Charlie Foxtrot: Blog

The next tale in Cosimo's Universe has been submitted for posting and should appear shortly.

I debated making this a two chapter story, or two separate stories. I landed on the latter, but know the next installment will be a three-chapter story instead.

I'll post the second story covering Cosimo's acclamation to his new living situation by the end of April, and begin posting the multi-chapter story in either late May or early June, depending on real-world work commitments.

I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading.

-Charlie

I've moved "In the Red Wing" into a newly created universe (Cosimo) and submitted the next story in the setting for posting.

While the BDSM or Slavery tags on the first two stories may put people off, I hope there will be enough interest and non-violent content to bring you along on the journey. Three additional stories in the universe are written and will be posted with a fourth underway.

I'm not yet committing to a posting schedule since I may have to revise some parts as the larger story unfolds.

My goal with this series of stories is for each posting to be a continuation of the overall universe, but to stand alone as well. However, I don't plan to re-hash background in each tale, so readers should be aware that the overall story builds on prior segments.

I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading,

-Charlie

A new story titled "Off Switch"set in the Swarm Universe is coming soon. Chapter 1 has been submitted. It is 4 chapters long, and they are all written. I plan on posting once a week, shooting for Tuesday's, but that will depend on real life :-)

The story has been through multiple review iterations with the Swarm Author's list, whom I owe a big "Thank you" to.

I hope you all enjoy my contribution to the universe.

-Charlie

Just a quick note to let interested readers know I'm still around and writing. However, I'm doing too much writing for my real-life (and not in a good way), and finding too little quality time to write for my alter-ego, aka Charlie Foxtrot.

When I started A New Past, I was on a sabbatical from work, and then as I finished it I was on the road as a consultant with lots of alone time in the evenings. With Covid, my consulting came to an end, and I took a full-time gig working remotely. That has put me at my desk most of the day with little interest in spending more time at my computer in the evenings to work on a chapter or two.

That said, I have been making some slow progress on a few stories. I've got the first couple of chapters in the next Survivor's story, but the characters just aren't holding my interest, so I'm not sure they would hold yours.

The sequel to In the Red Wing is written, but un-edited, as is about half of the third Cosimo tale, but I need to figure out where that story is actually headed rather than just pushing out episodes in the universe.

I've been kicking around ideas for a sequel to A New Past, but am not sure I want to revisit that world right now.

Finally, I've got two out of four chapters written for a new tale in the Swarm Cycle, that I hope to be sharing with the author's list there for feedback and getting it blessed as 'canon'.

I don't know when I'll post a story next, since I won't start posting until the tale is actually finished, but I hope you can read something fresh from me soon.

As always,

Thanks for reading.

-Charlie

Spoiler Alert --- If you have not read the Chapter 66 of A New Past, don't read this blog post.

Really, I'm serious. You'll spoil the ending.

You've been warned.

Let's talk about the ending. Several readers did not follow what I tried to lay out without boring everyone to tears with technical mumbo-jumbo of plausible realism. Trust me, you don't want to read some of the crap I wrote trying to explain a multi-verse and how time flows at different rates in different universes.

Anyway, that is the core premise in the universe that Paul inhabits.

At the opening of the story, he was in universe A. The accident that appeared to send him into his past, actually transmitted his consciousness into his doppelganger's body in universe A-prime. I call it A-Prime, because to our main character's conscious mind, it is his own past in Universe A.

Once he realizes that he did not actually travel into his own past in universe A, he comes to believe that there are a multitude of universes ((B through Z) raised to infinity). A little later, working with Dr. Perdew, they conclude that the rate at which time passes in these universes is variable. That implies that Universe B may be further along the timeline than universe C.

Paul also realizes that his life and family are now in A-Prime, and that if he leaves it, all of the good he knows may be gone forever.

His grand experiment, which ends the story, transmits a portion of his consciousness outward from A-prime. He then continues to live in A-prime and proposed to Chrissy.

In universe B, he wakes up in his lab shortly before the original explosion and escapes that fate. Maybe he thinks it was a premonition, or a deja vu, or a dream. Maybe his consciousness and mental patterns are different enough that firm memories are not retained. Regardless, he escapes the original fate he experienced in universe A.

In universe C, he is fourteen again, much as when he went back to A-prime. In this universe, it was a much stronger dream, maybe even a recollection. This was possible because his mental state is less defined than his older self was in universe B. He remembers enough and knows he wants to pursue Jeryl again.

Finally, in universe D, he wakes with recollections and it is just before Jeryl and Alison's and Rose's fateful trip.

While only four snippets are shown, an infinite number of Paul's doppelgangers exist and received some impression from his broadcast. I wrote several passages (that I later cut) trying to equate the number of universes and possible reception points based on quantum states, similar to what drives how many electrons can reside within an electron shell, but decided that was detail not relevant to the story, and opened up to many possible arguments regarding feasibility, etc.

Instead of worrying about infinity and pseudo-scientific explanations, I chose to focus on the threads that would close out the story and leave the rest to the reader's imagination.

I hope this helps for anyone that was not clear on the ending.

Thanks for reading.

-Charlie