Hey all,

For the past 6 months I have been reading the famous Christian-fiction series "Left Behind". I have completely devoured the books, finishing each one in about 2 days. I am nearly finished with the second-to-last one called "Apocalypse".

I write to you today with a predicament I am in. I am worried that I will miss the characters of the series. I have come to love them and relate to them as if they were real. I cry when one of them dies, I laugh when something funny happens, you get the point. Well, anyway, the last book in the series is called "The Glorious Appearing" and as much as I am anticipating it, I am also distressed that the series will be finished and I will have no contact with the characters anymore. I plan to read the series again and again, but how many times can you read a book without it getting on your nerves. Perhaps I will get the audio books with the actors and listen to them, then I will play the video game.

Oh well, I know some of you agree with me that finishing a book that you are really into is a difficult thing. It's almost as if you're loosing a friend.

For anyone who wants to know more about the Left Behind series, here is the link:
Left Behind

Have you ever read the book Misery by Stephen King.

Thats always an option if ever you get a chance to kidnap the author.

I know exactly what you mean; every time I finish another series by one of my favorite authors I feel a part of me has died.

It started when I was a wee one with the Ray Bradbury Dinosaur Planet series but Robert Jordan and Stephen King have done their best to rip out my soul since then.

Sometimes you just have to let those old friends go....

Harry Potter will be no more in a year or so!

Yep. It is great is it not.

A true Blessing.

That's why so many stories have sequels! SOmetimes though, that is a bad thing. Ever tried to count all the Star Trek books at the local bookstore? What's worse, there are hundreds thta are now out of print! You'll never catch up!

Unfortunately, Star Wars seems to be going down that same road. I used to really like the charachters, now I really don't. To keep the story alive, they had to introduce too many plot changes. Really ruined a good story line in my opinion. (Courtship of Princess Leia)!

I think that a series coming to an end at some point makes it more of a classic. It tends to encapsulate more of that time in your life. You forget a lot of the things that could ruin the story if you were to read them today. On the other hand, where is Khan? Shouldn't he be running a worldwar by now?

Not only thta but, if the story eventually ends, then that whole area of fiction is open for the next batch of authurs and readers to explore. Other wise youwonder why James Bond didn't have something like cell phone technology in the early eighties. If you restart that kind of story with a new charecchter and a whole new set of rules, you can enjoy the same type of story all over again.

Reinventing a type of story is better than forever rehashing an older one. (Why didn't the Emperor have nuclear technology? Why didn't Hawkeye and BeaJay ever mention the McArther plan to use nukes in Korea?).