It is getting down to roughly 19 weeks left for me to work before my retirement. After New Years Day of 2024, I will file for all my vacation time for next year, then go back to work for one day in mid-February, and then I'll join the ranks of pensioners. I will henceforth never return to that drafty old barn where I have worked for the past 45+ years. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it. It is a bit daunting to be giving up that weekly paycheck that I have depended on for 45 years. Yet, I have made provisions for my retirement. I'll have my pension, my 401k, and Social Security to buy groceries and keep the bills paid at our present rate of household expenditures. Those should be enough to finance another 20 to 30 years--by which time I'll be in my mid-80s or 90s. Aphelion already has its URL funded until about that same time. The monthly payments for our webspace are already figured into the budget. There will be writers who have yet to be born who will be able to learn from Aphelion until long after I shuffle off this mortal coil. This zine is part of my legacy. That thought gives me much comfort.

That sounds more gloomy than I intended it to be while I was writing it, LOL! Whatever the future holds, I'm ready for it. that's what I was attempting to say. Let the good times roll! 

I should have two, perhaps three books released before the end of the year. That feels and sounds great to me. I have at least two more in the pipeling, almost ready to send to my publisher as well. That would be grand, wouldn't it? After that I can tackle fresh projects that have sprung to mind over the past couple of years. My notebook is full of stuff I want to get to writing!

The future is, as yet, unwritten. Let's work together to make it a good one.

All that said, it's time for a change of pace.

The online streaming shows "Stupid O'clock" and "Last Man Standing" have been uploaded live to YouTube as well as several Facebook pages for over two years now. They are basically live-streaming chat shows covering a range of topics, modeled on the types of conversations people have after hours at SF&F conventions. Joe McKeel and I have archives of past shows on our own YouTube channels. Check 'em out if that sounds like something you'd enjoy I've put links in our Features section that will take you to the YouTube archives of both shows.

With all that said, it's high time I shut up and let you get to reading. 

Enjoy yourselves,

Dan