the doctor is willing to pay at least the shipping costs out of his own pocket. Please note that they are not asking for money to buy a machine. This is not a scam. If you find that you can help this clinic get an X-ray machine, feel free to e-mail me for the contact information. Naturally, I can't post it here online because of spammers and crank callers. If you know of a hospital, clinic, or doctor's office that needs to get rid of an X-ray machine, here is a chance to help the residents of Italy, Texas and the surrounding area.
So how do I follow that? Well, I've just learned that Baen Books is going to shelve their line of Bolo books, written in a universe created by the late, great Keith Laumer. They aren't selling well, so they're gone unless they suddenly sell out of what's on the shelves now. Which is particularly bad news for me because not only am I a fan of the Bolo stories, but I had hoped to sell Baen a Bolo novel myself. I have one half done, and now it has no market. I've been transfered from the slush pile to fanfic in one fell swoop. That's depressing. The only good news is tht Aphelion readers will be the only ones to have access to the finished work. Unless Baen threatens to sue me, in which case I'll be the only one who gets to read the book. Oh well, the first half is in about the 4th draft stage, but the storyline for that half is finished. The other half is meant to go in a completely different direction and leave almost all of the characters from the first half behind. That second half of the book only exists in outline form at the moment. As do most of my story sequels.
On the one hand, the limbo of the "I don't have time right now, but when I do I'd like to..." holds five or more of my stories in cold storage. Sad. I need to write more, get these things done and out there where you can read them. I run this great webzine and I hardly ever get a story finished to put in it. This is issue #75, and no one is making a fuss about it. How many other e-zines have been running for six years? Suddenly my life feels like a Pink Floyd album. "Dark Side of the Moon" fits best. (Gosh! That was gloomy. Funny, I don't feel gloomy.)
On the other hand, the limbo of the "that's a good idea and I need to make a note of it for a story" file holds fifty or more story ideas, pending my time and ability. I usually carry a notebook with me for just such emergencies- jotting down story ideas. The entire novel version of Threat of Valleor was first written down as an outline in a hip-pocket spiral notepad while I was standing around at work, watching my machine run. The second draft was written as a more detailed outline with key dialogue sections on notepads also. The third draft made it into a primitive word processor in a TRS-80 CoCo-3 computer, which produced over one hundred pages of very small print. The fourth draft is the version available in Aphelion which began being serialized back in the infancy of the zine. Roughly a third of those hundred pages have been transcribed and expanded (OCR doesn't seem to work on any of my computers), mostly because I switched to short story format to become a better writer and put the novel on a back burner. But from that first jotting of ideas in a spiral notepad came the whole setting of Bethdish, City of Lights, the 11,000 year story arc, the big map of the planet, the history, the natives, and all the characters I've been using regularly.
But on the gripping hand, there is that limbo of the "almost finished, but I have to work on something else now" that holds all my works in progress in thrawl. That's where a change is gonna do me good. Its time to start producing text again- and let the grand concepts simmer on the back burner for a change.
Well, I'm about as good as I'm going to get without getting more work out to be criticized than I have been doing. In keeping with that theme of change, I'm going to get more of my work out where you nice folks can tear it to shreds in a piranha-like feeding frenzy of critical constructivity. Be it known that Redshift Sue Sings the Blues is coming along nicely and should be online before the end of the year to sate your bloodlust. I also hope to have an mp3 of the song (probably without the vocals, since I'm no singer) online by this time next year (oh yeah, sure, I believe that timetable), so cross your fingers and hope for the best, those of you who are audiophiles. It all hinges on time, doesn't it? I have to budget my time better. (I told you I was going to ramble, didn't I? Now watch as I tie it all together with a couple of pithy epigrams that make the preceeding paragraphs look like a carefully plotted essay. LOL!)
Time is a non-recyclable resource. It has to be budgeted, allocated, savored, enjoyed, even cherished. Use it or lose it, but please don't waste it. Its the most valuable thing in the universe. (What a totally fatuous thing to say! My grasp of the totally obvious hasn't slipped a notch, even.)
Time- available now in limited quantities. Sorry, only one to a customer. (OK, that one was cute, I'll give you that.)
Thanks for the use of some of your time, (GROAN!)
Dan
I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading...
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
Iain Muir
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
Tears of the Madman
By Benjamin Taylor Jr.
Survival lessons start early in this harsh, post-apocalyptic
world, and if a boy wants to grow to manhood, he needs to pay attention
and learn. Because the final exam is a real killer.
Strangebird
By Richard J. O’Brien
"Mr. Underwood," I said, "you don't expect people to believe
that a demon lived in your well?"
The Mask and the Maze
By K. Bannerman
Aalde Baran's empire stretches from the Arctic Circle to the Falkland
Islands. He is the supreme chief of office, responsible for the health
and safety of each one of his loyal subjects, and his face is on every
billboard, every screen, every teleprompter. Beautiful women, lavish
palaces, and nations are his to own, but he wants more.
The Monk
By James McCormick
Father Rosario had done a thing so terrible not even God could forgive him. Now he wanted
only to escape the consequences of his crime.
Who's Afraid of Christabel
By McCamy Taylor
On All-Hallows Eve, Virginia summoned the ghost of her dead mother...
Olivia Van Grimm
By Joseph Vadalma
She was beautiful, she was innocent, she was a vampire.
Autumn Leaves Falling Down
By Robert Starr
One thing separated Ashbury Corners from other rural towns: Franchesco Ballantine and his story.
Now and Forever
By Tracey A. Bjorksten
Love and time dilatation just don't mix.
Engine Blocker
By Derek Robinson
A throbbing beat, an unrelenting drive, a running towards destruction!
Ambition's Cost
By Kelly D. Tolman
The growth of an empire is a challenge fraught with sacrifice and born through rebuilding.
Lamentations of the Gods
By Brian Ames
What blasphemy occurs when worshippers challenge their gods?
The Mare Inebrium Starter Kit.
--Updated 4/22/2002-- 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!
Tales of the Mare
Inebrium
The banner above links to
all the Mare Inebrium Stories on one page!
Dan Hollifield Reviews: The Bromealiad Trilogy
The re-issue of Terry Pratchett's "Books of the Nomes" trilogy in a single volume. A delightful adventure for young readers and adults alike.
Writing Fantasy and Sci-Fi By Jon Aristides
An essay by the author of THE MASK OF PRIAM and THE BLACK SCARAB OF AMUN-RA
Double
Wide
by Jim Parnell The collected wisdom of Bubba WARNING: Contains Language.
Aphelion proudly presents the installments of Double Wide all on
one page of links. We wanted to make sure that the wit and wisdom
of Bubba wasn't lost for new readers, so we made a mini-archive
list of just the Double Wide features.
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 --3\01\2003--
Click here to see the Links Page. Our fellow E-zines, Astronomy,
research material, entertainment, and much, much more!
Aphelion IRC Chat --7\31\2003-- Information about an underused 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 --Repaired 3\25\2003-- 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 special 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@lists.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.