Altered America (35 page)

             
A memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as a traditional symbol of peace and a silicon message disk had been placed in the
Phoenix
. The disk carried the goodwill statements by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon as well as messages from the leaders of 73 other countries around the world.

             
It also carried a diamond-studded astronaut pin given to Deke Slayton by the widows of the Apollo 11 crew.

             
And, lastly, a 1928 Peace Dollar.

             
David had found the perfect spot for it—a small hill overlooking the area.  Slowly, reverently, and with great care, he placed the bag into a small hole and covered it up.

             
As he got up, his eye caught the horizon.

             
Earth had risen up and was now hanging, once more, up in the lunar sky, glistening in all of her glory.

             
David began to feel the first tears well up into his eyes.

             
“We did it,” whispered David, as the tears clouded his sight. “We did it, guys,” he repeated to the universe.

             
And the universe heard him...

Author Biographies

Erik Bundy

Erik Bundy lives in the magical North Carolina woods where mice claiming to be cousins move in for the winter then take the towels when they leave in spring. The federal government pays him not to work in one of their offices. He is a graduate of the
Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop
and a grand prize winner in the
Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition
. He has published stories and poems in a number of magazines and anthologies.

James S. Dorr

Lauren A. Forry

Lauren A. Forry is a sci-fi and horror writer originally from Bucks County, PA. She holds an MA/MFA in Creative Writing from Kingston University, London and a BA from New York University. She is currently writing a series of historical horror novels which explore the sociological changes in the UK over the past half century. The first, ‘Mr. Brownawell’s Collection’, was awarded Kingston University’s Faber and Faber Creative Writing MA prize.

Dan Gainor

Dan Gainor is a media critic, a veteran editor, and writer with more than two decades experience. He has been published in a wide variety of publications, including
Investor’s Business Daily, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Orange County Register
and
The New York Post.
He is the Vice President of Business and Culture for the
Media Research Center
and has been an editor at several news organizations including
Congressional Quarterly
and
The Baltimore News-American.

Brad Hafford

Martin T. Ingham

Martin T. Ingham is the author of various Science Fiction & Fantasy works, including
West of the Warlock
,
The Guns of Mars
, and
The Rogue Investigations
.  When he isn't writing, he likes to dabble in numismatics, horology, and antique auto restoration, among other hobbies.  He currently resides in his hometown of Robbinston, Maine, with his wife, Jenna, and their four children, Sylvia, Wyatt, Kathryn, and Lois.

Learn more about Martin's works at his website:

http://www.martiningham.com

Sam Kepfield

Sam Kepfield is a writer who is forced to earn a living as a criminal defense attorney in Hutchinson, Kansas. He has a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University (B.A. 1986), a law degree and an M.A. in History from the University of Nebraska (’89, ‘94), as well as doctoral work at the University of Oklahoma.

By night he writes science fiction and a few horror stories. His work has appeared in Science Fiction Trails, Electric Spec, and Aoife’s Kiss. His story “Not Because They Are Easy,” which appeared in the Rocket Science anthology, was considered for Best Short Story of 2012 by the British Science Fiction Association. His first novel, “Magic Man, Gold Dust Woman, and the Dream Machine” was released by Musa Publishing in March 2013.
  His short story, “Lay Down My Sword,” appears in Martinus Publishing's
VFW: Veterans of the Future Wars
anthology.

Jackson Kuhl

Jackson Kuhl is the author of
Samuel Smedley, Connecticut Privateer
(The History Press, 2011), a historical biography of the Revolutionary War patriot and privateer. His alternate histories and gaslamp fantasies have been published in
Black Static
and a number of anthologies.

http://www.jacksonkuhl.com

Bruno Lombardi

Bruno Lombardi was born in Montreal in 1968. He has had a rather distressing tendency to be a weirdness magnet for much of his adult life. If your friend's cousin's brother-in-law tells you a story and swears it's true and that it ‘happened to someone he knows’, it was probably Bruno.

His hobbies include attempting to dissuade the cults that form around him, managing the betting pool on the next Weird Thing, and being a slave to his two cats, Mynx and Sphinx. He currently lives in Ottawa and works as a civil servant for the Canadian government. Rumours that he secretly runs the Canadian government from his nuclear bunker with an android called 'Stephen Harper' as a front have never been substantiated and are merely rumours. Honestly.

He has also met lots of people off the internet and has yet to be murdered by any of them; his cats on the other hand have other ideas.
  His short stories have appeared in many Martinus Publishing anthologies, and his first book,
Snake Oil
, will see its first print release later in 2014.