Jay Cantrell: Blog

Well, Learning Curves appears to be off to a rollicking start so I thought I'd try something new.

I've activated the Public Comments section on the story just to see how it works. I can't guarantee that I'll leave it on throughout but I'm pretty lazy so I probably will.

Please feel free to post your thoughts on the story (or about anything else, I guess).

Best wishes,
Jay C.

I have uploaded the first few chapters of my next offering, Learning Curves. It is the first of two planned novel-length stories revolving around a pair of college students, Phil Warner and Hailey Warren.

This one is 141 chapters and should conclude in November.

The setting is the campus of a fictional small, liberal arts college in the United States.

As with most of my stories, a reader will find heartbreak, retribution, topical discussions from a number of viewpoints, intrigue and, of course, a bit of baseball mixed in.

The first 10-12 chapters introduce the multiple characters and set the stage for what follows. It's a little slow at the beginning, a bit repetitive in the middle and a few will find the latter sections wildly improbable (and I'm equally certain that they will let me know in explicit detail why the fiction doesn't equate with reality).

I hope I've crafted a world where it doesn't take a great deal of suspension of disbelief to follow along. I hope I've created the sorts of characters that endear themselves to the readers enough that they'll continue to read during my occasional flight of fancy.

I will keep to my usual schedule of posting a pair of chapters early in the week and a pair late in the week (typically Monday and Friday) unless something unforeseeable crops up.

And I'll mix in a few "bonus" chapters along the way.

I truly hope the SOL family will enjoy chasing after Phil and Hailey in Learning Curves.

Best wishes,
Jay C.

Good day,

So, I learned a valuable lesson recently. It was poor planning on my part to conclude a story during a time when I have exactly zero free time to read and reply to comments and questions.

The weeks surrounding Christmas are hectic in my little corner of the universe and the multitude of additional hats I wear must take precedence over my hobbies (including what I do on SOL).

Once again, I apologize for my lax email skills and for seeming as though I don't care about comments or questions that come from the reader.

I do care ... I just don't care as much as I care about other aspects of my life.

I hope that wasn't too blunt but it's how life works sometimes.

The recent queries regard what comes next so I'll address that now.

In four weeks, I'll begin posting Learning Curves ... a Taming of the Shrew sort of story set on a modern college campus. I'll give a better preview as the release date comes nearer.

It's another long story and, if my admittedly deficient math skills are up to the task, it should conclude around Thanksgiving.

Like the Regan and Andy saga, Learning Curves will have a second part to the story, likely appearing in 2020 or 2021.

Why the wait?

This is one of two stories left on my hard drive that my longtime collaborator BlackIrish assisted with before his untimely passing last year.

The other, set in a Medieval world, will begin about six weeks after Learning Curves wraps. It's shorter and will end in Summer 2018. That will give me time to finalize Unimaginable Lives for release in late fall of 2018.

After Lives, I plan to take a short respite from the site. At that point, I will have been posting almost constantly for three years.

My wife and I both will turn 50 in 2019. The last of the in-home children will be out into the world and we plan to relax and enjoy a bit of life and togetherness.

I know me pretty well.

Except for a brief "out-of-body" experience in September and October 1979, I've been around me my entire life. It's all I can do to put up with me sometimes.

I imagine being "together" with me alone for a few months will pretty much drive my wife batty. But I plan to enjoy those few months to the fullest because, unlike me, she is actually a pleasant person to be around.

The break will be short, likely no longer than a year, but it will push back the second half of Learning Curves.

So, there you have it, my plans for the next four years. But, as always, those plans are subject to change without notice.

Take care,
Jay C.

The "Runaway Train" has been brought under control and will wrap up its run this afternoon.

As always, I offer my thanks to those that helped me get this story together.

Zom is a great proofreader and he catches 99 percent of the junk that slips through.

Pixel the Cat stepped up to give the story a final (and thorough) going over. His changes made a real difference in the quality of the story.

And, of course, the late, great BlackIrish, my friend and my longtime editor who joined so many others in passing from our plane of existence earlier this year.

BlackIrish had a hand with my next two stories - the value of working ahead, I suppose - but this is the final story he guided from front to back. He is missed.

I would also like to thank the readers who ignored the missing or misused words and the sometimes lagging plot to hang with this story for the past eight months.

I hope I've kept you entertained two or three times each week and given you a little break from life's demands along the way.

As always seems to happen at the end of a story, I have hundreds of emails from loyal readers still languishing in my inbox. I simply cannot find time to reply to every email as much as I wish I could (it would mean that I no longer had any other obligations in my life).

Please know that I have read every email that I have been sent and I have taken them to heart. I appreciate the kind words and the suggestions.

I wish everybody on SOL (even the trolls that lurk on this corner of the Internet cave) a very happy New Year. May 2017 be the best year of your lives (at least until 2018 rolls around).

Best wishes,
Jay C.

As Runaway Train nears its conclusion, I offer the story's final "bonus" chapter.

To those that missed the info earlier, the story will end on Dec. 30.

Best wishes,
Jay C.