Writers of the Future Anthologies

A Man in the Moon

 A Man in the Moon 

written by 

Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon 

illustrated by 

WILLIAM RUHLIG 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Born in upstate New York, educated at Northwestern and Michigan Tech, Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon teaches physics at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo by day, while aspiring to write “The Great Science Fiction Romantic Epic” in the wee hours. Since he began submitting to Writers of the Future in June 2002, our very own “Dr. Phil” has collected three Finalists (including this year’s published Finalist “A Man in the Moon”), two Semi-Finalists, ten Quarter-Finalists, four Honorable Mentions, plus four plain old rejects and one lost-in-the-mail. 

During the summer of 2004, Dr. Phil spent six amazing weeks sweltering in an East Lansing sorority house—part of the thirty-seventh Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop—along with then-future twenty-first WOTF Grand Prize winner John Schoffstall and WOTF volume XXIV winner Al Bogdan (who also appears in this volume). While experiencing “lake effect” snow out on Michigan’s Great Lakes during his first half-century on the planet, Dr. Phil says he also managed to find his wife working at the Northwestern University Library. Currently both are held hostage in West Michigan by a set of three cats from an alternate universe where felines rule. 

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR 

William Ruhlig’s lifelong passion for art seems to be blooming. Having completed secondary education at Pretoria Boys High School, in South Africa, he is now studying information design at the University of Pretoria and already knows that “cover artist” is his calling. That’s because he has always been interested in art and continually inspired by the great science fiction authors, movies and science fiction artists around the world. The cover art of books has always impacted him, drawing him into a world hidden in the pages beneath the cover. 

But it’s not just the cover art that attracts him. William admits that he loves reading; in fact, he can’t stop. It fuels his imagination as does watching and immersing himself in science fiction and learning about the actual sciences. William loves the way science fiction has shaped our world and been shaped by technologies. “Don’t judge a book by its cover; perhaps, yes, but also perhaps be inspired by it” is William’s philosophy. 

A Man in the Moon 

“Zip up,” the doctor told the older man. 

“You don’t look too happy there,” the astronaut said, obliging by zipping his jumpsuit back up. His bright blue eyes twinkled with some secret amusement. 

The two men—longtime friends—made quite a study in contrasts. Dr. Richard Hellebore stood five foot seven and while not considered clinically overweight, still exhibited something of a middle-aged thickening of the waist. Most of his short black hair had thinned away long ago. Only forty-seven, Dr. Hellebore had once been married and a family man, but his work and research as a NASA flight surgeon cost him both marriage and children. Sixty-two-year-old Captain Gene Fisher-Hall was ex-Navy, reached six-two when he stood up straight, and sported a thick gray-blond mustache which matched the wavy hair on top. Still comfortably photogenic for an astronaut, Gene came from San Francisco, but his accent had migrated to a decidedly Southern flavor—hard to place—somewhere from Texas to Tennessee to West Virginia. Perfect for a pilot. 

“Gene—I’ve always told you straight.” 

“And I appreciated it, Dick. But you don’t look like you’ve got happy news—so just say it.”