Looking for stories about a man in his 40s or 50s starting over. Either post divorce, death or some other setback.
Looking for stories about a man in his 40s or 50s starting over. Either post divorce, death or some other setback.
https://storiesonline.net/s/20679/variation-on-a-theme/i
Variation on a Theme a series by Grey Wolf is one of the best series on SoL!
Grey Wolf and I have some significant political differences. However, he is a marvelous Story Teller. Variation on a Theme is "believable" within the context of such a story.
The character never forgets his age in his previous existence(?) but mention of it might not occur in most chapters. Lots of little things remind the reader, even when not explicitly stated.
For Technical Quality (spelling, grammar, format) 9+
For the Story I rate it a 10, despite my Personal disagreements, the story is compelling.
Each Book covers a year, with more than 60 chapters each. The Series is Ongoing, with 4 years of high school, and several years of college already posted.
Cheers! 🍻
Is this the one where the mc was in the debate club in the 1st book or was active in "debating"?
SunSeeker
Ok thanks to you and Marissa Horne for confirming! As you can probably tell I didn't finish reading the 1st book or start the others even though "do-overs" is one of my favorite genres. Oh well, c'est la vie
SunSeeker
We all have certain 'favorite' genre stories we just can't make it through for one reason or another. It happens, so don't beat yourself up about it.
Worth mentioning that, depending on when you bailed out in Book 1, you may have missed one or two fairly major plot elements that define the story going forward. Or you might have gotten there. Hard to tell!
Book 1 is definitely the roughest in the set, technically, and I'm finishing up a major repost. Of course, I've been 'finishing it up' for a very long time now ...
It'll get there.
Note that Variation on a Theme is a Do-over, as opposed to a middle aged restart, which I THINK the OP was asking about.
Note that Variation on a Theme is a Do-over, as opposed to a middle aged restart, which I THINK the OP was asking about.
To be fair, the OP mentions death as a potential cause of the restart.
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, but not looking for a do-over, time travel scenario. Definitely more of a middle aged re-start. Variation on a Theme is a great story just not quite what I'm looking for.
VOAT had a lengthly thread where the male MC was active in debate for all four years of high school (ie books 1 to 4) before moving on at college.
This is a job transfer in after catching the wife with a reconciliation at the end. Not a bad story but not what I'm looking for. Think post divorce new career/life
If you accept some wish fulfillment:
Castle in the Sand (now posting but an old, complete story) by Deana Johns,
Jan by oyster50,
Junkin Duncan and She Took It All by happyhugo,
Rachael by The Star,
Starting Small by Lazlong,
Wandering by Coaster2,
Christmas Surprise by GoldenMage.
Some wish-fulfillments are better than others, as it helps having them struggle a bit before the author's every dream comes true. ;) Again, fiction is about conflict, so without ANY conflict, then ever wish-fulfillment collapse under it's own weight, since there's no underpinnings supporting the story.
Castle in the Sand (now posting but an old, complete story) by Deana Johns
thank you. i thought i was nuts because i was sure i had read that story years ago but it was posting like new. So i have lost slightly less of my mind than i feared.
I know I have. I have each individual chapter broken out, dated 2020.I don't remember where I got them from, but it was probably ASSTR. If I get bored I might go back and do a chapter by chapter comparison between the two versions.
Oyster50's Jan was already named, but there are more from him which meet the criteria:
Crunch: a 36yo, divorced for 7 years, gets run-over by a pickup truck and realizes the 17yo neighbor's daughter loves him (and vice versa).
Swamped Fox Cheating wife died in an accident together with her boyfriend – both drunk – 5 years ago, he's still mourning. Then live turned around.
In some of his "Smart Girls" stories some older guys (around 40) find new love with teenage girls.
HM.
"New Years Day Evolution" [sic] by T-Rix might work for you. The protagonist comes into a lot of money by questionable means, moves out of the city, and goes on a road trip. Warning: story includes explicit sex with extreme minors.