Hello and welcome to the April 2024 issue of Aphelion!

The changes have been fast and furious over the past month. It's been quite the roller coaster ride!

Last year I wrote a short story called "Old Dan" that appeared in the April 2023 issue of Aphelion. Last month, or so, I recorded an audio of myself reading the story and posted it to my Bandcamp page. Last week, I started another Old Dan story, got six pages into it, and then didn't like it. There's no flow to it, no real feeling for it, and I'm just not as excited about it as I was the first one. I'm going to set it aside for now and get back to writing new Mare Inebrium stories for Three Ravens Publishing. I've set myself a deadline for finishing that up to turn in later this year. I'll come back to the unfinished story when my mind isn't on 300 things at once. I'm not going to delete it, but I can't force it when the thrill isn't there. It's not a blank page, so it can be edited, and I have other stories underway that are exciting to me.

All the paperwork surrounding my retirement is still a matter of my having to jump through flaming hoops. Yet, it is still progressing. Eventually, the impediments will fade away like morning fog on a Spring day. I just have to keep plodding ahead until everything finally falls into place.

2024 is going to be a special year for Aphelion, folks. In November we will witness our 300 ^th issue go live! I want to thank all the past and present staff members, as well as all our writers and readers, for keeping the zine going for so many years! Without each and every one of you, Aphelion would not be possible. I thank you all for making this dream of mine a reality!

Over the past 27 years, we've gifted the world with more than 500 new writers, and thousands of stories, Flash Fiction, and poems. All for free, all without charging anyone so much as a thin dime, and all without adverts. Aphelion is more or less a school. We're not a business. Everyone here does everything they do for the love of doing it. Our proudest moments, and our greatest sadnesses happen when we find out that one of our writers has graduated to selling their work. We're proud to have been even a small part of their achievement. And we're sad to know that we won't get many more submissions from them. I'll take that as a win, any day!

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 four 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