Aphelion Issue 292, Volume 28
March 2024
 
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Issue 181 Volume 18 February 2014

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Archives Editorial Serials and Long Fiction Poetry and Filk Music Short Stories Flash Fiction Features Series

Editorial

Dan L. Hollifield

The Senior Editor's usual rants about whatever…


Serials and Long Fiction

Best Long Fiction of 2013

Selected by Serials Editor McCamy Taylor

Sugarhouse
Adam "Bucho" Rodenberger
A psychological horror piece about a man with amnesia who can’t form new memories. By day, his wife tries to help him get better, but each night he forgets all that he has learned the day before. Who is the mystery girl who visits him each night, and what is her role in his amnesia?

Good Night, Timmy
Rick Grehan
Timmy can’t talk, and he does not have any friends. However, that is about to change, thanks to an extra-terrestrial artifact.

Cutters and Crazies
Jason Wisecup
How does one find a person who is everyone and no one, in all places and nowhere?  ADULT CONTENT.

The Light From Below
Rick Grehan
They were warned not the dam up the river to build a lake. But did they listen? No. Now the insurance adjuster's job is to piece together what happened to the lake and its wealthy builder. This is not the Johnstown Flood. This is something much more sinister.

When Angels Dare to Weep
Barney E. Abrams
Ulira is a Weeper. Her one function is to cry tears that have the power to heal her Serpentine masters. When she runs out of tears, she will turn to stone. It has always been that way for her kind. However, things are about to change in Paradise.

Aphelion Explorer
And a brand-new shared universe here at Aphelion, one years in the making. Here's the complete story so far…

The Aphelion Project
Bill Wolfe, Casey Callaghan, J. Davidson Hero, Richard Tornello, Robert Moriyama, William R. Warren, Jr., and N.J. Kailhofer
12 SOULS — THE RED PLANET — ONE DESTINY …STILL BEING WRITTEN

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Short Stories

January - February Short Stories

The Writers Workshop
Kurt Heinrich Hyatt
There was something… different… about Ms. Merkel's writing—something too good to be true.

Parasitic
Roderick D. Turner
Parasites can suck the life out of their hosts. In this case, only too well.

The Dead Circle
Caleb Collier
A trip to the everglades took Bruce to somewhere he never expected: a dance.

Greybark
Steve Foreman
A family uprooted can have grave consequences.

Hunters
Sergio Palumbo
Your waitress and bartender have seen it all before. They've got your back…

Best Short Stories of 2013

Selected by Short Stories Editor Nate Kailhofer

Selling Ghosts
Alex Puncekar
Veri could scarcely believe her eyes as the ragamuffin peddler stopped in front of her, a coffin on his back.

Midnight Cross Road
Nathan Boutwell
Even Satan himself can get the blues.

The Plague Merchants
Kurt Heinrich Hyatt
A beer-swilling android and an attractive, uptight virologist try to save the Kloakan people.

Blue Plate Special
Kate Thornton
Everything came with a price, but this bill was staggering

Maggie's Farm
Charles Ebert
Always think twice before looking through the peephole

Intelligent Drain-o
Rick Grehan
A call from Uncle Mike could only mean one thing: it was time for Rick to update his insurance coverage.

Incomplete Cathedral
Daniel Nathan Horn
The crash survivors pressed on until they both found and lost themselves in the most unusual of places.

Little Green Things
William R. Warren, Jr.
The latest installment in a new shared universe series, The Aphelion Project.

Santa's Amazing Mind Control Machine
McCamy Taylor
Something didn't fit together right in Cindy's life, and Santa was involved.

Your Sleep is My Sleep
Dimitrije Medenica
Professor Phil Kaltwasser felt the relentless tug of old age. If only there was a way to feel more rested…

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Flash Fiction

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: This month we are debuting Aphelion's new flash fiction section. We are now accepting submissions of original flash fiction to be published in this section in future issues. Submission guidelines can be found in our submission section or clicking here.

We also host a monthly flash contest in Aphelion's forum. The contest can be found in the "Fun and Games" folder. The contest is a great place to hone your writing skills, meet some fellow writers, receive some feedback, and possibly win a prize. Submissions for the contest are done through the forum. Flash stories from all of our previous contests are archived in the forum as well.

The title for the next challenge is "Welcome to Gondwanaland." The contest will begin in the forum on February 2nd. There is a $20 prize for the winner provided our mysterious anonymous patron.

Results of Forum Flash Challenge for December 2013

Congratulations to Richard Tornello, winner of the "Christmas Crytid" challenge. Read the winning story, "Carmella," and three more tales of crytids.

Results of Forum Flash Challenge for January 2014

Congratulations to Michele Dutcher, winner of the "Almost No Holds Barred" challenge. Read the winning story, "Poseidon's Lament," and three more fantastic flash stories.

Best Flash Contest Stories of 2013

Selected by Flash Editor John Rose — NOT necessarily the 'winners' based on votes submitted!

The Green Grass of Home
Michele Dutcher
The challenge was to tell the story of a human in love with a monster.

The Things We Do For Love
I.Verse
The challenge was to tell the story of a human in love with a monster.

The Good Image
George T. Philibin
The challenge was to write a science fiction story where the protagonist has a twin and the twin is the protagonist's literary foil.

Zone Defense
Robert Moriyama
The challenge was to write a science fiction story where the protagonist has a twin and the twin is the protagonist's literary foil.

Wreckers
I.Verse
The challenge was to write a science fiction story involving pirates.

Tandoristé Sunset
Jay Hill
The challenge was to write a science fiction story involving pirates.

Caveat Emptor
Iain Muir
The challenge was to write a horror or weird fiction story that makes use of the evil book, The Libro di Sinistro.

Backscratching…
Sergio Palumbo
The challenge was to write a horror or weird fiction story that makes use of the evil book, The Libro di Sinistro.

Love Never Dies
Michele Dutcher
The challenge was to write a speculative fiction flash story that was inspired a myth.

Carmella
Richard Tornello
The challenge was to write a speculative fiction story that included a cryptid and a holiday.

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Poetry and Filk Music

Broken Lute
Martin Tomlinson

Cold Fusion
Richard Tornello

Day of Reckoning
Jean Jones

From Fire, To Wheel, To Sky
Peter Adamakakis

MAVEN Haiku
Denny E. Marshall

SciFaiku
Rafał Zabratyński

Soul of Thor
Robin B. Lipinski

Spaceport
Peter Ong

The Country Mile
Clinton Van Inman

Best Poetry and Filk of 2013

A short note on the use of the word 'best.' These are the pieces that the Poetry Editor liked best of last year's selection. Not everyone will agree with me. Feel free to nominate others on the forum pages! Rather than "the ten best," let us say that here are "ten of the best" of 2013. Enjoy...

The Lost Art of Letter-Writing
Benjamin Blake

Second Contact
Thomas Reynolds

Robot Rust
Robin B. Lipinski

Let There Be Light!
Iain Muir and Mark Edgemon

The Unicorn in Captivity
J. Davidson Hero

After I Traded My Voice Box
April Salzano

Lawthorn Cemetery
Jay Hill

Judgement of the Dead
Jean Jones

The Vampire's Last Request
Ian Mullins

I'd Rather Be
Clinton Van Inman

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Articles and features

Alas, there were no feature articles this month.

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