Charlie Foxtrot: Blog

I've just finished the writing the final chapter of A New Past and have sent it off to my proof-reader for review.

I apologize for the lack of updates, but decided my time and effort was better spent on writing the story than writing updates or excuses.

Since my last posting (Chapter 59), seven chapters with one extra side-story have been written. That's approximately 79,000 words, not including the side-story.

I have also just posted a minor correction to Chapter 59, and will begin posting new material on Tuesday and Friday until the story is finished.

I may or may-not post the side story mentioned above.

I've gotten many interesting questions and feedback over the course of writing this tale, and may try to put some answers together in a future blog post, but for now, I just wanted to let all of you appreciative readers know that the story is finished, and will resume posting shortly.

Thanks for reading,

-Charlie

A few readers have taken the time to write attempting to correct a line in Chapter 58; specifically, Meagan's comment, "Earthrise over that rim would be spectacular."

They state (correctly) that the Moon is tidally locked to Earth, so it always presents the same face to the planet.

However, they ignore the fact that the Moon's orbit is inclined about 5 degrees to the plane of the Earths orbit, so the position of Earth will appear to vary north and south during the orbital cycle.

Additionally, the Earth will have phases when observed from the Moon, complementary to the lunar phase as seen from Earth, so, during a new moon on Earth, it would be a "full earth" on the Moon.

With Aristarchus Base being north of the crater of the same name (approximately 24 degrees north of the lunar equator), I chose to take some poetic license and make the statement that the Earth will appear to rise and set from that location, assuming there is some obstruction from the rim sufficient to hide or partially hide the Earth from view at some point during the cycle.

If you want to learn more and see some of the inspirational material I used when writing this section, check out: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/observing-earth-from-the-moon/

Thanks for reading,

-Charlie

Thank you all for your patience.

I have some good news and some so-so news. Firstly, the good news. The ending of A New Past is written. The so-so news is that I have given up trying to wrap everything up by chapter 60. It looks like the tale will end up in the 62-65 chapter range. Since I have the ending written, it's just a matter of getting the characters from where they are in chapter 58 to that finish line.

I'm still trying to get things wrapped up before the end of the year, so please continue to be patient with me.

As always, thanks for reading.

-Charlie

Thanks for everyone's patience and encouragement. "A New Past" is rapidly coming to a close. I've just finished writing chapter 59 (of 60 planned). I typically try to make chapters around 10,000 words, which means it might be a little hard to conclude the tale in one more chapter. As a result, the final chapter will be either very long, or I might have to end in chapter 61. We will see as I finish the writing.

Currently, I have chapter 56 back from my editors, but have not sent out 57-59 yet. I've decided to hold off sending those out until I've finished the story, since I've been going back and adjusting details and scenes as I try to drive to the conclusion. The only reason I mention is to manage everyone's expectations. I've been posting a chapter ever couple of weeks since June, but will hold off after chapter 56 is posted until the remainder of the story is written.

Once the last chapter is complete, I'll try to get a definitive posting schedule established.

For those of you who have expressed and interest in the next installment of "Survivors", I've been jotting down some ideas and notes and think I have a direction forward for that tale as well.

As always, thanks for reading,

-Charlie

My apologies to my readers. I had a major continuity error in chapter 51 regarding the timing to the last lunar landing before Paul's team returned to the moon. I've posted a corrected version and fixed a few other typos.

Thanks for reading,

-Charlie