"Sorry I'm late. All sorts of things cropping up at the last minute. How are we for time?"
This is where I do my usual Public Service Announcement: There are elections coming up here in the US, everyone should go out and vote for the candidates of their choice. Everyone who knows me knows that I loathe politics, but I have come to realize that it is a necessary evil. Frankly, I don't care what your party is or which candidate for what office that you prefer. I'm just trying to point out that if you don't vote, you are allowing other people to determine your future. Take control of your life ino your own hands. Go vote. You've got the power, now accept the responsibility.
Well, that's enough of that for this month.
So what else is happening? I've been experiencing a lot of synchronicities lately. (That's when a chain of events occur that seems to be inter-connected by spooky sorts of coincidences.) It seems like all I have to do is think of some subject or other- and suddenly I'm swamped by web-pages, news announcements, and magazine articles on whatever that particular subject happens to be. Like Reality has suddenly switched into Google mode, the last two months have been a massive data dump into my brainpan... Not only is the universe stranger than I had imagined, now its upgrading my imagination so that it can achieve further flights of weirdness. (grin) I've always enjoyed the more Fortean aspects of life, but this is beyond chance. Something odd is happening.
On another front; Jeff has asked me to write a Nightwatch story for next year. I started doing some research after he and I brainstormed a few ideas in the chatroom one night. We started off with a story fragment from my Notebook file. The whole thing was less than four skimpy paragraphs. We figured out how to make it fit the Nightwatch universe, but then Jeff made a mistake. He turned me loose to write, and write I did. The wordcount isn't all that high yet, but the story has begun to devour my entire life. It has pushed everything else that I was working on into the background. Every time I fire up the computer, eventually I wind up working on the story. Am I subconciously attempting to one-up the other writers? I don't think so, I think it to be more like what the writers in the Mare Inebrium series feel when a gem comes to them. At least, I hope so, 'cause this is a good feeling.
Alright, let's get this puppy online. I've babbled long enough.
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
Strange Things Happen
By J. L. Navarro
Folksy Hermonites and strange New Mexicans: do they mix?
The Apartment Ladies
By Lee Alon
All the wrong people had keys to his apartment, but when they stopped
by uninvited one lazy morning, more than just annoying realtors came
through the door...
The Zenin Menace
By Donald Sullivan
Three groups of aliens visit Earth, and the fate of the planet rests in
the hands of a proprieter of a bait and tackle shop.
Max Cory, trapped in a mountain cave system thanks to his own
carelessness, finds something unusual happening there, and he soon finds
that he's not alone, that someone else is also observing the strange
goings on.
A new shared universe series: Nightwatch, under the direction of Jeff Williams.
Short Stories
Prufrock's Problem
By Robert Moriyama
Yes, this is the same Prufrock who caused so much trouble for Al Majius and friends. The original version of this story appeared in Titan webzine several years ago; this version appeared last year in the defunct Planet Relish webzine.
Dreamsicles
By J.E. Deegan
The day following the astonishing celestial event that had covered half the globe, Jason Mohs ventured into the abandoned train terminal seeking shelter from the bone-numbing cold. Being new to Limboland, he was unaware that the derelict building was a place to avoid.
Two Gods of a Darker Sort
By Jaimie L. Elliot
In this excerpt from the novel Harvest Moon, an unlikely group of adventurers searches for a prophet in order to learn why The Prophecy is no longer valid.
Eternity
By Zahid Zaman
A woman finds herself trapped in a dream world where she faces terror as she searches for someone she lost.
The Existentialist
By J.L. Navarro
After settling into his new home, Randolph Zook found himself one morning sitting on his porch drinking coffee and looking at the narrow dirt road that ran in front of the cabin. He caught a blue figure from the corner of his eye, and turning, he saw a lithe, tanned woman in a jogging suit, her long hair tied in a ponytail which bounced behind her as she ran. Without looking his way, she rushed by and continued down the road.
The Mare Inebrium Starter Kit.
--Updated 2/7/2004-- 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!
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.
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
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.
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--8\8\2000--
