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    The Fifth Di... September 2016
    The Fifth Di... September 2016
    The Fifth Di... September 2016
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    The Fifth Di... September 2016

    By J Alan Erwine

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    About this ebook

    The September 2016 issue of The Fifth Di... features fiction from Robert N. Stephenson, G. O. Clark, Rik Hunik, and Rick Novy.
    A woman trapped on a conquered planet spends her days harvesting human blood for her alien conquerors, plotting her escape and eventual revenge. An astronaut goes back in time, and hopes to leave his mark on the future. An acid induced parlor trick leads to the creation of living origami goats that eat paper and become a menace...but not as big of a menace as the predator that’s created to take care of the goats. And finally, a man becomes a butler for an eccentric rich man, but he has no idea just how eccentric the man really is, and then he must figure out how to stop him.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNomadic Delirium Press
    Release dateAug 31, 2016
    ISBN9781370190935
    The Fifth Di... September 2016
    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... September 2016 - J Alan Erwine

      THE FIFTH DI…

      September 2016

      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 2016 by Nomadic Delirium Press

      All stories and poems 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

      A Tear for David by Robert N. Stephenson

      Timeslip Graffiti by G. O. Clark

      Trailer Trash by Rik Hunik

      The Strange Case of Lionel Turnway by Rick Novy

      A Tear for David

      By Robert N. Stephenson

      Dipping low, she scooped blood into a bowl with her fingers, the warmth causing her stomach to cramp and memory of the deaths caused her mind to wander. First, to the loss of love and then to capture, but most of all, she dared think of escape. The pit, the risen well of shining metal burbled with human fluids, the one living element of life. Life? Something she didn't think the aliens understood at all. Their machines recognized humans and stripped them to the bone. The separation machines were huge; each section filled its own room with its own two guards. People were stripped down to nothing and she wondered if the Rul stripped them of their screams to be listened to later.

      To Gail it revolted her, the smell of copper and brass and some of the entrails in the waste troughs caused her moments of pure despair. She thought of the forest that surrounded the hangar and allowed this to distract her every time she dipped her fingers. She had a cup, but it was not allowed to be dipped, the process had to be followed and the reason was unfathomable. She'd watched and studied and thought and considered all she knew, and felt there was a way out of the hangar sized plant, a way other than dismemberment and the recycling of your organs and blood. She looked up and saw the gleaming face of a Rul, the almost human face was blue and void of expression. She held up her cup. The Rul looked down, its white eyes gleaming under the hundreds of hard lights overhead.

      The being nodded; a learned expression so it could communicate with humans. She stood and left the well of blood and took her cup to a funnel of silvered plastic. This was her third delivery of the morning and yet it still made her feel ill as the already clotting blood wobbled and slid down the throat into the large, clear bottle beneath. For a few minutes she would be given time to ease out pains in her back and wash her fingers under some cool water at the wall length sink. The Rul had a notion of hygiene, but it wasn't any good and not what humans would consider effective.

      I'm hungry, she said, turning from the funnel to the funnel guard. The creature didn't watch her and when she spoke, it barely acknowledged her presence. Clad in dark woven metallic material made the thing look formidable, and the Rul were quite hardy when it came to the battle her colony had lost. Losing wasn't something anyone had considered; in fact aggressive action of any kind hadn't been on the radar of the city, or on the orbital stations.

      With a tilt of the triangular head the guard acquiesced to her request and she was excused while she sought out food. Gail sighed, she was tired, troubled and while the Rul did supply reasonable food for their captured population, their idea of rest wasn't something humans could endure for long. She washed her hands in the sink again, handed her cup to another worker waiting by the sink for such a change over. The strange routine did create order within what felt chaotic and macabre. She left the blood and head sorting room through a wide doorway into the recovery section of the cavernous building. People stood and milled about quietly talking. Weariness hung heavy on every shoulder and sagged beneath every eye. The Rul always stood and she knew they understood the concept of chairs; they had traded with the colony for almost a decade before they swarmed over the city and took the millions it didn't kill as prisoners and work crews. If a Rul stood, you stood, that was how it was and to go against this simple rule meant swift death in the hopper

      A brass faucet stuck out over a stained, stone bowl. She picked up a cup and filled it from the faucet, the green goop, while sickening to look at, smelt like roasted nuts and tasted sweet. It looked awful but was quite wonderful as a food source. She took her cup and stood by the small circle of men by a window looking out over the lush landscape of what they had considered their home. What was beyond that view was unknown, how many pens were in operation, how many people were waiting to be fed into the machine and how many were simply waiting to take the place of the next fallen worker?

      You decided yet? The tallest of the men looked down on her, his sneer barely hiding the fact he needed sleep. They all did.

      I agreed to think about it, Gail said, annoyed. They'd only presented her with their

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