Aphelion

This is an impressive piece of work addressing the problem of bridging the gap of understanding between species. I especially liked how the alien formed an empathic connection with the lawyer by pointing to his relationship with his father. Excellent story- and character arcs, with a hopeful conclus...

Cute story! I began to suspect what the ending would be like somewhere around the middle, but it was fun nonetheless. Reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.

I'm not generally a fan of vampire stories, but I rather like this one, and I was greatly impressed at the author's attention to detail. He's created a very complete fictional universe with its own body of deep history. Setting, characterization and dialog are all very well done. Pacing is well done...

Outstanding piece of work, and very creepy, answering the question, 'How bad can it get?'

I'm nominating this one for a place in the Year's Best list.

This is a very entertaining story; it made me think of something that might be told around a campfire. It's easy to read, and it's light, but still has enough danger in it to hold interest. Lots of vivid and likeable characters. The only thing that gave me pause was when Booru had thrown the Ice bal...

Another excellent story, and to me, this one had staying power. There's a deeply affecting tragedy involved, but also an almost shocking contrast between the values of the humans' trade organization and those of the natives of the planet. It's a fresh look at how soul-destroying the pursuit of money...

This is an excellent story overall, but one of the things about it that stood out to me is the way it's organized: each scene begins with an excerpt from this little society's historical record, and they're in reverse chronological order, so the reader gets deeper into their past as the story progre...

Good essay, and I have to cringe a little because I've been a killjoy myself in the past. It took too long, but life eventually taught me some humility, and I try hard to just let everyone enjoy whatever it is they're enjoying and pay attention to enjoying my own sources of satisfaction.

Okay, surprise endings aren't often a good thing to try, but this one really worked. Very good job!

Tightly-written, seamless, and fast-paced, with a solid plot. I thought the story arc and character arc were a bit shallow, but all the right parts were in all the right places, and it's easy to read and exciting.

Good work!

Something's wrong with the board system; even the spammers can't get in. Our webmaven knows about it; I'll mention it again.

Fascinating story, but what pulled me out of it was the question of how such a long document was able to be fit into a package that could be carried by one bird.

Also, if you find you've been deleted, please re-register using your old screen name. That way I'll be able to find you among the long list of spammers I have to delete each day. I have a list of the deleted account names. Anyone wishing to join who has NOT had an account previously, please write to...

bottomdweller wrote:Hey! I got my story in before Sergio Ente per Ente! How about that!

Jumped right on that one, dintcha?

Wormtongue wrote:

Lester Curtis wrote:What's up with the 'August/September'?

Well, it's to allow for me to miss deadlines...

LOL!

What's up with the 'August/September'?

Congrats, Michele and Jon! And consolation to Iain and Megawatts.

Congrats. Michele!

... and mine.

Damn, dude, you were gone for nearly a week; I was starting to worry. Glad you're still with us.

Well, hey, those copies you bought do show up as sales!

Mine, I presume, is or soon will be on its way to me; Amazon billed me for it yesterday.

My copy is on order. (I like paper.)

Congrats, Michele! One of those votes was mine.

And, thanks to whoever voted for my story.

My vote is in.

Such fun stuff thee last couple days; don't know how I missed it. Today was a good day. Too much to write about but narrowing it down (while still thinking about turkeys) it came to either writing about a tiny spinning ball of intense energy shooting out sparks and then finding the ball was not spin...

I've submitted a story.

Yeah, FaceFuck. Zuck figured out that information is easy to steal (over and over again), and that information is both power *and* money, and he wants all of both. I'd never have had anything to do with it except that the Aphelion staff conducts business there in a private chatbox. Now I'm in the th...

Damn, dude, how can you enjoy red spiders? I go outside and if I decide to sit down on something I stop and peer at it and there they are--EVERYWHERE--and I'm pretty sure they bite and leave itchy welts. They are a really pretty color though--Chinese red, I think it's called--and they seem to get ar...

You mentioned a spider the other day ... I was in the basement cleaning the cat's litter box last night. I'd gotten all the turds and big clumps and was sifting for the smallest stuff--turned up a scoop full and a spider runs out. Wolf spider, I think, kind of fuzzy, long, strong legs, fast. Not the...