Charlie Foxtrot: Blog

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

I had to take an unexpected trip this week and don't have access to the final chapter of A New Past to post. I will post sometime on Friday, once I return home.

Thanks for reading,
-Charlie

My apologies for the errors in chapter 65. I evidently grabbed an un-proofed version of the chapter and uploaded it. I've submitted what should be the corrected copy for immediate posting.

Thanks for reading,
-Charlie

Jay Cantrell recently launched his patreon site. If you are not familiar with his work, I highly recommend it, here or there. He was very thoughtful on how he positioned his direct sales and worked within the author guidelines for SOL, for which I applaud him. While I don't have the back catalog of material that he does, I do think if a story is started on SOL and published for free, it should remain freely available.

However, a lot of authors here work share their work for little, if any reward. I think that should change.

I came to this decision when I realized I had written over 700,000 words for "A New Past", investing considerable time in the creation, editing, follow-up, and feedback to that work. It has been personally rewarding, but the time spent writing has not put any food on the table, so to speak.

Of course, a lot of readers have stated they would gladly purchase a copy of some of my stories if they were offered for sale.

I guess this is the time to put that to the test.

I have started a patron site, but intend to follow in Jay's footsteps in a manner of speaking. You can find it using /charliefoxtrot_writer after the site name. I'm still considering if I will publish Kindle editions. For now, I'm sticking to ePub format.

A New Past will complete and be available on SOL, free as it started. However, if you are interested in a cleaner ePub version of the books, with some added features such as a complete timeline of real and fictional events, notes on my writing process, excerpts that were removed from the story, etc. you should check out my patron page. The completed work is posted there already. For SOL, the tale should complete posting over the next two weeks.

Survivors II will be posted here on SOL. If there is more beyond Survivors II, we'll just have to see.

One other story, as yet unpublished, will be going up on the parton site if I gain 100 patrons at any level.

I can state unequivocally, that any new stories in Paul's universe of 'A New Past' will only be offered through my patron site. If readers insist I return to or continue the story, they are going to have to put some level of investment into it. Sorry, but I've tried to end Paul's tale three times now. He needs a rest.

Going forward, I may offer pre-view content to regular supporters on that site, and will definitely have some titles published there that won't come to SOL in the short-term. I have appreciated the stories and most of the community here on SOL, and want to keep supporting it, so this is not goodbye.

I hope all the readers and fans I've gained here will understand and support this approach.

As always, thanks for reading.

-Charlie