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of our 23rd year online!
We're happy to see each of you return to grace our pages once again.
Welcome back! While our holiday issue was running, the Preditors and
Editors annual Readers Poll took place. Over two thousand votes were
cast for the nominees in many, many categories. Aphelion readers must
have been well represented in the voters, because we were granted Top
Ten status in no less than eight different categories! Furthermore,
several Aphelion contributors won awards for works not published in
Aphelion, so the zine was well represented all across the board.
Standings
for Magazine/e-zine Cover Artwork, 3rd
Place: Nate Kailhofer, Aphelion
Webzine
Standings for
Magazine/e-zine Editors, 3rd Place: Dan Hollifield,
Aphelion Webzine
Standings for
Fiction Magazine/e-zines, 4th Place: Aphelion Webzine,
Standings for
Poetry Magazine/e-zines, 2nd Place: Aphelion Webzine,
Standings for
Writers' Discussion Forum, 3rd Place: Aphelion Webzine
Forums,
Standings for
Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Stories, 5th
Place: Scavenger, Denny E. Marshall, Aphelion Webzine,
Standings for
Positive Future Short Stories, 2-Way tie for 4th Place:
Second Earth, Sergio 'ente per ente' PALUMBO,
Aphelion Webzine,
Standings for
Poems, 4-Way Tie for 4th Place: Rum Runners and Pirate
Saints Claria, Part 1:
The Birth of the Demon Fish, THERESA GAYNORD, Aphelion Webzine
Special congrats to Michele Dutcher, 5th Place: Top Ten Magazine/E-Zine
Editors, Michele DUTCHER,
Horrified Press
Special congrats to Sergio Palumbo, Steampunk Short Stories, 2-Way tie
for 1st Place: Cold inside, Sergio 'ente per ente' PALUMBO,
Millhaven Press/ Dan Gallagher, Author
Dan
Horror Short Stories,
4-Way Tie for 6th Place: The last seabus on the Burrard Inlet…, Sergio
'ente per ente' PALUMBO and Ernesto CANEPA, HellBound
Publishing
Special Congrats to Denny Marshall:
Best Artist:
Denny E. Marshall Denny
Marshall
Best Artwork:
Voyager, Denny E. Marshall Denny
Marshall Files
Best Book Cover
Artwork: 22 Stories, Denny E. Marshall Denny
Marshall Files
Best Poem:
Hard Rain, Denny E. Marshall, Page & Spine Page
& Spine Showcase
Best Magazine /
e-zine Cover Artwork: Bards & Sages Quarterly
July 2019, Denny E. Marshall Denny
Marshall Files
Congratulations
to all the winners in all the categories across
the board! Well done, everyone!
That is a great start to a new year online. I'm so happy for
everyone to be recognized by their peers and readers.
Thanks
to all the readers, writers, artists, and poets who have returned time
after time, year after year, the Aphelion Staff is both proud and
delighted to begin its 23rd year of bringing you the best stories,
poetry, and artwork to be found. We've outlived not only 99% of the
e-xines that existed in 1997, but quite a few websites in general.
We've pioneered a few of the stylistic changes to websites over the
years. We were in the lead for Shared Universe series. We've changed,
adapted, and grown each year. But our core mission has never changed.
We have brought you, and will continue to bring you the very best
Amateur works in every category we cover. No ads, no membership fees,
no submission fees, no reader fees--just stories and poetry. The style
and look of the Zine will continue to change, but what makes us
Aphelion never will!
Everything
we are is because of you. Our writers succeed not only through their
hard work, but also because of you. Your comments in the Forums help
everyone continue to learn and grow, and to become the best they can
be. I am proud of each and every one of you! And I humbly thank you for
everything you have done.
23 years, closing on a quarter
century, yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. It's
been an awesome ride so far. Lets just see how far we can go, shall we?
Now that I've said my piece, I'll shut up and
let you get to reading the new stories, LOL! Please do feel free to
comment on the stories by going to our
Forums section and making your thoughts known. The writers will thank
you for it. Plus, you'll be helping them become better writers, too.
ON
THE COVER
Title: VLT
view of binary system R Aquarii from 2012
Photo Credit: ESO
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