Issue 301 Volume 28 December 2024 - January 2025
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Editorial
Dan L. Hollifield
The Senior Editor's usual rants about whatever…
Serials and Long Fiction
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The Dark Woods
Randy Stuart
Sheriff Jim Wilkins already knew there were good cryptids. Now he has to deal with a bad one.
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Best of 2024 Long Fiction
It wasn't my plan, readers, but I ran out of long fiction before I ran out of months this year. But to make up for
it, here are the Year's Best. Enjoy!
Selected by Long Fiction Editor Lester Curtis
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"It's Kind of Like That
Planet in Alien 3"
By Steven Grogan
If you sometimes feel as though the world were all one big nuthouse, there may be a good reason!
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Elegant Slumming
By Richard Tornello
What do you get when you add a deposed deity, a retired letter-agency hit-man and his handler, the New Jersey Mob, Italian
cooking, and an unknown sci-fi writer who seems to know too much? This. You get this. Oh, and there's more. Have fun.
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The Goatmen of Aguirra
By Joseph Carrabis
Sometimes the best way to understand an alien species is to become one of them—at the cost of your own
family.
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Short Stories
December 2024
Best of 2024 Short Stories
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Earthscraper
Murray Eiland
"What if, rather than trying to build homes on an already overcrowded planet, they could build them in a place with almost
infinite real estate…"
The Kolbangara Incident
John E. DeLaughter
"Sometimes, you meet a commander who changes your life…"
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Very Practical Effects
Jennifet Kennett
"No Matter what business you're in, there are always Divas…"
The Killer Doll and the
Dollmaker
S. Labrecque
"With love, all things are possible…"
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Midnight Blue
Jack Freehoff
"If Glen Norris lived on Earth, the woman would have sauntered into his seedy office like they did in detective novels.
Instead, she appeared on the wall of his tiny flat located deep inside Mars' New Chicago dome…"
Hot/Cold War
Thomas Wm Hamilton
"It was some kind of warning, but why?"
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Flash Fiction
December 2024
The Best Flash Fiction of 2024
These are the tales that the Editor liked best from the short short fiction submitted in the last 12 months.
Your mileage may differ. Product may settle during shipping. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. If symptoms persist,
see your shaman.
The Aphelion Flash Fiction Contest
We run a monthly flash fiction contest in the "Fun and Games" folder in Aphelion's forum.
In the contest we post a challenge with a specific theme and genre and participants write a flash story based on the challenge
guidelines. The contest is a great place to hone your writing skills, meet some fellow writers, receive some feedback, and possibly win a
prize. New participants are always welcome. Submissions for the contest are done through the forum. Flash stories from all of our
previous contest challenges are archived in the forum as well.
Over 500 stories are included in our archive. To start reading some of these great flash stories, check
out either Index 1 or Index 2.
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Poetry and Filk Music
December 2024
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Articles and features
Streaming Chat Shows
At the links below you can find archives of the live-streaming chat shows run by the Director of
HallowCon and myself. WARNING: Contains Language!
Showrunner: Joe McKeel
This show is best described as a group of friends hanging out at a science fiction/fandom convention in the hotel
lobby/bar and chatting with everyone that walks up. We December even have a guest or two. We start out with no topic. We spend two hours
chatting and reading comments. Many times we never know what we will talk about but we cover many topics. Many times a viewer tosses out a
comments and we will chase it down the rabbit hole.
But rest assured we had fun and hopefully you do too.
Brought to you by Hallowcon, Stupid O'clock, and Rising Tide Productions.
Showrunner: Dan L. Hollifield
A late night, after-hours chat show. The guests featured are SF&F writers, artists, musicians, comic book creators,
SMOFs, and members of fandom in general.
Usually, It either starts off slow and boring and picks up speed as guests join in, or it continues on at full speed
from whatever discussion was in progress on Stupid O'clock when that show ended. This thing can go on for hours once it gets rolling.
Guests are welcome to join at any time, but trolls will be punted for field goals. The content is somewhat PG, or even more adult, but is
intended to be entertainment for reasonably adult audiences.
Brought to you by Aphelion Webzine, Hallowcon, Stupid O'clock, and Rising Tide Productions.
All music composed and copyrighted by Dan L. Hollifield, 2022.
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