Fictional characters have an odd relationship with time.  We readers are sometimes given glimpses of what happened to them before the story began.  If they haven’t died by the end of the story, the author will occasionally tell us, in general terms, what happens to them after the story ends, the “lived happily ever after” coda.  For the most part, however, barring a sequel (such as the second book of Don Quixote), the characters, like insects caught in amber, are fixed for all eternity in the pose they struck at the end of the story.  They will never get any older, never have another adventure, or another breakfast, will never die.  Story endings are like a snapshot of a particular point in time, but not in the way a photo is.  A photo captures a person at a particular moment but, unless it is a photo of an execution, we may safely assume the person went on to continue their life after the shutter snapped.  The story character is frozen by the final snap of the story camera’s shutter.

Having had the characters of SOCKWORLD living in my head for many years I am naturally invested in their lives, and, like a reader, wonder what happens to them after the book ends.  The main character, Purdy, is particularly worrying, as he has never had much aptitude for happiness, but has a lot of aptitude for getting into dangerous situations. 

Time flies when you’re having fun, and even when you’re not.  Been a while since the last edition of this blog and, unless a mob of angry readers appears outside my door (torches, pitchforks, and bookmarks in hand) demanding more, this may be the last edition for a while.  Till then, happy holidays!