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I've started posting some short stories that are really background for a much larger LitRPG series I'm working on. It's call the Integration Era.
Here's the overview of the Universe:
One hundred years ago, a colonial expedition cracked open something ancient on a frontier world. The Integration ignited — an alien system of unknown origin that swept across known space like a shockwave, writing itself into the mind of every sentient being it touched. Stats. Designations. A neural overlay that measures what you are in six numbers and doesn't ask permission.
Overnight, the rules changed. Soldiers became Vanguards and Sentinels. Engineers became Technicians. Leaders became Commanders. Conventional weapons still fire, starships still fly — but the Integration introduced something beyond engineering: abilities that bend physics, materials forged in alien geometries, and a progression system where every point spent reshapes what's possible and what's irreversible. The deeper you go, the more the system invests in keeping you alive. The question is what it wants in return.
The Architects who built it are gone. Whether they're extinct, ascended, or watching through the system they left behind is the mystery no one has solved in a century of trying. The Vethari — an alien species six centuries ahead of humanity in Integration development — won't say what they know. And at the edges of mapped space, the Unintegrated wait: entities from beyond the system's reach that it cannot classify, cannot quantify, and cannot stop.
Now the galaxy runs on two kinds of power. The old kind — oligarch dynasties and corporate empires fighting a cold war for territory and resources. And the new kind — Integration levels, designation tiers, and a prime-number cost curve that makes deep specialization a lifetime commitment and true mastery a generational bet. Between them, the Fringe: the frontier where the system's rules thin out, where people who don't fit go to disappear, and where the Integration is still deciding what the rules are.
The Integration Era follows soldiers and civilians, operatives and outcasts, across a galaxy where everyone carries a stat screen and nobody agrees on what the numbers mean. From the moment the system first activated to the present day — where a disgraced operative carrying a corrupted skill slot and an anomalous Flux score is about to discover that the mission that destroyed him was never supposed to succeed — these are the stories of what happens when an alien intelligence decides to measure humanity and humanity has to decide how to answer.
The system is always watching. It has opinions about what it sees.
I plan on posting twice a week (Saturdays and Tuesdays), until I begin the main story, which I hope to publish weekly.
I hope you come along for the ride and enjoy the tales.
Thanks for reading,
-Charlie
Just looking at when I last posted a blog entry. Hard to believe it’s been more than a year.
Thank you to everyone who read and voted for “Witches Brew” (3rd place in the Halloween contest) and “Recipe for Disaster” (first place in the Valentine’s Day contest). I’m truly greatful.
What have I been up to?
I’m on the last scene of the sequel to Technomancer and sending it out to beta readers next week. I’m in the midst of having a professional cover designed for Technomancer that will go with the sequel and book 3 as well.
Another Past (the R-rated version of A New Past) is written and up on the big river store.
I’ve been putting more effort into social media marketing because paying for ads is a waste of money. Feel free to search for me on Instagram and TikTok as Charlie Forêt if you are interested. You can also find me via Linktree.
I’ve got some other short stories in the works that will trickle into SOL this year. I’ve also got about 1/3rd of a novel that will be here under my first name de plume later this year.
As always,
Thanks for reading
-Charlie
I hope you've taken the opportunity to read the first five chapters which form the prologue for my new story, Technomancer. These first five chapters are very short, at least for my writing style, but set up the main characters and conflicts for the next 95k words, so I hope they have you hooked :-)
I'm making good progress editing the remainder of the story. I plan on posting at least once each week, so you won't have too long to wait for the tale. I've also got a couple of other stories in the hopper, being slowly beat into submission. I won't start posting them until they are completed in at least first-draft form, so I'll thank you all for your patience on those stories.
I will warn readers that the story will move behind the paywall within 30 days after completion to allow it to be packaged and sold in other places.
Thanks for reading,
-Charlie Foxtrot
I've just submitted the first two chapters of a new story, Technomancer.
The story will be a total of thirty chapters, all written in first-draft form, and I'll be posting once or twice a week, depending on comments and feedback. There is large variability in chapter length right now, and I'm still adding/editing scenes in chapters ten through thirty, I won't commit to a regular posting schedule, other than say it will all be up on SOL before summer here in North America.
I've opened public comments, on the story for now, and would welcome any feedback on what you like about the story.
Thanks for reading,
-Charlie
I've finally finished up the next installment of my Survivor's saga and submitted the first chapter.
If you haven't read the first tale, you may want to explore it before reading this newest work. I plan on posting the four chapters plus interlude of the tale over the next few weeks.
For readers that have commented and asked for updates, thank you for your patience.
Thanks for reading,
-Charlie
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