Hello, and welcome to Aphelion Webzine!

First off, the Aphelion staff has asked me to move the monthly upload date for new issues from the 1st of each month to the first Sunday of each month. This will help prevent various offline, real-world difficulties from making us miss our self-imposed deadlines. I don't see any problem with this, so we'll start off with the October issue coming out on October 7th rather than the 1st.

Secondly, Casa Vila has suffered another loss. On Wednesday, August 22nd, our beloved poodle Willie finally succumbed to the rigors of old age. He passed quietly, free from pain, while in the arms of my wife that evening just after I got home from work. He was 25 days shy of his 19th birthday. He was laid to rest in a plain pine coffin, built by my own hands, in the back yard of Casa Vila. A lock of his hair was placed in a glass vial, sealed against the elements, and burried alongside the headstone marking the grave of my second wife, Cindy Nelms. He'd missed her ever since she died. Now they are together again.

My wife Lindsey and I also loved Willie with all our hearts. He was our friend, our guardian protector, our companion, our loving court jester and clown. He gave us unconditional love, which we gladly returned. He always let Lindsey know when someone approached the house, while I was at work. He made it plain to all that he would give his life to pretect her against all odds. It is only fitting that he died in her arms, secure in the love she returned to him.

I hope you will all understand when I say that I don't really feel up to writing a longer Editorial, or the book reviews that I had planned for this issue.

Willie Perry-Hollifield
Sept. 9th, 1989 -- Aug. 22nd, 2007
"He was a good boy..."

"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go
where they went."
Will Rogers, 1897-1935

I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading material...

Dan