The Fifth Di. December 2017

The December 2017 issue of The Fifth Di... brings you stories from Chris Dean, Karen Heslop, Kate Runnels, and G. W. Thomas.
A serial killer is loose and it's up to a psi talent to catch them, but can she hold herself together long enough to succeed? A young girl is "chosen" to sacrifice herself for the good of her village, but nothing can prepare her for what this sacrifice means. A woman is determined to continue to explore the galaxy, but the chaos of Earth is threatening to destroy her dreams, and she's already had so many dreams destroyed. And finally, a man down on his luck finds that that luck is about to change in a way he could never expect.

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.