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    The Fifth Di... December 2015
    The Fifth Di... December 2015
    The Fifth Di... December 2015
    Ebook57 pages52 minutes

    The Fifth Di... December 2015

    By J Alan Erwine

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    About this ebook

    The Fifth Di..., one of the longest running on-line zines continues on with four new stories. This month we feature fantasy and science fiction stories from Kate Runnels, James Van Pelt, Matthew Spence, and Robert J. Mendenhall.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNomadic Delirium Press
    Release dateNov 30, 2015
    ISBN9781311329769
    The Fifth Di... December 2015
    Author

    J Alan Erwine

    J Erwine was born Oct. 15, 1969 in Akron, Ohio. Early in his life he was exposed to science, and specifically astronomy. From there on, J’s passion turned to science fiction, a passion that’s never died.Due to family issues, J eventually found himself in Denver, Colorado, where he still lives (well, right outside now.)From the time he could put subject and predicate together on paper, J has been writing stories. None of those early stories exist anymore (thankfully), but that passion for writing has never waned.After several years of rejection, the story Trek for Life was eventually sold to ProMart Writing Lab editor James Baker. It wasn’t Asimov’s, but it was a start. Since that time J has sold more than forty short stories to various small press publishers. In addition ProMart also published a short story collection of J’s entitled Lowering One’s Self Before Fate, and other stories, which is still available. ProMart also published a novel from J entitled The Opium of the People, which sold a few copies before going out of print.The relevance of the novel after the events of September 11th caused J to self-publish the novel, as he felt the story had a lot to say in the new reality we now find ourselves living in. Now, this same book has been re-released by Nomadic Delirium Press.Eventually J would become an editor with ProMart. Then, after the untimely death of ProMart editor James Baker, J would move on to ProMart’s successor Sam’s Dot Publishing. J also spends most of his time working as a freelance writer and editor.J’s novel was voted a top ten finisher in the 2003 annual Preditors & Editors contest, and his short story The Galton Principle won a ProMart contest for best story over 5,000 words. In addition, a number of his stories have been voted “best of” in various issue of The Martian Wave and The Fifth DI... and have been included in Wondrous Web Worlds Vols. 2, 3, 4, and 6.In 2009, the Ephemeris Role Playing Game was released. J is the co-creator of this game, and has written numerous supplements for the game.J has now sold three novels and four short story collections, all of which are still available from various sources, including Smashwords.J currently lives with his amazing wife, three wonderful children, three cats, and a very quiet turtle.

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      Book preview

      The Fifth Di... December 2015 - J Alan Erwine

      THE FIFTH DI…

      December 2015

      Edited by J Alan Erwine

      Published by Nomadic Delirium Press at Smashwords

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Copyright 2015 by Nomadic Delirium Press

      All stories are copyrighted in the names of their respective authors

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without the written consent of the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passes in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, broadcast, etc.

      Nomadic Delirium Press

      Aurora, Colorado

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Exile by Choice by Kate Runnels

      Neoteric Urban Archaeology by James Van Pelt

      Spinning Shadows by Matthew Spence

      Master Plan by Robert J. Mendenhall

      Exile by Choice

      By Kate Runnels

      The round trip journey of some 8.44 ly and then the exploration of Alpha Centauri had been long, grueling, satisfying and wonderful for Kith and the twenty-one others returning. But they were leaving some behind. Twenty-five had departed Mars. One had never arrived and the three others had died in natural unforeseen occurrences. One drowned and two were taken in a rock slide. It had happened a while ago, and Kith had worked through her sorrow at the loss, but for those of the family’s waiting for those four it would be fresh when they found out their loved ones would never be returning.

      The exploration team had spent an entire year, a full Earth year, exploring the Alpha Centauri system and the one habitable planet therein. They had taken to calling the planet itself just, Alpha. In that year a lot had happened, but the strongest and most important to Kith and the others in the corps, was that it would sustain human life. And now they were returning home to share that knowledge and the success of Dr. Nagano’s project for human colonization.

      Four years and thirty-seven days out, a full earth year on Alpha and four years thirty-seven days returning.

      A total of nine years and seventy-four days and Kith and the team were due to arrive on Mars within minutes. The same place they had started, the same laboratory, and hopefully the same people. But even though it had only been a year for them, in actual time, it had been nearly nine for the others. Nine years was a long time, even when most of the human population lived, with help, into their early hundreds.

      The team was within the Sol system and had passed by Saturn and the particles that made up the rings. To Kith they smelled of strawberries. The synesthesia that came with this mode of travel was something she had never told anyone else, lest they think her unstable from traveling in this truly experimental way. She didn’t know if they others experienced this as well. They would not see Jupiter this time through as they had on their way out, which was fine with her, as Jupiter felt heavy on her brain as a weight pressing down.

      Twenty eight minutes and they would have returned from one of the most fateful missions for all mankind. Like Rider, Perrault, Chan and Arshavin arriving on Mars; or Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. Gagarin, Yeager, Lewis and Clark, the names of all those explorers trailing back through history to appear at pivotal moments.

      On this trip, Kith had seen and done something only twenty-five others could say they’d done. And they had proven humans could exist outside the Sol system.

      The home team had known of their arrival time since they had left, she and the others all hoped their families would be there waiting for them. Kith especially; she and her family hadn’t parted on the best

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